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wandering_reads 's review for:
The Shipping News (4th Estate Matchbook Classics)
by Annie Proulx
Alright, so this book starts slowly as you get to know the people and the situation. And really, who doesn't want to slap Petal?
But as the action picks up, and you become accustomed to the humor and lull of the narrative, not unlike that of the Newfoundland waves, it becomes a book that can be slammed through in a weekend. The descriptions of the landscape put the reader right into the middle of the island life, feeling the rain, smelling the fetid hotel rooms, tasting the salt on the air. Quoyle and 'the aunt' Agnis are both funny characters, especially their asides. Then, there is the entire cast of the Gammy Bird newspaper, and the rest of the islanders who are as unique in their voices as the rocks around Newfoundland. Proulx does a brilliant job in character building, as well as world building.
In all, there is life-at-sea and life-on-the-world's-edge that is interesting and dramatic. A world away from what most of us know. A life that seems pure and rough all at once, with genuine people who band together to help each other other, even someone who is ostensibly an outsider from the States. Mixed in with the brilliance of life and worries of death, the ebb of tides, is gentle humor, childlike wonder, and a story with love, even when love seems impossible.
But as the action picks up, and you become accustomed to the humor and lull of the narrative, not unlike that of the Newfoundland waves, it becomes a book that can be slammed through in a weekend. The descriptions of the landscape put the reader right into the middle of the island life, feeling the rain, smelling the fetid hotel rooms, tasting the salt on the air. Quoyle and 'the aunt' Agnis are both funny characters, especially their asides. Then, there is the entire cast of the Gammy Bird newspaper, and the rest of the islanders who are as unique in their voices as the rocks around Newfoundland. Proulx does a brilliant job in character building, as well as world building.
In all, there is life-at-sea and life-on-the-world's-edge that is interesting and dramatic. A world away from what most of us know. A life that seems pure and rough all at once, with genuine people who band together to help each other other, even someone who is ostensibly an outsider from the States. Mixed in with the brilliance of life and worries of death, the ebb of tides, is gentle humor, childlike wonder, and a story with love, even when love seems impossible.