About this title: In this lively dark comedy, a hapless man named Quoyle is grief-stricken after his no-good wife dies in a car crash. He packs up his dog, his children, and an ancient aunt and returns to the old family home in the town of Killick-Claw, on the coast of Newfoundland, where he gets a job with the local newspaper covering the shipping news. Gradually, with the help of some members of the local population (in particular a young woman named Wavey), Quoyle becomes able to handle his life and become a good father to his children. THE SHIPPING NEWS won Annie Proulx the Pulitzer Prize and the National ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
"Written in the same fierce, spare style as her Wyoming stories, this book has a hundred ways to describe the appearance of the ocean without ever feeling forced or trite. The weatherbeaten sea-dogs of Newfoundland and the grieved and rootless protagonist run up against each other again and again and it seems as though this sweet and hapless man will never find his way here until after the climax of the novel, when suddenly everything fits together in the same simple way that all things Proulx must happen - out of necessity, and with as few frills as possible."
"I picked up this book almost on a whim and had absolutely no idea of what it was about and pretty much just dug in. It's a tale which takes place in the changing maritime economy of a coastal shipping port in Newfoundland. The setting in and of itself was interesting enough to keep the pages turning. The characters aren't anything special, and aren't snazzy or flashy. Yet they are full of humanity and disappointment and hope. This is a good read when you want a well-written slice of life that's quite different from your own."
"Annie Proulx is more than just a great short-story writer: She's one of the best authors alive today. Whether you read her short-fiction collections (like "Close Range: Wyoming Stories," which includes the story "Brokeback Mountain") or her novels (like "Accordion Crimes"), you're in for a remarkable experience.
And "The Shipping News" is absolutely remarkable indeed. My experience with this book was much different than that of fellow reviewer "emmagrace," so I respectfully disagree and offer up my opinion.
To me, "The Shipping News" is one of the most innovative and groundbreaking books of the last 25 years. Proulx utilizes a writing style in this book that is unique and brilliant--short, incomplete sentences pairing unexpected word combinations, as well as her now-trademark penchant for the sparse, the desperate, and the unexpected. It's not always an easy read. But the challenge pays off via the story she tells. Even the greatest literature could be reduced to a "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, Romeo and Juliet commit suicide together" type synopsis utilized by "emmagrace" in her review. For me, however, I loved Proulx's story and her characters--the odd, quirky, totally original protagonist Quoyle being a personal favorite from among all the books I've read. Besides, the biggest plot-line payoff is on the last pages of the book, so if you don't finish the novel you definitely miss the point of the entire journey.
"The Shipping News" won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and The National Book Award, among other prestigious awards. It deserved these honors, my five stars in this review, and your attention, if you're looking for an engaging story, original characters, and an author at the top of her game."
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