Recently I finished a Pulitzer Prize winning novel, "Unless", by Canadian author Carol Shields.

The book is written in a first person narrative, a story told by Reta (Ree-tah) Winters. She is a mother to three nearly grown daughters, life-partner of Tom Winters, translator for a French feminist, and writer of a few comic light novels. And while Reta has a good life it starts to fall apart when her oldest daughter Norah drops out of school and turns up on a Toronto street corner, begging, and wearing a cardboard sign around her neck with GOODNESS written across it. Reta is trying to figure out what happened to her daughter, what should she do, and how to cope with life when it begins to fall back into the pre-Norah-disaster-routine.

Shields is an insightful writer. Being a native Brit, she is considered one of the top ten female English writers of all time. Guess who else in on that list? Yup, Jane Austen herself. One reviewer describes how Shields believes writing can be a redemptive force, and she is most concerned with writing in a way that can be redemptive to women. Reading this book left me much to mull over. I don't want to spoil the story, but I need to give a brief overview in order to frame the thoughts that will follow. A key character in the story is Danielle Westerman, a (fictional) titan among the significant French feminists. Dr. Westerman believes that women at some point in their lives realize that they are truly powerless in a male dominated society and either deal with it or disintegrate. She believes that Norah has realized her powerlessness and has fallen into despair. Reta wonders if this is true, and it is a genuine fear she has for her other two teenage daughters. But why does Norah's sign say GOODNESS?

Reta decides to write a new novel, another beach read, and while her editor loves the goodness found in her lead female character he tells her that it is her lead male character that the book should revolve around. The editor wants the book rewritten. The editor says goodness is not enough, that the strong male on a strong search for identity is much more compelling to the market he wants to target. Tom, Norah's father, is the one who eventually discovers that a catastrophic event is what sent his daughter to a street corner. And I won't give that away, but it has nothing to do with powerlessness in a male dominated society.

But it has everything to do with evil, with tragedy, with - sin.

I have read many books about feminism, social structures, a bit of feminist theology, and will be reading more this summer. And while I freely admit that anger grants us incredible power, it can lead to destructive actions. I am wary of any worldview, any theology, any mission sourced in, above all, anger - therefore I am wary of angry feminism because I have dabbled in it myself.

Continued on my blogspot.