Dressing Up for the Carnival

by Carol Shields

Book Overview

A bestselling collection of short stories from the author of The Stone Diaries (winner of the Pulitzer prize) and Larry's Party (winner of the Orange prize)

All over town people are putting on their costumes; X slips into his wife's lace-trimmed night gown and waltzes around his bedroom; Tamara is no longer the dull clerk receptionist when she wears that yellow skirt, she evolves into a stunning creature exuding passion...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0141001917
• ISBN13: 9780141001913
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.1" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A True Example of Writing as Art

Carol Shields can take an ordinary word and polish it into a shining gemstone. Finely-tuned phrases are scattered plentifully throughout each chapter of _Dressing Up for the Carnival_, straddling the gap between poetry and fiction. This collection of stories is so spare, it almost feels empty at first. But you find Shields has emptied her work of distractions and needless explanations so you can more clearly see . Her focus on minute details is selective and purposeful. She reveals deep insights on the human condition through small observations-ones only a keen observer could see, and only a master writer like Shields could translate into words. If you want to be entertained, this book may not be for you. If you want to think deeply and be stirred to a higher level of emotion, pick up this book. You'll find yourself setting it down after every story so you can absorb each word.

stories that stretch how we see the world

It's hard to describe the effect of these stories -- perhaps mindbending would be as close as you can get. Who else would devote whole stories to keys, or a meteorologist strike or the founder of a nudist camp? My only small complaint is that at times some of the stories, especially those taking place in the academic realm, are almost too clever for their own good. The collection as a whole though is strong and quite imaginative and profound. Shields is certainly an interesting writer -- there is nary a dull moment and some quite enlightening ones.

Hooked by Carol Shields

Carol Shields hooked me in with Stone Diaries and I have subsequently enjoyed Happenstance, Larry's Party and a Celibate Season. I have just completed Dressing Up for the Carnival and am yet again amazed by Carol's ability to take the simplest things and see into them and beyond their common use. The story Mirrors is a typical example - we take them so much for granted and yet we do not look at them but "into them". Her language is rich, descriptive, insightful and makes me want to hear her voice. I love the glimpses she gives into married lives and the various swings and roundabouts of relationships, the distances between people and the tiny, meaningful, tender moments - Windows is a typical example. I am delighted to discover that I have many more of her books to enjoy and am now about to continue my research on Carol with the help of this site.

Elegant, surprising stories

Meteorologists go on strike and the weather disappears; a summer home has no mirrors anywhere, not even any shiny pots to see yourself in; a young boy goes to a nudist camp with his grandpa - these are gorgeous, magical, surprising stories.

A splendid storyteller.

Dressing Up for the Carnival is a novel where the ordinary and typical become unusual and special in the hands of this splendid storyteller.