Rating: 
Summary: Um, yeah, that emperor has no clothes on
Review: It's obvious that the Pulitzer Prize was done a great disservice here. This is a dull book with dull characters and an overbearing narrator who won't go away to allow me to get interested in the story. Though I don't know why I'm complaining--there is no story. A lot has been said about this being a book geared toward the more "literary" crowd; well, I've got an MA in English and I find this plotless little thing intolerable. Don't let anyone tell you that if you don't like this book you're stupid.
Rating: 
Summary: A Journey of Discovery in Newfoundland
Review: At 36, Quoyle seems to have few talents. As a husband and a newspaperman he lacks the spit and polish that would enable him to succeed at either.
After his wife abandons him for the last time,he is left to raise their two daughters alone and find a new job. Quoyle retreats to Newfoundland where he takes over the local newspaper, The Shipping News.
Here he begins a long journey of discovery. Not only does he find hope in the home of his ancestors, he discovers what love and real friendship is all about.
Many of the characters in Proulx's novel are unlike any I have ever read about. The flaws and mistakes that they experience gives a more realistic view to what life is really like.
Rating:
Summary: On my top 5 list
Review: The Shipping News is one of a few books that I have reread and reread. Very interesting characters, dark humor, and a moody landscape are described with an economy of words. To me, this book is magical
Rating:
Summary: "Quoyle Quest" A Personal Journey
Review: Perhaps it's because I read "The Shipping News" at a particularly vulnerable phase of my life--lost, unfocused, directionless--but I can say without hesitation that this novel
changed my life. A large sentiment, indeed, but one that I stand by even 7 years after my first read (I haved vowed to reread the novel at least once each year to remind me of how far I have come!) Quoyle is "everyman," or rather, every ordinary man. There is little unique about Quoyle's life...it is mundane, mediocre, and peppered with bad judgment, particularly with affairs of the heart. For those of us lucky enough to have experienced the "demon lover," however, Quoyle's madness for the devastating Petal strikes excrutiatingly close to home. Drawn into passion for a passionless woman makes no sense to a rational and objective mind, but this is the business of life, a most extraordinary,complex and mysterious journey.
The essence and true intent of the novel is recovery. We watch Quoyle as he transforms by miniscule degrees. There are no great revelations in his search for a good and meaningful life, just slow turnings (with a nod to John Hiatt). His growing love for Wavey isn't the stuff of champagne and fireworks. Instead it evolves, like the fragile threads of a finely woven and durable knot.
"The Shipping News" altered my own personal view of life and led me to see life as a process of change. I came to understand that life is merely a journey and each day, each experience, is a small step-stone toward achieving a full life. I no longer expect miracles: to quote Paul Simon, "when something goes wrong I'm the first to admit it." But what is retained from this novel is the knowlege that each day is a small part of a long journey with an unknown, unexpected result. This novel gave me the courage to endure the small and frequently mundane aspects of an ordinary life. When viewed in this light, every moment is momentous indeed.
Without doubt, "The Shipping News" changed my life. I am far more hopeful since incorporating it's lessons into my own growth as a "human bean."
I recommend it without reservation. For those of it who truly "get it" this novel can be life transforming. For those of us who don't--it's a sadly missed opportunity.
Rating:
Summary: flawed but great
Review: I didn't care that this book wasn't perfect. The plot was not convincing and there were technical flaws in its structure.The first section of the book was the worst, least convincing and poorly characterized. It is only when Quoyle reaches Newfoundland that Proulx reaches her stride. This is because this book is really about Newfoundland and its people. Annie Proulx's prose is wonderful and by the end of the book she managed to convey a truly sympathetic (if also totally quirky) picture of the people of Newfoundland. If you are quite happy living in your comfortable apartment in your smoky city, this book will probably bore you. If you enjoy extremes of weather and an adventurous life, you may have a greater sympathy with this book and its characters. Despite its many flaws, I would have to rate this as one of my favourite books all-time now. Why? It conveyed such a warm and sympathetic picture of a people on the edge of civilization, tryting to maintain a dying lifestyle. You could tell she genuinely liked the people she based these characters on, despite their many quirks and character flaws. The metaphoric chapter structure based on knots is also very clever, but for me it was the sheer humanity of her characters as they cope with their extreme environment that did it for me.
Rating:
Summary: Pulizer Prize Winning Snore
Review: Maybe as a Pulizer Prize winner I guess I expected more, but even 100 pages into it I started guessing that the reviewers fell asleep while reading it and just dreamed it was a good book. A little harsh? Maybe. But the characters were boring (not to mention self-pitiful and all around pathetic, I really couldn't care less about them), storyline predictable, and the setting couldn't have been more dull.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible!
Review: I was looking forward to reading this book but was sorely disappointed! A dreadful tale about a dull person who has nothing good happen. Not recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Splendid and wonderful!
Review: Put down that other book and go out and buy, borrow or get over to the library and request this wonderful book. I read the Shipping News a few years ago on the suggestion of a mom at our preschool. I was hesitant at first, but became quickly taken by this thoughtful,beautifully written book. Proulx includes endless details and each chapter begins with a lesson on knot tying. There is a metaphor there. Read this book and have the best read you have had in awhile.
Rating: 
Summary: An offbeat journey
Review: The Shipping News is a quirky book, and since I had not read Annie Proulx before it took a while to get used to her writing style. Quoyle is a man in a loveless marriage to a trailer trash queen who treats him horribly, and he is stuck in a dead end life in upstate NY. After a major event in the book Quoyle meets his aunt and decides to take his children to Newfoundland to start anew. The journey is the thing in this novel, as Quoyle struggles to fit into his new strange world, trying to build a life. Not much happens, it's about a middle aged man awakening to new sensations and hopes. The mood is light but never frivolous, as Quoyle is presented both symapthetically and as a man who lacks drive and is in need of some. The locals provide colour, and I don't think the portrayal of them is condescending or out of line, it could be any small village scenario anywhere in the world. The book differs from the movie in certain ways, and I don't think Kevin Spacey was a good fit here. Newfoundlander Gordon Pinsent on the other hand fit right in! The Shipping News is a good summer read, perhaps overrated in some ways but one should sit back and relax and let the setting and characters settle in nicely at their own pace, in that way the book can be enjoyed.
Rating:
Summary: A Dreadful Bore!!!
Review: I'm beginning to equate the Pulitzer Prize with a film winning the Academy Award for best of its year. Invariably that film is completely undeserving and you wonder how in the hell it was even nominated. It must be politics or something or maybe the Pulitzer committee does make-up awards the same way the Academy does because I can't think of one good reason they may have had to give this hunk of tripe the Pulitzer Prize for best novel of its year. Of course, I don't know what its competition was for that year but I do know what I read or should I say struggled to read. And it was painful, at best. Characters I couldn't care less about and a story I found uninvolving all the way. Please, people, don't waste your money. Take it out of the library if you must or rent the movie. Haven't seen it but it can't be any worse an experience than slogging through this. And I also agree that Kevin Spacey is one of the last actors that would come to my mind if I were casting the role of Quoyle. What were they thinking?!
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