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Review
‘A very impressive achievement. So funny, so full of delights.’ Guardian
‘As stark and ruggedly beautiful as the storm-battered coast of Newfoundland itself.’ Sunday Telegraph
‘Ambitious and accomplished…The characterisation is rich, the dialogue both original and convincing.’ Alan Massie, Scotsman
‘A stunning novel.’ Observer
‘To read ‘The Shipping News’ is to yearn to be sitting in The Flying Squid Lunchstop, eating seal fin Curry, watching the icebergs clink together in the bay.’ The Times
Review
'Making a strong case for quality in a time of change, this accessible book challenges assumptions and suggests positive directions for future, high quality, value based and reflective practice' -
Michael Gasper, Early Years Consultant and author of Multi-agency Working in the Early Years --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Michael Gasper, Early Years Consultant and author of Multi-agency Working in the Early Years --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Other reviews swing wildy between perfect 5 and damning 1. I'll settle for a contented 4. Only because it took a while to get into the book. Believe me: it's worth it.
Agree that it's hard to sympathise with Quoyle (our, um, hero) in the early chapters. Not the heroic type at all... wounded by his father's totally undisguised favouritism towards his spiteful brother. Overweight and ugly. Lacking self confidence, self control... Nor the clichéd anti-establishment anti-hero. In fact dull, dull, dull......
But hang on. Isn't this every man? Who among us is perfect in mind and body? Fat and unsure of ourselves. Tall, gangly and introspective. Tough on the outside, vulnerable and drawn towards self-destructive behaviour on the quiet.
That's how the book draws you slowly in. Characters may have improbably names, but they're more real than most perfect size 8, gym-toned fiction you'll ever read.
The small kids are drawn so well. Such a rarity in an adult novel.
The island and the sea are characters in themselves. Newfoundland, its inlets and offshore islands, abandoned settlements, pragmatic architecture. Punished by - and yet so dependent on - the sea, like the cruel parents that seem to crop up all too often in the book. Buffeted even more by wavering subsidy from remote government that really cannot see through the fog to get a proper picture of life on the the Rock. By the vagiaries of globalisation....
Sounds depressing. But ultimately a redemptive, quiet, gorgeously imperfect celebration of community and finding the inner strength to accept yourself, for all your flaws and the stuff you found it hard to deal with. I'll read it again and again.
Agree that it's hard to sympathise with Quoyle (our, um, hero) in the early chapters. Not the heroic type at all... wounded by his father's totally undisguised favouritism towards his spiteful brother. Overweight and ugly. Lacking self confidence, self control... Nor the clichéd anti-establishment anti-hero. In fact dull, dull, dull......
But hang on. Isn't this every man? Who among us is perfect in mind and body? Fat and unsure of ourselves. Tall, gangly and introspective. Tough on the outside, vulnerable and drawn towards self-destructive behaviour on the quiet.
That's how the book draws you slowly in. Characters may have improbably names, but they're more real than most perfect size 8, gym-toned fiction you'll ever read.
The small kids are drawn so well. Such a rarity in an adult novel.
The island and the sea are characters in themselves. Newfoundland, its inlets and offshore islands, abandoned settlements, pragmatic architecture. Punished by - and yet so dependent on - the sea, like the cruel parents that seem to crop up all too often in the book. Buffeted even more by wavering subsidy from remote government that really cannot see through the fog to get a proper picture of life on the the Rock. By the vagiaries of globalisation....
Sounds depressing. But ultimately a redemptive, quiet, gorgeously imperfect celebration of community and finding the inner strength to accept yourself, for all your flaws and the stuff you found it hard to deal with. I'll read it again and again.
37 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I can't believe it has taken me so long to discover 'The Shipping News'. Not just a soul enhancing story but a beautiful and refreshing narrative style. I have never come across a writer like Proulx, her mastery of prose and particulary description is unforgettable. From the first page I knew I was delving into something remarkable.
Reading this I was absoultely transported to life in Newfoundland. The cold, the ice, the wind and the danger all penetrated my imagination and I was frozen stiff reading most of it!
A tragedy with a loveable oaf as a hero, the unforgettable stalwart aunt with her grief and her memories, children with a hope for the future away from modern times. Escape into a harsh world which demands courage and resolution, but the rewards and the education the Quoyle family receive is touching and satisfying.
A tale of loss, history, roots, grief and new beginnings. Never does Proulx weave her plot through rose tinted spectacles and soft nostalgia, rendering this novel as among the best I have ever read.
There is a very naked truth in this novel and it will grind you hard. I'd call it catharsis.
Read this. It's an exploration.
19 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have just about finished reading this book for the 2nd time. I read it about a year ago and it has stayed in my memory so much I had to read it again. The book transports you to the cold and icy Newfoundland where Quoyle finds himself after leaving the tragedy of his 'other' life behind, and doesn't let you forget it even after the final word has been read. And whilst the book is not full of laughs or semtimentality, still through the bleakness and the melancholy is a feeling of hope, of identifying with Quoyle and to some extent with the other characters like the Aunt, Wavey Prowse and even Bunny and Sunshine Quoyle. I found putting the book down extremely difficult, thinking 'just another page'. Proulx drew me into the knot of Quoyle's life and emotions, and I felt more that I was watching events rather than reading about them. I would recommend this truly amazing, touching and thought-provoking book to anyone.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A BIT OF A YAWN
I have to admit that this book defeated me: I got half way and decided not to finish it. It was boring and moved at a snail's pace. Read more
Published 9 hours ago by Rocke Harder
A gem
This is a gem of a book and I was so sorry when it came to end. Essentially, it is the story of a somewhat hapless large and overweight man in his late thirties with two daughters... Read more
Published 2 months ago by lesharris
Read the reviews but give it a go
From the reviews so far it seems that this book is either deeply loved or loathed - there are no half way opinions. Read more
Published 2 months ago by James L. Munro
The snoring news
Having recently finished this book I can't spend much time reviewing it as I feel I have wasted too much time reading it. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Damien Robins
A Modern Classic
The Shipping News is possibly one of the best modern books I have ever read. Proulx uses a similar peotic language to that of John Steinbeck, speaking to you both casually but with... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Ben Earle
Excellent service, thanks
I have borrowed this book from the local library several times and decided I just had to have a copy for myself. Read more
Published 4 months ago by R. Mcdonald
Made me want to visit Newfoundland
There is something wonderfully peaceful about this novel, despite the fact it often deals with difficult issues and unhappy characters. Read more
Published 10 months ago by KeenAsRadioactivity
A Light Novel with a Dark One Trying to Get Out
The central character of "The Shipping News" is Quoyle- we never learn his Christian name-, a thirty-something journalist with a local newspaper in upstate New York. Read more
Published 10 months ago by J C E Hitchcock
Disappointing....
This was a book I had been meaning to read for a while as it is a book which often crops uop in recommendations on here and for me and looked quite interesting. Read more
Published 12 months ago by K. Doig
Annie Proulx - The Shipping News
This book starts of with our main man Quoyle living in New York with two young daughter's and a cheating wife who doesnt love him, Quoyle's unhappy with his one way love to this... Read more
Published 14 months ago by molko
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