I found that the novel “Unless”, by Carol Shields, was quite well written and enjoyable. The novel was made up of a series of events which were often barely connected, and which therefore forced the reader to remain concentrated on the novel as to understand the link between the events. I found that the last five chapters had more of a linear narrative style and were told in the actual sequence that the events were occurring in, rather than in Reta Winter’s thoughts about those events. The story was told in first person, so that in many parts of the book, the reader had to interpret the events of the novel through Reta's inner dialogue. Personally, it is less often that I read novels that are told from a first person perspective, so I found this experience pleasing and intimate. I grew quite fond of Reta’s push for gender equality and her attempt at understanding the definition of “goodness”. Themes of loneliness echoed throughout the story, but "goodness", Norah's strange obsession, defied definition and remained mysterious, though Reta tried her best to understand its meaning. She tried to understand why her daughter had become a begger out on the cold street, in the name of “Goodness”, when instead she could have been home, safe and warm. In fact, the tension between safety and risk (such as Reta's cozy, inviting home as opposed to the absolute danger of the street) formed another one of the underlying themes of Unless. There were moments and expressions in the novel that caused a sense of recognition and comfort for me, sentences that made me reach for my notebook to jot them down to read and reflect over later. Reta mused “This is why I read novels, so I can escape my own unrelenting monologue” (145). This quote made me smile and nod my head in appreciation; two things I found myself doing often throughout the novel. Reta says that “Happiness is the lucky pane of glass you carry in your head. It takes all you