Rating: 
Summary: Save me from Pulitzer Prize Books
Review: How such a poorly written book won a Pulitzer Prize is beyond me. Gimicky prose with continuous annoying sentence fragments drove me nuts and kept distracting from the story line. Story line was mediocre at best. There was more boring prose about the driveway up to the house than about some characters. At least the movie had some visual stimuli to keep it going. Save the gimick writing and give me some decent readable English.
Rating: 
Summary: I Didn't Get It. Pulitzer Prize ???????
Review: Maybe I'm old fashioned, but sentence fragments annoy me. I'm especialy annoyed when the author uses them over and over. This book is lushly written, but has no central plot. I was left only with a feeling that Newfoundland isn't too nice of a place to live. I know that I'm out of the mainstream. I mean, Pulitzer Prize and all. ( God, now I'm using sentence fragments, too.)
This book is for the reader who loves lush descriptions, and who doesn't care much about a story never going anywhere.
Rating: 
Summary: unique
Review: Well! wasn`t i surprised when I started to read this novel! The descriptive writing is both outstanding and challenging to the mind, and the storyline takes you on a joyride from pleasantries to utmost disgust. The storyline is about one man,Quoyle,and his successes in life ( which are seldom) and his numerous failures ( so he believes ).How there is hope for all of us if we are willing to take the chance.
I loved the writing and the little headliners Quoyle makes up to sum up things that have happened.The story also has many strange and wonderful characters whom we never quite get to know,however,we are fed one line sentences that make you wonder if we really want to know the rest!
Rating:
Summary: UGH - 4 years and I STILL can't finish this book
Review: I picked up this book because I heard she was a great author and this book had won the Pulitzer. That was over 4 years ago and I still haven't made it half way through. Although her writing is very descriptive and lush it just DRAGS and feels like such an effort to read. When the movie came out I thought "Good, now I can at least I can see what the story was all about", but guess what? My husband and I walked out about 1/3 of the way through - we just couldn't stand it. Guess it wasn't meant to be and I'll never know what happens to Quoyle. P.S. Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune recently wrote a column about how much time one should invest in trying to read a book before calling it quits. Interestingly "The Shipping News" was one that he also couldn't get through! At least I'm not the only one.
Rating:
Summary: Difficult to read
Review: This book would have been easier to read if Ms. Proulx did not use so many sentence fragments. I know that she deliberately used them to give the reader a sense of the characters' thoughts. But there are simply too many of them that they actually detract from the story.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for everyone--but wonderful
Review: I'm sure this book isn't for everyone. I wouldn't recommend it to but a few friends. But I loved it. It is a somewhat challenging read but well worth the effort--contrary to the comments of some less-than-kind reviewers. Once I surrendered myself to Ms. Proulx's unique style, I became part of this book--the land and seascape of Newfoundland and these wonderfully average yet quietly evolving characters. Some Amazon[.com] reviewers complained about what I found most endearing to the story. If you're up for it and open minded to the challenges of this book, you'll reap the reward. I didn't want it to end.
Rating:
Summary: I kept hoping it would get better
Review: I'd heard good things about this book, and when I started to read it and it didn't grab me, I kept hoping it would get better. It didn't. The characters were completely flat, and the plot...well, I'm not entirely sure there was one. I normally hate leaving books unfinished, even if I'm not wild about them. However, I got within 30 pages of the end of this one, and I couldn't bring myself to finish it. It was just too painful.
Rating:
Summary: Returning to a simpler lifestyle for a happier existence
Review: This is the story of Quoyle, a total loser whose life has been so dysfunctional that he has come to expect nothing but ill treatment and ridicule. His father rejected him and preferred his brother, his career is a disaster and his wife flaunts her promiscuity in his face and eventually leaves him, taking the children so she can sell them. Following the deaths of his father and his wife, the loss of his job and facing a future as a single parent of two young daughters, Quoyle decides to return with his aunt to Newfoundland, where his paternal family had its roots. It is here in a small town that Quoyle at last finds a place for himself and discovers the true meaning of community.
As well as being the story of a man's journey toward inner peace, "The Shipping News" is packed with sometimes really comic descriptions of small town life in more remote areas, tidbits of Newfoundland history, asides about seafaring and the demise of the fishing and sealing industries. The quick, short sentences in the first part of the book reflect Quoyle's crazed life, later as his life becomes more relaxed the story also flows more smoothly.
I did not see the movie, but the characters on the video box covers are way too good looking to have been characters from "The Shipping News", the novel. The main character, Quoyle is an obese man with red hair and an unusual chin that juts out like a shelf, his appearance is a part of this story.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely wonderful!
Review: I can't praise this book highly enough. It stunned me in the same way that Rabbit, Run did the first time I read it. I don't know how E. Annie Proulx did it, but thank God she did. I also listened to the audio cassette version (unabridged) and it truly illustrates her gifts. I haven't seen the film version of this book, but, as I often say about films based on novels, I hope it does this wonderful gem justice. Excellent read...
Rating:
Summary: A Stunning Fiction
Review: Can love occur without pain or misery? One can answer this profound question after reading Proulx's award-winning fiction, THE SHIPPING NEWS. THE SHIPPING NEWS is a rare, impressive novel that you can read anywhere and anytime. This is a delightful comedy about an incredibly hapless man (Quoyle) , the people around him, and the contemporary life (and past) of Newfoundland, the land of Quoyle's forefathers. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize (1994) and the National Book Award, this is one beautiful, uplifting and fine novel. A work that's always exhilarating!
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