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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
I think I admired this book more than loved it. Just the shear force of passion Proulx kept up for 700 pages. Though it could be an exhusting book at times, a little like having someone bellowing at you at a subject you are in complete agreement over, yes I know we need curb corporat greed and explotation,and yes, more environmental programes are needed, no I do not do enough.
Though I would still recommend this book if only for the writing, Proulx can write landscape. It was espcially a treat to go back and visit my home of New Zealand and those deep dense bush lands I remember so well. I giggled when ever certain words would crop up. I also smiled at the thought of how much research Proulx would have done, because it did feel like knowledge dumps occasionally. But if I had spent what 30 years (?) researching this book, I would have been worse.
Though I would still recommend this book if only for the writing, Proulx can write landscape. It was espcially a treat to go back and visit my home of New Zealand and those deep dense bush lands I remember so well. I giggled when ever certain words would crop up. I also smiled at the thought of how much research Proulx would have done, because it did feel like knowledge dumps occasionally. But if I had spent what 30 years (?) researching this book, I would have been worse.
5 stars for the undertaking of a multi-generational, historical saga with a fascinating setting and previously (for me) unexplored territory. 4 stars for the above BUT it is too long by about 1/5 and too many characters. 3 stars for all the above BUT it becomes didactic at times, which clouds out the moments of supremely heartfelt and original writing. And, no fault of Proulx (and actually to her credit) she has hit the nail on the head in terms of environmental protections and what America and Canada's First Nations people can teach the rest of us about the delicacy of ecosystems. Unfortunately, reading this in the wake of Trump victory and, even more to the point, DAPL issue, this book was difficult and painful to read. It's just all so sad. And true.
There is a certain irony in writing a 700-page book lamenting deforestation. And another irony is that even though I love forests with a passion (they are to me everything that’s good, beautiful, mysterious and peaceful in the world), I wish this was a trilogy, rather than a single volume.
You can tell Proulx wanted to go on (she said as much in interviews) and she should’ve been allowed to do so. Instead, after the ambitious first sections, the novel feels rushed; it’s being diminished, and it feels like vital parts are being chopped off. One could benevolently assume it’s all a metaphor for diminishing forests, but the break-neck speed of final parts is more likely the effect of an editor and publishing breathing down the author’s neck and asking to wrap it up already.
This story wanted to be bigger than it was forced to be. The characters needed more air, more space to assert themselves. That is not to say that Proulx can’t draw a convincing portrait of a character in just 20 pages and the reader might read the works as a collection of connected short stories. However, the two families we follow from the 17th century deserved a more powerful ending, than an uninspired, ham-fisted piece of propaganda.
They deserved it because Proulx wasn’t particularly kind to them, killing them off with a flair. I’ve never met an author who seemed to find so much joy in finishing off their characters in so many inventive and cruel way. I hated it and I loved it. I feel like she should’ve explored the juxtaposition of the fleeting human life and the longevity of the forest that humans (mere fleas, from the trees’ perspective) manage to destroy in a few generations.
Of course, her agenda in this novel is showing and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as through most of the book it’s handled with subtlety. Man (mostly the white man) is on a relentless march of environmental doom and has been for centuries now. Her research is showing a lot more – and to establish the historical background of most chapters, the characters must go on bizarre monologues, summarising the zeitgeist.
In general, dialogues do not seem to be Proulx’s forte. They are particularly jarring, when her Native American characters are talking and inconsistently switch between pidgin English and literary English with no purpose (it doesn’t correlate with when they are supposed to be speaking their native language).
It might seem like I criticised this Barkskins a lot because it is an imperfect novel, but I also got hours of enjoyment from it. It was a wonderful experience of being immersed in a chunky, ambitious novel. And all those assholes in the Polish government should read this ( context)
You can tell Proulx wanted to go on (she said as much in interviews) and she should’ve been allowed to do so. Instead, after the ambitious first sections, the novel feels rushed; it’s being diminished, and it feels like vital parts are being chopped off. One could benevolently assume it’s all a metaphor for diminishing forests, but the break-neck speed of final parts is more likely the effect of an editor and publishing breathing down the author’s neck and asking to wrap it up already.
This story wanted to be bigger than it was forced to be. The characters needed more air, more space to assert themselves. That is not to say that Proulx can’t draw a convincing portrait of a character in just 20 pages and the reader might read the works as a collection of connected short stories. However, the two families we follow from the 17th century deserved a more powerful ending, than an uninspired, ham-fisted piece of propaganda.
They deserved it because Proulx wasn’t particularly kind to them, killing them off with a flair. I’ve never met an author who seemed to find so much joy in finishing off their characters in so many inventive and cruel way. I hated it and I loved it. I feel like she should’ve explored the juxtaposition of the fleeting human life and the longevity of the forest that humans (mere fleas, from the trees’ perspective) manage to destroy in a few generations.
Of course, her agenda in this novel is showing and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as through most of the book it’s handled with subtlety. Man (mostly the white man) is on a relentless march of environmental doom and has been for centuries now. Her research is showing a lot more – and to establish the historical background of most chapters, the characters must go on bizarre monologues, summarising the zeitgeist.
In general, dialogues do not seem to be Proulx’s forte. They are particularly jarring, when her Native American characters are talking and inconsistently switch between pidgin English and literary English with no purpose (it doesn’t correlate with when they are supposed to be speaking their native language).
It might seem like I criticised this Barkskins a lot because it is an imperfect novel, but I also got hours of enjoyment from it. It was a wonderful experience of being immersed in a chunky, ambitious novel. And all those assholes in the Polish government should read this ( context)
Gave up. Too many details. No sense of direction. Wandering and wandering. Life is too short.
So boring. Tons of characters that come & go quickly. Multiple storylines that didn’t keep me interested. I really just think I don’t love historical fiction. I love Annie Proulx so I tried very hard to stick with this one but I couldn’t.
A sprawling epic involving two intertwined families over centuries? I'm in.
I really did enjoy this story of two French indentured servants in New France and their descendants. Centered around the timber industry of eastern Canada and the northeast U.S., the story deals with the changes in these families as well as the environment around them, and how they affect each other. The descendants of one immigrant become captains of the timber industry, holding vast regions of timber and controlling related industries. The other family intermarries with native groups and ends up working in and living with the environmental and economic consequences of these same industries.
As with many stories like this, I grew to like some of the characters more than others. I found the early lives and stories very compelling. I got confused at first, thinking that there should be a family tree to explain all these relationships. I was a hundred pages in before I discovered just that at the back of the book. But as the families and their businesses sprawled out through time, the story seemed to lose focus -- and so did I. By the final few chapters, I'd started to lose interest. Characters didn't have time to be developed and I found I didn't care about them as much. This novel felt like it just stopped rather than ended, to me.
I love Annie Proulx as a writer and am amazed at the beautiful writing she can create. But I think I prefer her short stories to her novels. Still, there is a lot of beauty here.
I really did enjoy this story of two French indentured servants in New France and their descendants. Centered around the timber industry of eastern Canada and the northeast U.S., the story deals with the changes in these families as well as the environment around them, and how they affect each other. The descendants of one immigrant become captains of the timber industry, holding vast regions of timber and controlling related industries. The other family intermarries with native groups and ends up working in and living with the environmental and economic consequences of these same industries.
As with many stories like this, I grew to like some of the characters more than others. I found the early lives and stories very compelling. I got confused at first, thinking that there should be a family tree to explain all these relationships. I was a hundred pages in before I discovered just that at the back of the book. But as the families and their businesses sprawled out through time, the story seemed to lose focus -- and so did I. By the final few chapters, I'd started to lose interest. Characters didn't have time to be developed and I found I didn't care about them as much. This novel felt like it just stopped rather than ended, to me.
I love Annie Proulx as a writer and am amazed at the beautiful writing she can create. But I think I prefer her short stories to her novels. Still, there is a lot of beauty here.
This is a formally complex and dense work. Proulx makes use of her strengths of farsightedness and capacity as a short-story writer across a large expanse. She resists simple resolutions to issues of plot, race, intergenerational exchange, trauma, or forestry. Barkskins reminds me most of Eduardo Galeano, telling history through a thousand gestures, exchanging issues of genre for broader issues of life.
3.5 There were sections of this (LONG) book that were wonderful and get 5 start, and sections that dragged and seemed like "why?" Epic story of generations taking place over hundreds of years. So, it has to be long, but I felt it was much too long, and while some of the details of the peoples lives were interesting, a lot of seemed like inserting facts she learned in research for posterity (i.e seemed forced and fake)
Gorgeous language and imagery as expected from this author.
Gorgeous language and imagery as expected from this author.
adventurous
emotional
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Great amount of research, but it just felt like it went on forever . Was relieved to finish it
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No