Bleak but hopeful, mystical and magical – a belated coming-of-age story. Proulx had a hard road to climb with me to get Nfld right, as The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is my gold standard in that regard. But she succeeded magnificently. Treated the place as a character, as it needs to be.

This is an evocative exploration of one man’s inner landscape – as harsh and unknown to him at the start as the one to which he is forced to return. Themes of confronting a familial legacy of shame, abuse and rejection; of healing from the storm of the past and letting go of it, so as to love – one’s children, oneself, another. Also: the way place defines character; past defines present. Both can, must be endured -- but both can also be transcended.

Proulx’s prose is crisp and article-less; mimicking the Newfie vernacular well. Her similes are unerringly well-chosen - early morning pink clouds "like salmon fillets"; an early winter sea "like a grim tweed." So many more. The uniting motif and metaphor of the knots woven through scene layered on scene, tying together character and plot. Clever, not cutesy.

I loved it. Very similar in tone, character and theme to Affliction -- you can feel the cold damp wind blow through you. However, the poetry of Proulx's writing landed this unequivocally in the five-star category for me, as such:

"These waters, thought Quoyle, haunted by lost ships, fishermen, explorers gurgled down into sea holes as black as a dog's throat. Bawling into salt broth. Vikings down the cracking winds, steering through fog by the polarized light of sun-stones. The Inuit in skin boats, breathing, breathing, rhythmic suck of frigid air, iced paddles dipping, spray freezing, sleek back rising, jostle, the boat torn, spiraling down. Millenial bergs from the glaciers, morbid, silent except for waves breaking on their flanks, the deceiving sound of shoreline where there was no shore. Foghorns, smothered gun reports along the coast. Ice welding land to sea. Frost smoke. Clouds mottled by reflections of water holes in the plains of ice. The glare of ice erasing dimension, distance, subjecting senses to mirage and illusion. A rare place."

Having only just turned the last page, all I can be sure of is that this is certainly one of the best books I have ever read. What a fantastic way to end/start the year!

The Shipping News begins in New York, where Quoyle, a lonely, sad, awkward, and unattractive man, who always does the wrong thing, fails to find much success in any part of his life. After a rapid series of tragic events, Quoyle and his small family, his two young daughters and aunt, decide to move to their ancestral home in Newfoundland. The majority of the novel centres on the lives of the isolated community who live in this cold, bleak place. The detail and depth to all the characters is remarkable, and the story itself is one of humanity and the pursuit of happiness. Quoyle begins the book as not the most endearing of characters, but as the book moved along my heart literally ached with sympathy for him, as he struggles to overcome his feelings of defeat and self-contempt, and eventually learns that he is allowed to be happy, to love without pain.

From the very first page, I knew I was in for something special. The prose is exquisite thanks to Proulx's unique method of using short sentence fragments. The writing seems to flow in this most remarkable way, that demands the reader to slow down and savour every word. So much information and detail is packed into just a few words, so I can see the reward of re-reading this novel many times to come. She also has a wonderful, dark sense of humour, that perfectly captures the personalities of this quirky collection of characters, their strange peculiarities, and darkest secrets. Finally, the novel ends on the most perfect final sentence. There is really not much more to say about life.

The fact that a novel is a Pulitzer Prize Winner For Fiction equates one of the following: A) A book I have to admit I am reading only because it is an award winning, highly lauded title, probably something about "The American Dream"... B) An amazing exception, covering themes integral to our times, so beautifully written that, at once, it is on my all time favorites lists.

Not to be anticlimactic, but this was in the former category. Although it did have its notable merits.

Quoyle. Our hero. Although not in the traditional use. Family name. Name of a geographical place of interest, Quoyle's Point. Name of a knot, a coil that is flat, walked over. Yes, like our hero. Annie Proulx's logology throughout was actually the best part of the novel for me, which included the chapter titles, where excerpts from The Ashley Book of Knots are used. Quoyle is a very passive character throughout most of the story. After the adulterous wife Petal sells the children Bunny & Sunshine (What is with the names?) then subsequently dies with her lover, he decides, in his mourning, to return to his ancestral country with his Aunt Agnis. His friend Partridge finds him a position as a news reporter, specifically reporting the arrivals & departures at the local port. Where is he relocating to? Newfoundland, of course. It is in this land that Quoyle will be newly found. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.

In Newfoundland, we meet a colorful cast of characters, accordingly named. At The Gammy Bird, his coworkers. (The name of an eider, named after their sociable tendencies, but also the newspaper's name. Very witty.) Nutbeem. Tet Card. Billy Pretty. His new love interest, Wavey. Dawn, Mavis Bangs, the associates in Aunt Agnis's Ship Upholstery. Full of vignettes, local stories, "local flavor", family secrets, the reader really has a feel of being in Newfoundland.

By writing for the newspaper, loving his children, learning to love Wavey, he eventually has enough self confidence to not hate himself. Proulx herself has said that she "set out to explore a kind of happiness based on the absence of pain instead of the presence of euphoria or glory".

This book snuck up on me. Tricky tricky. It started out interesting enough. Proulx's writing style is mesmerizing, almost hypnotic. I found the book initially to be a relaxing solace on my commute home after a busy day of work, soley because of its use of language and setting. But I hated the characters. All of them. Quoyle, a big, damp loaf of a man, as Proulx describes him, is the definition of pathetic. His daughters are brats. And his wife Petal is a two-dimensional device created solely as a catalyst for the story to come. In the beginning it felt a little forced. Then at some point in the second half, the book went from a nice little read to a ferocious page-turner, and I still am not sure how it became so compelling. There was no melodramatic conflict introduced. No secret codes to be found in paintings. Instead, Proulx builds her momentum slowly, slowly, taking you deeper into the lives of these characters, who started out so hard, unattractive, broken, and nasty. The thing of it is, they start to feel so honest. Before you know it, their presence is comforting. I found I wanted to be with them. Wanted to be in the boat with Quoyle. Wanted to see the green house. Wanted to go to the Christmas Pageant. Wanted to eat flipper pie with him and the girls. Wanted to welcome Aunt home.

Quoyle finds redemption from a place that itself is bleak, full of hardship, and dying. I found this to be poetic and strangely uplifting. Its sort of the anti-coming of age story. No beautiful starry-eyed twentysomething trotting off to exotic locations or big cities here. Instead, the story of a middle-aged man who hates himself even more than he hates his circumstance, moving back to his modest roots, finding a lot of darkness in the places he comes from. He watches people fall on hard times and move away, endures monotony, deep cold, harsh storms and odd, forced relationships. And in the midst of it he finds friendship, love, and his own self-worth. I just thought it was beautiful. The scene near the end in which Quoyle prepares to attend the wake for one of his close friends, looks at his gigantic naked body in the mirror, and feels a surge of joy to be such an honest and satisfying moment of redemption. This dying place brings him to life, and eventually, for the first time in his life, he finds joy and peace. And he finds it in himself, not in the circumstances around him.

It snuck up on me. I didn't realize until it was too late how hard I had fallen for this lot.

Ah the Shipping News. I remember my heart dropping when I read this book the first time. I thought, "If this is what people are writing, I am no writer."

This book is revolutionary in it's use of language. She punctuates inventively and her punctuation "style" gives her sentences a strange movement. The book moves, it actually moves, as you read it.

There are moments of such pain like when Quoyle lies still in his bed as Petal Bear fucks another man in their home--and it's not written in a way where you feel pity or anger; but you identify, I mean you get still like Quoyle--or I did...

There is this triplet of sentences where Quoyle realizes Bunny may fall from the ladder she is beginning to climb and when I read it, I felt my stomach drop and had a quick intake of breath--but those sentences were non dramatic, not written to scare or startle--it wasn't even the sentences that got me like that, it was like this weird pause orchestrated by creative punctuation.

Oh I really can't explain it...I just think this book is one of the best books I have ever read and by the way, the movie sucked something rancid and you should never see it. But read read read this book.

The Shipping News has won multiple awards, so lots of people highly regard this book. I, however, did not. It started out interestingly enough, but I quickly wanted to move on to something else. Any excuse I could find not to read this book, I'd take it.

Had it not been for the fact this was a book club assignment, there is absolutely no way I would have finished this book. I did not care for the writing style. The short, stunted sentences often caused me to stumble and I would lose my concentration. I don't mind books that challenge me to think, but this writing mechanism was, in my opinion, too overused.

I found the characters to be completely unrelatable and not very interesting. I didn't care one bit about any of them. I didn't feel what they felt. The names were absolutely ridiculous and none of the characters, with the exception of Petal, were very memorable. This will be an easy book to forget, other than all the wasted hours spent just getting through.

The setting was interesting, but I would have liked to explore the town more, and the people a lot less. The plot itself was very lacking. I didn't feel like anything major occurred, or any character development really happened. It just seemed to be one long, boring peek into the every day activities of these utterly flat, lame people.

I read to be entertained, but also to learn. I felt the only thing I learned about anything was knots. If I just wanted to learn about knots, I would have read a book about knots.

So far this is a great read, this book is a little gem. Had to get used to the language and the different way of storytelling, but this story, I love it so far!

Finished it today and what a great book to start 2010 with. I loved it!Loved the story, the characters, the description of the surroundings and the community, the way it is written, loved everything about it. It could have gone on forever for me. This is a feel good story, at least that's how I felt it. It was on my night desk next to the bed for some time and every page I read before sleep gave me joy. Read the most of the book in London pubs. A five star, beautiful gem.

Like with almost every other Pulitzer darling, we accompany the protagonist for the entire ride, & this one is exceptionally literary in that brave, EveryMan-type way. This: the prototype for the ever ambitious, ever elusive Great (semi)American Novel in which the elements of clever prose, revamped/revisited personal histories, of second chances and redemption, are outstandingly clear and pitched at full blast. Many novels read like this, and usually the one in that particular year earns itself magnanimous acclaim. Yes, it tries to do everything right. But why is this not a contemporary classic (ahem, "Middlesex")? Because, after all, as the drama becomes more elevated, the protagonist becomes somewhat... uninteresting. As the atmosphere becomes a desolated (desperate?) return to simplicity, the token characters pile on--the thesis being that with more people around the sadness which is omnipresent is diminished. The only way to succeed in life is to partake in it. Bottom line.

No, this one is not without its problems--this is not Graham Greene, it is not Toni Morrison, it is not Geoffrey Eugenides, after all. Alas, it suffers from similar ailments shared by other Pulitzer winners: it is, at times, a tad too superficial ("A Visit from the Goon Squad"); somewhat dull-ish, small, insignificantish ("Breathing Lessons"); dense ("American Pastoral") or even a little too long, overdone (sorry--"Loneseome Dove"). & it is thoroughly enjoyable, too. (Which is NEVER a detractor from the overall experience.)

P.S. Several surprises await (in the last 12 pages) those readers who manage to reach the end. So... GET THERE, people.

Protagonist Quoyle is a kind man born into an unpleasant family. He marries a woman who mistreats him. An unforeseen event leads to relocation to Newfoundland, where Quoyle’s extended family has deep roots going back generations. He works as a reporter, covering the “shipping news.” It is the story of the unraveling of a life and an attempt to put it back together.

Proulx’s writing is rhythmic. She draws vivid pictures of life in Newfoundland – the landscape, the food, and the local customs related to life by the sea. It is filled with eccentric people. This book is character-driven so do not expect loads of action. It explores the cycle of abuse and how being perceived as “different” can lead to low self-esteem and poor relationship choices. It is also a story of hope and second chances, and how these adversities can be overcome. I enjoyed the author’s use of nautical knots as a recurring symbol of the life’s complexities. It will appeal to those that appreciate stories of personal transformation.

It happens in Newfoundland, a place of water, moisture, and rottenness, of words that travel long distances, a place for people who know everything about boats, cliffs and icebergs.
A place of death of sea.
Quoyle Promontory is the birthplace of Quoyle's father, a diffuse character - where he retires with his two little girl.
The promontory is named by a family that the locals know is cursed.
Quoyle know this, and the hope that his life might be different - fades step by step.
By the way it's built, Quoyle is reminiscent of prince Mishkin - " good " in the most essential sense of the word, foreign to any pettiness. Just that Dostoïevski's " idiot" had, unlike Quoyle - a less struggling past.
Is it possibly that a man abused and humiliated throughout his entirely life - can stay away from any cruelty ?
The idea of the book is that there is always a hope.
From a "bad" life and family - a "good" man can always appear.
Each chapter is preceded by a small quote from Ashley's " Book of Knots" , which aims at the meaning of the chapter.

The story is one of the fall, despair, and salvation of lost people, by other lost people.
From the movements of the characters - to the way the narrative thread flows, everything is cohesive and plausible.
The reader never have the feeling of wasted time, on the contrary - he is left with an image of a well- directed film, with a provocative plot, and some tailor-made actors.

During the years that I was the manager of a business, I had the wonderful good fortune to have on staff many people originally from Newfoundland. One aspect that I found fascinating is the similarities between that relatively small ‘rock’ and my holiday in southwest England many years ago. In England, I noticed that accents and the way certain things were said changed about every five miles. The same is true with Newfoundland. Definitions and phrases are different depending on where people lived. The most interesting part is that even though they would use different terms for the same things, they could still understand each other! Well, it’s all English after all.

This story follows a family from New York to Newfoundland where Quoyle’s family is from originally. His Aunt travels with the family and is looking forward to a new start with Quoyle and his two daughters in the place she had left behind nearly 50 years before.

The writing is very different and interesting. While they are in their small town in New York, the sentences are terse, choppy – very few articles and no conjunctions. Tight, compressed sentences that reflected their tight, compressed existence.

When they arrive at their destination, everything changes – the sentences gradually grow and expand. There are poetic turns of phrase mingled with the mangled English of the Newfoundlanders. Quoyle, a would-be journalist starts to turn out interesting articles for the newspaper whose owner still goes out fishing whenever he can.

I was enthralled with the people I met while reading and when this family saga ended - of loves lost and found; of careers begun, stalled, and begun again; of friendships and warmth and caring; of dark times and sad times and cruel times and joyful times – when it all came to an end, I felt I would give anything for a few more (like 10 or 20) chapters, even though the ending is perfect.

This novel won several prizes, including both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. It is always a pleasure to me when a book I enjoy so much is given accolades and recognition, and this one is a perfect example.

And it may be that love sometimes occurs without pain or misery.

Ugh. I spent far too long reading The Shipping News to waste much time reviewing it. This book tells the tale of Quoyle, a middle-aged man with a “great damp loaf of a body” who aspires to be merely pathetic. When his cheating wife is killed in a car accident, he moves with his two daughters and his aunt to their ancestral home in Newfoundland. Like Forest Gump, he somehow keeps failing upwards. Slowly, he sucks a little less, and by the end of the story he finds love.

Is The Shipping News populated with quirky characters? I guess, but not any I cared about even a little bit. The aunt is a lesbian, which might have passed as edgy in the mid-1990s but today was so obvious that it was hardly worth mentioning (especially as it added nothing to the plot). Is there a plot? Barely, pretty much just what I listed above, and it moves painfully slowly, glacier-like. Is the writing great? Ms. Proulx uses lots of phrases and incomplete sentences. It creates an almost staccato effect that is certainly unusual and might be either brilliant or lazy, depending on your mood. The writing is the reason I added a second star to my rating; it certainly wasn’t for the story.

The Shipping News somehow won both the 1993 National Book Award and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Is it too late to demand a recount?