Rating: 
Summary: A fine yarn
Review: Let me state at the outset that I am a Newfoundlander. I spent the first 38 years of my life on the island, cursing and loving the fickle weather, the stark landscape and the smothering isolation.Concurrent with life in such a place is a certain xenophobia. Part pride, part fear, it tends to rear its head when someone from "away" decides to tell us about ourselves. Annie Proulx is a "come-from-away", an outsider who came and settled for a time in Newfoundland, then went away and brought forth "The Shipping News". By that time I'd moved off the island, like so many of my fellow Newfoundlanders. I left by choice to pursue a career opportunity, but it was still a wrenching experience. Thousands of others have had no choice but to leave, with the collapse of the fishery and the ensuing economic hardships. For them, leaving Newfoundland is a heart-breaking decision, because their loyalty to family and to the place is as fierce as a November gale. A few years after I heard about a curious new novel written by an American and set in Newfoundland. So I read it. As Quoyle made his inexorable if apprehensive way to Newfoundland I found myself wondering whether I would recognize Annie Proulx's version of my native province. Not only did I recognize it, I came to know it better. She had found the poetry of the place, the brutal indifference of sea and stone, the soft light and the muffling fog. And the voices of the people. Not a word rang false. "The Shipping News" is rich in atmosphere, populated by people I know. It is a work fine in its observation and true in its telling. It's what Newfoundlanders would call a "fine yarn".
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and intriguing
Review: I really enjoyed this book, from the first chapter on. I think possibly the draw for me was the tongue-in-cheek way that Proulx described situations and characters. Everything was quite matter of fact. The symbolism behind the chapter names and descriptions were quite clever... each chapter was named after a particular knot. It was definitely deserving of its Pulitzer Prize.
Rating: 
Summary: The Shipping News is a new cure for insomnia
Review: I started this book with great hope and excitment and within 100 pages I knew I was in trouble. I could not keep my eyes open. Boring! Boring! Boring!! Unsympathetic characters and worse...pretentious prose! Give me a break. Better yet...give me my money back!
Rating: 
Summary: Great characterization
Review: Proulx was able to give each of her characters a believable identity through focusing on their naivete and innocence. The children were the most well drawn out characters of the book because of the comments they make regarding death, friendship, life, etc. Their views are are very common among other children, and Proulx writes them extremely well. I feel that the children in her story were the most believable characters i've ever read about, due to their very naive outlooks. Her adults were also quite believable, but they didn't show the same believable innocence of the children. Quoyle's naivete had a tendency to get annoying and made you want him to stop the loser act and move on. When the children display this quality, however, it's cute and believable, due to the fact that that's what a large part of being a child is: being naive and innocent, two qualities it seems Proulx enjoys writing about.
Rating: 
Summary: A Unique Book About Ordinary People Living Dull Lives
Review: I was assigned "The Shipping News" for my Senior English class and it invoked rather indifferent feelings. I appreciated Proulx's unique, pensive, and insightful descriptions of everyday objects and occurences that often go unnoticed. There is an underlying humor in the quirkyness of the character's lives and experiences that adds enjoyment to the reading. However, the plot is rather dull as well as the lives of the characters in the book. It is similar to Faulkner's " As I Lay Dying" in the fact that it deals with the stream of conciousness of the characters,psychology,and choppy, matter of fact sentences. I highly recommend the book to readers who appreciate unique, offbeat writing styles, and the development of character's subconcious minds. However, for the reader who is engaged by exciting, action filled literature, this book is not for you; you will find it extremely difficult to become engaged in it and be enthusiastic to be following the lives of the characters. " The Shipping News" is highly recommended for careful readers who are appreciative of unique descriptions and the development of the mind and lives of ordinary people.
Rating:
Summary: Girl Finds Hope in Depressing Novel
Review: When my teacher announced the next book we would be reading in my 12th grade Honors English class would be "The Shipping News" by E. Annie Proulx, I groaned. In fact, we all did. After struggling through one or two of the books we had had to read thus far that we found practically unbearable, we knew that if our teacher was that excited about this book, it must be bad. Partly because I had taken such a pessimistic approach, the first thirty pages just dragged and dragged. I was dissappointed about being right about yet another required book. But then the pages started to turn and I found in this book literary beauty unchallenged in any capacity. Set in a small town by the sea in Newfoundland, the words and story flow as smoothly as the ocean waves. It is an extremely internal journey the main character, Quoyle, takes that we have the joy of experiencing with him through his stream-of-conciousness. Aside from the beauty in the writing, however, the story abounds with psychological richness. It is not a book for everyone. If you are intrigued only by fast-moving books with lots of action and lacking in emotional depth, this is not a book for you. I do reccommend this book strongly to anyone who enjoys a deep look at the personal growth of others and themselves.
Rating:
Summary: OPEN MiNdS will LIKE this book!
Review: Fluid. Yet an evasive meaning. You need to get through a hundred pages or so before you realize: it's not necessarily the plot you are beginning to enjoy. It's the characters. The writing style. The reader needs to get into the characters' head to fully understand what is being said and felt. Pretend you are making your life into a book. It is much easier to write and express your thoughts and actions with the style Proulx uses. What is the point of all the extra words anyway? They are not needed. A waste of time. You should be able to figure out what she means. Put your life in the simple, Newfie's shoes--little things are much more exciting to an island of inbreds and fisherman (or both) :รพ Next, for anyone who has been in love, knows what it's like. Whether to let go and live on or to love the memories; it's hard to have cherished memories while trying to love another. The book is only written with fragments if you are not following it correctly. It is written with the fluid-ness of how we think. Random thoughts that come out with a word or two but explain all.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent for readers who appreciate writing
Review: Don't pick up the Shipping News if you are looking for a novel with a gripping plot and colorful characters. But if you can appreciate beautiful writing and description, look no further.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't find plot or meaning in long, choppy description.
Review: When I began reading The Shipping News for my 12th grade English class, my teacher warned the class that the writing style was somewhat difficult to adjust to. This was an enormous understatement. Proulx writes in choppy fragments, causing the reader to constantly question what she is actually trying to say. Her descriptions are drawn out with very little actual plot. (200 pages describing the nature of Newfoundland may be beautiful, but it isn't really a novel). Although the book is supposed to describe Quoyle's growth and development as a character, it seems that only the situation around him improves, while Quoyle himself doesn't really change. Unfortunately I was never able to adjust myself to the writing style or attach myself to the characters. I'm sorry to say that this is one of the worst books that I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: It was great!
Review: The descriptions of hopeless Quoyle transforming into a man with confidence and poise were well worth the slow beginning of this novel. Although Quoyle's life is at one time full of despair and rejection, he manages to find a bit of happiness in his ancestral Newfoundland despite the painful past his family name has left for him. The ability to believe the sometimes "unbelievable" is the one thing you must be able to do while reading The Shipping News and if you succeed in that Quoyle and his support staff will take you from there.
| 
