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Summary: Beautiful, imaginative, absorbing with a nice message.
Review: I didn't know what the hell it all meant untill the last few chapters. This is an imaginative and absorbing story of how our societal chaos immpacts on everyday folk. However it also reveals that everyday folk are often not what they seem. Ms Proulx researches and creates her characters with amazing detail. Not for everyone but great if you've got the guts to stick it out.
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Summary: NEW YORKER FINDS NEWFOUNDLAND NOVEL "AN ORDEAL"
Review: I'm afraid I must agree with others who panned the book. The main character, Quoyle, seemed like a lumbering idiot, who happened to luck into a bit of happiness. I'm sure that Quoyle was a manifestation in abundant flesh of a certain internal ugleness that the author feels. But Quoyle never became real for me, and I saw this book as an exericse more than a novel: Can the author find symbolic characters and landscapes and objects (the knots! enough already!) to express her torment. On the other hand, the author's use of language was remarkeable, and her apparent knowledge of Newfoundland life was sweeping. And I did like her occasional expression of life in terse headlines. Like the one above.
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Summary: A boatload of awards, a handful of charm.
Review: Characters are interesting from a distance, plot moves with the speed of the retreating sea ice, and the ending just ends, still I enjoyed it.
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Summary: Read this book more than once.....Again and Again
Review: If I could have any wish in the world I would be a great writer. To put your name on the cover of "The Shipping News" makes you the greatest. Thank you Annie Proulx.
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Summary: Wonderful Book, Worth Reading
Review: I had read Proulx's short stories and was immediately engaged by her painterly way of writing. Given that my grandparents had emigrated to the St. John's area of Newfoundland from Ireland, I was a perfect customer for her, "The Shipping News." After reading the book, I visited my grandfather's home in Bay Roberts and confirmed Proulx's assessment of a warmly severe land and people. I loved this book... it's helped me to realize the complexity and worth of the seemingly insignificant among us.
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Summary: When Bad Things Happen To Stupid People
Review: I read this book while visiting some relatives in Nova Scotia a few years back. Having read it already, my aunt gave it to me with the lukewarm encouragement, "It's won several awards, they say." None of the characters engaged me in any way. Nothing compelling seemed to happen, perhaps the only exception being when Wavey revealed her late husband's true self. But by then it was too late in the book for me to really care. As a whole, it seemed to be the same sort of misadventures of the maladroit as _Beavis and Butthead_, a work that can only be enjoyed by standing steadfastly outside the narrative frame and smirking at the mishaps within. After vacation, I got rid of the book by handing it off to one of my co-workers. His reaction to it was, "Great books don't come out every year. Sometimes not even good ones come out. But every year, they still have to pass out the awards."
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Summary: Ultimately uplifting and satisfying view of human resilience
Review: Given the uneven quality of the books which are considered for the Pulitzer and the inconsistancy of merit in those that win it, it is refreshing to find such a worthy recipient. Like another great modern American author Proulx amply demonstrates her skill in creating a somewhat bizarre set of circumstances yet populating it with highly believable, and absorbing, characters. Having done so she explores the heights and depths (mostly!) of the human condition in such a way that one is compelled to keep turning the pages. The reader is drawn into these lives and within 50 or 60 pages is willing a finer destiny for most of them. Meloncholy they may be but quitters they're not...or are they? Every page provides new evidence, and a new dilemma to face. As with Irving, or indeed with Hardy or Dickens, stick with this book and with its cast of characters and victims and you will learn to never give up on the resilience of human society.
Rating: 
Summary: Several Steps Too Far...
Review: I wanted to like this book. Really, I did. Proulx can certainly write, and I liked the fragmentary style referred to by a.n.other reader in these reviews. The descriptions are evocative, but somehow I couldn't quite engage with the characters. However, my main gripe about this books is the plot. Through the course of the story, Quoyle experiences a number of events, each of which, on their own, are plausible. However, in combining ALL these elements into a single narrative thread centred around one person, my willing suspension of disbelief gave up... So, I found the whole thing a bit far-fetched, which was a shame when the canvas itself was so well executed.
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Summary: Wonderful characters...I was sorry when it ended.
Review: Although not something I would normally read, I picked up THE SHIPPING NEWS on the advice of a friend (who had listened to the audio book). Although the storyline is not "action-packed" or "a-mile-a-minute" I was intriqued with the characters. When I finished (in record time), I was sorry to let them go. The writing was so clear that I could easily see them in my head.
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Summary: Wonderful, Quirky Book, Definitely Different
Review: Because both of my mother's parents were born and raised in Newfoundland, I have always been very curious about the place and its people and was thrilled when this book came out. I know very little about Newfoundland because my grandparents came to Boston and were so busy raising 9 children that they never went back. They died when I was still young. Although they were patriotic Americans who sent five sons to war, they always referred to Newfoundland as "home". I was interested in the comments from the Newfoundlander that found the book somewhat insulting. I wonder why - I thought the people portrayed were people I would like to know. Did she think they were portrayed as being too simple? I am truly interested in this. Aside from that, I loved the story and found it very different and engaging and loved the beautiful atmosphere of Newfoundland. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes good fiction.
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