SHIPPING NEWS

Rating:
Summary: Rings totally false
Review: Newfoundlanders, according to Proulx: a simple but well-meaning collection of losers who are too stupid to get the next boat off a wretched island, who are inarticulate and incapable of the higher thought processes attributed to mainlanders (like the paternalistic author, whose claims to being somehow connected to the province as anything other than a rather myopic voyeur are false). If someone wrote this drivel about another ethnic group they would be taken out and shot, not given the Pulitzer prize.

Rating:
Summary: what is the big deal
Review: The only types of books that I read are the ones that win awards. So when I so the accolades given to this book I expected a lot from it. But when I finished the book I didn't now what the big deal was. Can someone please tell me. I thought that this book should've even come close to winning the Pulitzer. Past winners like Beloved, Lonesome Dove, and The Color Purple which by the way are some my favorite novel are 100 times better than Shipping News.

Rating:
Summary: The Hulking Quoyle Unknots The Ropes Of Msery.
Review: I found this lying on a library table in 1992. It was open to one of the many descriptions of different knots. That hook brought it to the checkout. Twenty-four hours later I was sitting in my chair, having skipped sleep, family and obligations of the world. I was physcially exhausted, emotionally exhausted and totally amazed. Proulx, your creation of Quoyle and his world is a masterpiece, and I'll go on saying so, despite how many awards this book wins.

Rating:
Summary: I didn't expect to like it....
Review: When I started reading this book, I almost put it down. The situations seemed just a little too contrived. I'm glad that I stuck with it. The author allowed Quolye to grow into someone who had a prospect of finding a little happiness. I grew to like him and his aunt. While many events in the book are a little hard to believe, this did not detract from the overall quality of the writing for me. The descriptive passages are very good. You can feel the cold and smell the salt air. It's not the best book that I've ever read; but, it wasn't a total waste of time, either.

Rating:
Summary: Fiction At Its Best
Review: The Shipping News was a book that I had no intentions of reading. Rave reviews flew past me in the library I work at but did not intrest me. One day, as the book was being returned, I picked it up and noticed that this Pulitzer Prize novel was all fragments! As I read, I became engrossed in the life of Quoyle due to the carefully written details. Proulx reminded me of Updike in her fine way of writting beautifully about virtually nothing. If you enjoy a book with minimal vulgar language, and other profanities, I feel that the Shipping News is a book that will be enjoyed by you!

Rating:
Summary: The Shpping News.........a fine love story
Review: Proulx's novel is a beautifully crafted love story set in a bleak landscape. She is a fine stylist, and some sentences are so beautifully crafted that they linger in the memory for some time. Her genius here is creating an engaging love story about two very unlikely and decidedly unromantic lovers. Read it next to a fire with great bottle of Cabernet.

Rating:
Summary: Pulitzer Prize ?? Think not!!
Review: Short confusing sentences, unsympathetic uninteresting characters [except the aunt].Whats to like? It seemed like Proulx stole Ignatius Reilly from Confederacy Of The Dunces and moved him up north.The book wasn't as funny or well written but it got the Pulitzer Prize before and it worked again.

Rating:
Summary: Recommended by Deborah's Book Club
Review: Top quality fiction. Well written and engrossing. Do not miss it.

Rating:
Summary: An unimpressed Newfoundlander
Review: I'm glad that Proulx has painted a picture of Newfoundland that non-Nflders find refreshing, quaint, and sweet. However, as a Newfoundlander, I was insulted with her portrayal of my province and my people. Her characters were belittling; the attempt at the dialect was inconsistent and entirely inappropriate. As far as her writing style goes, I do not enjoy reading a book scattered liberally with non-sentences. Proulx used Nfld. to make money for herself...in no other book but The Shipping News does the jacket cover claim that she lives part time in Newfoundland. That is because she doesn't.

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: If you haven't read a book in a long time, pick this up, and it will restore your faith. In all honestly, this is probably the best book in the last twenty years. A clever plot with simple structure is a great triumph. Set in Nova Scotia, a man, his aunt, and his two daughters go through the trial and tribulations of life. Very realistic.