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Summary: Seasick
Review: The incredibly choppy writing quickly became nauseating. The themes likewise.
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Summary: The Newfoundland coast
Review: "The Shipping News" is one of three novels Annie Proulx has written so far. Short stories used to be her specialty, but having read this novel, I must say that it's definitely superior to "Close Range: Wyoming Stories", a recent 1999 collection of short stories. Snip: (...).
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Summary: The Shipping \News
Review: Somewhere, someone is laughing up their sleeve at those who pass out literary awards. This book is a hoax, the Piltdown Man of literature. It is unpleasant to read for many reasons. It is full of incomplete sentences, missing verbs and articles, use of uncommon words, invention of words, meaningless metaphors, etc. The author tried to develop a unique style, and she was able to do this, at he expense of readability eg. "ocean the color of juice", "eyes the color of plastic", words such as knout, dottle, gledgy, rutched, gyred, caplin, gansey and many others, none of which are in my copy of Webster's New World Dictionary. I can't imagine why it won awards, but since it did, many people must praise it for fear of not showing literary correctness. I've always relied upon literary awards as a criterion when searching for books to read. Thats why I bought this one. I'll have to be more careful. Some books hard to put down, but not this one. I should never have picked it up.
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Summary: A Review of The Shipping News
Review: Unlike some of the reviewers, I learned of this book from television promos for the movie. When a book is made into a movie, I make it a point of reading the book first. I thorougly enjoyed The Shipping News. As were some of the other reviewers, I was initially "turned off" by the style of the writing. The sentence fragments were a bit unnerving. But as I got into the story and became acquainted with the characters, I was so drawn into what was happening that the writing style no longer got in the way.In fact, the sentence fragments took on the quality of being the thoughts of the characters. (And after all, don't we all "think" in sentence fragments?) I enjoyed the bizarre twists and turns of the various plots. I especially loved the quirky names of the characters. I was caught totally off guard by the surprise ending! I was a little disappointed that the outcomes of the lives of the various characters were not elucidated a little more at the end. But then I guess it's fun to decide some of those things for ourselves. Although it was the television ad for the movie that originally drew me to the book, I am not so sure that I want to see the movie. I am not sure it could do justice to the "movie" created in my head by this unusual book. My book group is currently reading it, at my suggestion, and I will look forward to their comments.
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Summary: Be patient...it gets really good
Review: I almost gave up on this book. But I'm glad I didn't. The first couple of chapters bothered me because the 'evil' character was so one-dimensional. The weird names each of the characters had also annoyed me. Each name was unusual, but in the same predictable way (Quoyle, Ed Punch, Petal Bear, Bunny and Sunshine, Billy Pretty, Diddy Shovel, Tert Card, Nutbeem, Dennis Buggit, Benny Fudge, Mavis Bangs,Wavey Prouse, to name a few). Made you want to get a John Smith or Lester Rosenthal in there somehow. HOWEVER, once I got on a roll and passed chapter two, the characters came alive and were engaging. I enjoyed learning about Newfoundland history and geography.
Rating: 
Summary: An acquired taste
Review: I picked up the Shipping News after a recent trip to Canada, where I listened to some Newfoundlanders debating as to whether or not the novel captures the spirit of the life and people there. Proulx's writing style has a strange rhythm to it, which takes some getting used to. Once I got accustomed to the strange sentence fragments and occasional run-on I had an easy time getting into the mood of the novel. This is not a plot-driven story, nor is it filled with eventful scenes or dynamic characters. However, in my opinion this quiet-ness is an appealing quality; Proulx does a good job in fleshing out characters that, despite their ordinariness, I found to be compelling. One character that Proulx does seem to have a bit of fun with is Petal, the protagonist's wife whose unexpected death sets him off on his adventure. She's neither the deepest nor the best developed character in the novel, but Petal does make a good villain and the reader cheers her demise. That said, the book's pacing is slow. It hooks you just enough to keep you turning the pages, wondering where all of this will lead. In the end this works because Proulx takes some risks with then conclusion. If the plot's quiet uneventfulness had simply coasted through the final pages I would have been frustrated with the Shipping News, but in the end Proulx saves the novel. Not everything works. Near the end there is a clumsy bit of foreshadowing (a dream which predictably turns to reality) and at times Proulx's poetic style can be distracting. I haven't read other work by her, but one supposes that her style might be more suitable for poetry or short stories. Shipping News is not a must-read, in my opinion, but I found it to be interesting and, at times, compelling. And like most poetry - either you'll like it or you won't; depends on your taste.
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Summary: Highly recommended...
Review: Don't read this book because you just saw the movie trailer or heard that it won an award; read it because you're interested in engaging characters, poetic writing, and an intricate plot with a unifying theme.
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Summary: Dizzyingly beautiful
Review: To those who claim Annie Proulx doesn't know how to write a "proper sentence", I ask this question: has anyone read any really good poetry lately? For this novel is a sensitively-written prose-poem, which gets into the deeper layers of both the characters and the atmosphere/setting as only a top-notch poem can. It's anything but dull and plodding; this is sheer artistry, a dazzling performance by one of our finest writers. The movie was okay, but it was like a nice box of raisins compared to lush, dew-misted grapes eaten straight off the vine. I love you, Annie Proulx!
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Summary: From Eeking Out An Existence to Living
Review: Certainly a different and challenging style for opening chapters. Call it familiarity or rythym but it works as this skilled wordsmith weaves a captivating story (at least for this reviewer) about a man who seemed destined to use and abuse. Back to roots. To the sea. Remote place. Proulx is into that kind of place. Out of the way, Wyoming, Newfoundland. Ranching and shipping. Makes it come to life. Family lines found and disturbing of piratcy and home yanking across frozen ice. Fascinating end. Community delight. All seems right again with main character. Come home. Found home. Good for him, and Wavey and offspring of Petal. Enjoyed time at the sea with vivid characters. Now understand Pulitzer for Annie. Agree with their choice. Remarkable story.
Rating:
Summary: A Sublime Classic
Review: I understand why many reviewers here have disliked this book because it is an awkward read of an awkward man. But with that said, once I found this book's rhythm and heart I became enthralled with it. It's poetic, darkly funny, profoundly original and ultimately heartwarming. It is also a vigorously intelligent read-filled with metaphor and foreshadowing sure to keep a reader with an active mind on their toes throughout. I hate the idea that it has been made into a movie though. Too much of this tale is internalized in character's minds to be much of a filmic experience. I also have trouble with the casting of the wonderful Kevin Spacey as Quoyle. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was born to play Quoyle and it's a shame he didn't get the part.
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