Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
Picked this up bc I saw a preview for a tv version lol . I really enjoyed the first half but I kept trying to remember who belonged to which family and how the decade of the character followed or overlapped with other stuff going on in the world . Too many people to keep track of and my personal pet peeve—more than one use of “in sotto voce” .
In order to get to the span of time she wanted to cover, Proulx sacrifices depth--of characters, of theme, to name a few. This novel proves the maxim that the tallest trees quite often provide the least shade.
There are two family trees at the heart of Barkskins: the Duquets/Dukes and the Sels. Their progenitors begin as indentured servants in the forests of 17th-century Canada. Charles Duquet runs away and founds his dynasty as a merchant. Renee Sel marries a Mi'kmaw woman and sends his mixed-race progeny into two centuries of forestry.
The Dukes are the more interesting family, as their business interests span continents. For a moment, in one marriage, their line mixes with the Sel line, but even this marriage is underwhelming in what it could have shown about the families.
Barkskins is an amazing historic accomplishment, tying together centuries of forest exploitation into one tome. But it isn't a very great literary one, sadly.
There are two family trees at the heart of Barkskins: the Duquets/Dukes and the Sels. Their progenitors begin as indentured servants in the forests of 17th-century Canada. Charles Duquet runs away and founds his dynasty as a merchant. Renee Sel marries a Mi'kmaw woman and sends his mixed-race progeny into two centuries of forestry.
The Dukes are the more interesting family, as their business interests span continents. For a moment, in one marriage, their line mixes with the Sel line, but even this marriage is underwhelming in what it could have shown about the families.
Barkskins is an amazing historic accomplishment, tying together centuries of forest exploitation into one tome. But it isn't a very great literary one, sadly.
Truly, an epic. Broad in geography and covering hundreds of years, full of interesting tidbits about overseas commerce and the history of North America (and our previous colonizers), stocked with interesting and surprisingly individualized characters. I finished the book with a profound appreciation for American (and Canadian) forests, and a more clear understanding of the people who have both cherished them and profited from them. It was an undertaking to read the huge paperback, but worth hauling it around for a couple of weeks!
I really liked this book. I love long books where we look at one family for generations
An impressive undertaking, covers two families' histories over hundreds of years, and I was equally entertained by almost all of the stories. Loved the environmental message, although the ending was too bleak and depressing.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
In scope it reminds me of Gone With The Wind. Proulx did a lot of research and tried to use every bit of it. I found the detail very interesting although others might not. All in all, a sweeping historical saga with a Canadian bent.
Fairly long read with a complicated character list. The family trees at the back were helpful, but it was still a bit confusing. Overall an interesting read to follow these two men and their descendents throughout the evolution of the timber industry.
this book was sewwww crzy! this book has everything: tragic deaths by riverwork, mysterious trans wives, scurvy, full descriptions of the menu at mealtimes, boreal forestry, wigs and gowns.
a sweeping epic following the lineages of french transplants to new france under the french feudal system installed there. every generation participates in the colonial and genocidal projects to gaining traction in the new world. the years give way to wars in different territories, disease and genocidal expansion, technological advances, capitalist wealth building as descendants struggle with decision making and definition within their communities; from the ultra wealthy timber barons to the slowly scattering mikmaq. this book expanded my conception of the creation of generational wealth in the u.s.a., and also the degree to which our kind's flaky justifications for lumber/tech to support population growth on this continent fully denuded the rich forest here. any in n.z. and in other places-the deforestation of this worlds forests! there's a lot of difficult and gruesome material-physical illness, violence, and also more sinister resource extraction/capitalism justification, told pretty straightforwardly.
one of my flaws as a reader is wanting to read things that speak to me as archival material-this book is squarely historical fiction and in my retelling of it, i want to treat the stories as fact.
relatedly, one of my interests in this book is connected to my interest in understanding the nuance of settler colonialism into the midwest in the mid 1800s s well as the lumber/timber work that encapsulated a lot the time preceding and following this period.
i got through this book because i have long stretches of time to listen to audiobook! i think this would be hard to follow if i were not able to do so.
a sweeping epic following the lineages of french transplants to new france under the french feudal system installed there. every generation participates in the colonial and genocidal projects to gaining traction in the new world. the years give way to wars in different territories, disease and genocidal expansion, technological advances, capitalist wealth building as descendants struggle with decision making and definition within their communities; from the ultra wealthy timber barons to the slowly scattering mikmaq. this book expanded my conception of the creation of generational wealth in the u.s.a., and also the degree to which our kind's flaky justifications for lumber/tech to support population growth on this continent fully denuded the rich forest here. any in n.z. and in other places-the deforestation of this worlds forests! there's a lot of difficult and gruesome material-physical illness, violence, and also more sinister resource extraction/capitalism justification, told pretty straightforwardly.
one of my flaws as a reader is wanting to read things that speak to me as archival material-this book is squarely historical fiction and in my retelling of it, i want to treat the stories as fact.
relatedly, one of my interests in this book is connected to my interest in understanding the nuance of settler colonialism into the midwest in the mid 1800s s well as the lumber/timber work that encapsulated a lot the time preceding and following this period.
i got through this book because i have long stretches of time to listen to audiobook! i think this would be hard to follow if i were not able to do so.
How on earth did this book not win the Pulitzer. Or any fiction prize come to that? How did The Overstory (3 years later) take that prize when this did not?
What begins as a family saga of the Sels and Duquets widens out into so much more. This novel is a vivid history of the forests and native lands of Canada and the North West of America. But more than that it is the story of the native peoples of North America, New Zealand, Australia. Annie Proulx has written an absolutely epic novel that covers so much that it's hard to narrow it down in a short review.
The characters change throughout the novel but you see traits of the old generation in the new. The Sels are the native Americans who are constantly at the mercy of their masters desire to tame the wilderness. The Duquets are the ones who always end up on top, no matter whether they deserve to or not.
The stories of these two families travels across centuries and continents but at the heart of it are the trees and the land. The natives cannot save their home and the masters see only money, believing that the trees will last forever. When this belief dies the masters move on to other pastures to denude other forests.
We're left with the question of whether the next generation will wake up in time to try to repair the damage? Will the polar ice be next?
Annie Proulx writes so beautifully and so emotionally about a landscape she clearly loves. Her characters are sympathetic and clearly drawn. Her scenery is easy to imagine.
I admit I cried at this book and it's inhabitants more than most. It certainly spoke to me in a way The Overstory failed to do. Annie Proulx managed to maintain that human connection throughout even though it is painfully obvious that the unchecked number and greed of some of our species is the problem.
Loved this book. I loved the detail. I loved its sweeping nature.
What begins as a family saga of the Sels and Duquets widens out into so much more. This novel is a vivid history of the forests and native lands of Canada and the North West of America. But more than that it is the story of the native peoples of North America, New Zealand, Australia. Annie Proulx has written an absolutely epic novel that covers so much that it's hard to narrow it down in a short review.
The characters change throughout the novel but you see traits of the old generation in the new. The Sels are the native Americans who are constantly at the mercy of their masters desire to tame the wilderness. The Duquets are the ones who always end up on top, no matter whether they deserve to or not.
The stories of these two families travels across centuries and continents but at the heart of it are the trees and the land. The natives cannot save their home and the masters see only money, believing that the trees will last forever. When this belief dies the masters move on to other pastures to denude other forests.
We're left with the question of whether the next generation will wake up in time to try to repair the damage? Will the polar ice be next?
Annie Proulx writes so beautifully and so emotionally about a landscape she clearly loves. Her characters are sympathetic and clearly drawn. Her scenery is easy to imagine.
I admit I cried at this book and it's inhabitants more than most. It certainly spoke to me in a way The Overstory failed to do. Annie Proulx managed to maintain that human connection throughout even though it is painfully obvious that the unchecked number and greed of some of our species is the problem.
Loved this book. I loved the detail. I loved its sweeping nature.
Why? Why am I supposed to care about these people? I got 20% through this monstrosity.