The Stone Diaries

In 1977, Victoria is 22 years old and getting her master’s degree in paleobotany. Daisy has retired to Florida and has become mildly obsessed with studying her family history, focusing on Cuyler and Magnus specifically. Fraidy and Beans have both also retired to Florida to be near Daisy. It is revealed that Beverly died in 1973 of pancreatic cancer. She never revealed the name or identity of Victoria’s father, so Victoria understands Daisy’s curiosity about knowing where she comes from.

The narrative jumps back to the day of Cuyler’s death in 1955. At 78, Cuyler is working in his backyard when he suddenly feels dizzy and lies down in the grass. His memories fade in and out and often collapse with the present, causing him confusion. As he lies there, he has moments of profound reflective clarity in which he decides that he should stop building the stone pyramid, but he also has moments in which he cannot remember important details of his life, such as his first wife’s name. This is ironic because the details of his death are strikingly similar to Mercy’s death in the first chapter of the novel. Back in 1977, we learn that his second wife, Maria, has recently been spotted with a new man.

Victoria and her professor Lewis Roy are going to Scotland to study its fossilized plant life as part of a research project. She invites her aunt Daisy to come along so Daisy can also continue her research into her family history by visiting Magnus Flett’s grave. When they arrive in the Orkney Islands, Daisy discovers they are more developed and touristy than she originally imagined. She also learns that “Flett” is a common Scottish family name. The three of them meet Mr. Sinclair, the owner of the hotel in which they are staying. He informs them that Magnus Flett is still alive at 115 years old and living in a convalescent home. He has become famous for his record old age and his ability to recite Jane Eyre from memory, though he has recently had significant memory loss. Daisy continuously postpones visiting Magnus because she is afraid of disappointment, preferring to go sightseeing with Mr. Sinclair instead.

It is also revealed that Victoria is sleeping with Lewis Roy and hiding it from Daisy so as not to disappoint her. Warren is now twice divorced, and Alice is also separated from her husband.

Eventually, Daisy visits Magnus. She learns that before his retirement and old age, he was living as a sort of hermit. Now, Daisy notices his translucent skin and eyes. He cannot hear or understand her questions. He is not the way Daisy has pictured him all these years: “Magnus, the wanderer, the suffering modern man—that was how she’d thought of him all these years. Romantically” (305). When she gets him to repeat her own name, she leaves satisfied and announces, “I’ve finally found you” (307).

In 1985, Daisy has suffered a heart attack. Her kidneys are also failing, and doctors must remove one that has become cancerous. At 80 years old, Daisy feels that her body is failing her and shutting down. As she heals in the hospital, we meet Jubilee, the “juice girl” who helps care for Daisy. She is also forced to talk to the hospital reverend, Rick, although she does not like to because she is not particularly religious or spiritual.

Warren’s new wife, Peggy, has given birth to a daughter, Emma, with Down’s syndrome; it is unclear if later Emma dies or is away in a hospital. Joan lives in Portland with her unfaithful husband and four kids: Rain, Beth, Lissa, and Jilly. Alice is single and teaching in England. She has changed her last name to “Goodwill” after her mother. She thinks Daisy is “helpless” and is not hopeful about her mother’s future, but she does not admit this to her; to Daisy, she is optimistic and encouraging. Victoria has married Lewis Roy; they have twins and live in Toronto. Because her family is far away and cannot visit, Daisy feels them becoming less and less real to her.

The only people who visit Daisy are her retirement community neighbors. Marian McHenry is the neighbor who called the ambulance for Daisy, and she visits every day. The “Flowers” are a group of women who, like Daisy, are named after flowers: Lily, Myrtle, and Glad. They are the “popular” clique amongst the retirement condo residents and have become Daisy’s closest friends since both Fraidy and Beans have died—Beans suddenly in the 1970s, and Fraidy from senility. The Flowers are also all widows, are all wealthy, and like to joke about their own deaths.

Alice later visits and helps Daisy move from the hospital to a convalescent home. Daisy is “out of sorts” and has trouble distinguishing what is real and what is not (328). She repeats stories and goes in and out of dream-like states. She claims she read that Pinky, the man who replaced her at the Recorder, died after being crushed by a vending machine, but it is not clear if this is true. Alice’s daughter, Judy, sends Daisy a “bedjacket,” an item of clothing that makes Daisy feel old.

We also learn more about Reverend Rick. Alice does not like him because she sees him as a predator trying to convert her mother to be more religious. He is gay, and although most of his friends know, his mother does not, and he asks Daisy for advice on how to tell her. Daisy advises him not to tell her because she will figure it out on her own and they will not have to discuss it.

The chapter ends with Daisy grappling with her imminent death. She knows that her body and mind are in decline. Her memories flow in front of her like on a television. She feels alone and lost, dreaming different versions of reality. Alice is comforted by the fact that her mother “is still alive inside her failing body” and is “doing as well as can be expected” (342).

The final chapter is how Daisy imagines death. She obviously cannot know the date of her own death, so it is written as taking place in 199- in her convalescent home. Several epitaphs are included, presumably as Daisy considers how she wants to be remembered or how she thinks she will be. Some of the obituaries decline flowers, while some accept flowers gratefully. She also includes her bridal lingerie list from her first wedding, favorite recipes, restaurant menus, a list of all the books she owns, a list of all the diseases she has ever had, a list of all of her group memberships, and snippets of conversations. She imagines how her family and friends react to her death, the facts about her life, and the items she leaves to them. We read how her children react to her first marriage, which they did not know about. To Alice, she leaves her gardening basket; to Joan, an asparagus server; to Warren, her old notes and college essays; and to Victoria, Barker’s collection of lady-slippers.

Daisy imagines her existence after death. She sees herself as a stone slab, “Grecian. Quiet. Timeless. Classis,” and eventually “feels herself merge with, and become, finally, the still body of her dead mother” (359). Her “final (unspoken) words” are “I am not at peace” (361).