Unless is the final novel by Canadian writer Carol Shields , first published by Fourth Estate , an imprint of HarperCollins in 2002. Semi-autobiographical, it was the capstone to Shields's writing career: she died shortly after its publication in 2003. The work was widely acclaimed and nominated for the Booker Prize , the Giller Prize , the Governor General's Award , the Orange Prize for Fiction , and received the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize . In 2011, it was a finalist in the Canada Reads competition, where it was defended by actor Lorne Cardinal . Like many of her works (especially The Stone Diaries ), Unless explores the extraordinary that lies within the ordinary lives of ordinary women.
14-402: The novel is narrated in first person by 44-year-old writer and translator, Reta Winters. The book proceeds as a linear series of reflections by Reta, elliptically coming to the thematic center of the story: the seemingly arbitrary decision of Reta's college-aged daughter Norah to drop out of university and live on the street with a cardboard sign affixed to her chest that reads "Goodness". Although
28-400: A disenfranchised female writer. The underlying theme is that the lives of women are underwritten, ignored, and dealt with as "trivial" by the literary establishment. The novel also functions largely as an investigation into the role of writing in general (independent of gender). Reta's grief over her daughter's state makes her very inwardly focussed on the process of writing. A reflection of this
42-601: A local production of Dracula as Jonathan Harker. Matt Craven is best known as a character actor working in TV and film. His films include the Academy Award nominated Crimson Tide , A Few Good Men , the SAG nominated X-Men: First Class , Public Enemies , Disturbia , Déjà Vu , The Life of David Gale , Tin Men and K2 . Craven's first film Meatballs opposite Bill Murray
56-450: A severe case of dissociation. Craven starred as Michael, a chemist in the Army's chemical warfare division where he worked on a drug that was secretly given to the veteran's unit. On television, Craven has worked with Steven Spielberg as a series regular on High Incident , on TNT's Nuremberg and Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long , opposite Jeff Goldblum on Raines , several seasons on
70-613: Is shown in the title of the book and the chapter titles. "Unless" and the chapter titles ("therefore", "else", "instead") are all words that are used to couch the fragmented manner in which life fits together. As Shields writes, "A life is full of isolated events, but these events, if they are to form a coherent narrative, require odd pieces of language to link them together, little chips of grammar (mostly adverbs or prepositions) that are hard to define [...] words like therefore , else , other , also , thereof , therefore , instead , otherwise , despite , already , and not yet ." The novel
84-512: The BBC News listed Unless on its list of the 100 most influential novels . This article about a 2000s novel is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . See guidelines for writing about novels . Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page . This article about a Canadian novel is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . See guidelines for writing about novels . Further suggestions might be found on
98-566: The CBS series, NCIS , Officer Lenny Gayer on High Incident , Dr. Tim Lonner on L.A. Doctors , and Sheriff Fred Langston on the series Resurrection . Craven, a Canadian , spent his early life in Ontario . His father died six weeks after his birth and Craven ultimately dropped out of high school to work a variety of odd jobs to help support his mother and sister. He was about 20 when he discovered his love for acting - auditioning for, and starring in,
112-425: The article's talk page . Unless (film) Unless is a Canadian-Irish drama film, which premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival . Based on the novel Unless by Carol Shields , the film was directed by Alan Gilsenan . The film stars Catherine Keener as Reta, a successful writer struggling to deal with her daughter Norah's ( Hannah Gross ) decision to drop out of college and live on
126-566: The international hit NCIS , and extensively with producer/writer Graham Yost on Justified , From the Earth to the Moon , The Pacific and Boomtown . Most recently, Craven starred on the ABC series Resurrection . Craven had two features for 2015 - Roland Emmerich 's Stonewall and Unless in which he stars opposite Catherine Keener . Craven has been married for the past 25 years to Sally Sutton,
140-507: The makeup artist whom he met on the set of K2 . They have two children, Nicholas and Josephine. Craven is a strong supporter of One Heart Source an organisation designed to empower at risk children through education in Africa. He is an avid golfer. In his spare time, he enjoys gardening, cooking and woodworking. He worked as a doorman for the nightclub the Bitter End and is a lifelong fan of
154-457: The novel does not in any way proceed like a mystery, the reasons for Norah's departure from the normal world are Reta's primary motivation in writing. In parallel, her relationship with her French mentor (a Holocaust survivor and poet) drives much of her narration and view of herself. The novel deals extensively with the role of women and in particular, women's literature. Late in the novel, Reta starts to break from herself and write in character as
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#1732844367813168-733: The streets. The cast also includes Brendan Coyle , Matt Craven , Chloe Rose , Hanna Schygulla , Martha Henry , Linda Kash , Yanna McIntosh , and Kathryn Greenwood . This article related to a Canadian film of the 2010s is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Matt Craven Matthew John Crnkovich (born November 10, 1956), known as Matt Craven , is a Canadian character actor. He has appeared in over 40 films including Happy Birthday to Me , Jacob's Ladder , K2 , A Few Good Men , The Juror , Assault on Precinct 13 , Disturbia , Tempting Fate and X-Men: First Class . Craven has also made several television appearances, most notably as Clayton Jarvis on
182-470: Was a huge hit and launched Craven's career in film and comedy. Craven's second feature, the live action short Bravery in the Field was nominated for an Academy Award. The next few years saw Craven starring in several comedy pilots. His first major dramatic film was the drama/horror/mystery cult favorite Jacob's Ladder which follows a haunted Vietnam vet as he attempts to discover his past while suffering from
196-564: Was adapted into the 2016 film Unless , which stars Catherine Keener as Reta and Hannah Gross as Norah. The Daily Telegraph reported on reviews from several publications with a rating scale for the novel out of "Love It", "Pretty Good", "Ok", and "Rubbish": Guardian , Times , Independent , Observer , Sunday Times , Independent On Sunday , New Statesman , Spectator , Literary Review , and TLS reviews under "Love It" and Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph reviews under "Pretty Good". On November 5, 2019,
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