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The Shipping News

by Annie Proulx
The Shipping News

  • Comment on this title
  • Synopses & Reviews
  • Reading Group Guide
  • Award Excerpt
  • Read an Excerpt

ISBN13: 9780671510053
ISBN10: 0671510053
Condition: Like New


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Awards

Winner of the 1994 Pulitzer Prize
Winner of the 1993 National Book Award

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

When Quoyle's two-timing wife meets her just desserts, he retreats with his two daughters to his ancestral home on the starkly beautiful Newfoundland coast, where a rich cast of local characters and family members all play a part in Quoyle's struggle to reclaim his life. As Quoyle confronts his private demons -- and the unpredictable forces of nature and society -- he begins to see the possibility of love without pain or misery.

A vigorous, darkly comic, and at times magical portrait of the contemporary North American family, The Shipping News shows why Annie Proulx is recognized as one of the most gifted and original writers in America today.

Review

"The writing is charged with sardonic wit — alive, funny, a little threatening; packed with brilliantly original images...and, now and then, a sentence that simply takes your breath away." USA Today

Review

"The Shipping News is alive in every sense of the word...Proulx has George Eliot's gift of loving observation — her vision is wise and generous." The Boston Globe

Review

"The Shipping News is that rare creation, a lyric page-turner." Chicago Tribune

Review

Roz Spafford San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle Annie Proulx's stunning, big-hearted The Shipping News thaws the frozen lives of its characters and warms readers.

About the Author

Annie Proulx's The Shipping News won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Award for Fiction, and the Irish Times International Fiction Prize. She is the author of two other novels: Postcards, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, and Accordion Crimes. She has also written two collections of short stories, Heart Songs and Other Stories and Close Range. In 2001, The Shipping News was made into a major motion picture. Annie Proulx lives in Wyoming and Newfoundland.

Reading Group Guide

Reading Group Discussion Points

  1. Proulx describes Quoyle as "a great damp loaf of a body." What kind of man is Quoyle? How does Proulx's sublime, comic style make you feel about him?

  2. When Quoyle writes for the Mockingburg Record he never seems to understand the dynamics of journalism, yet in writing "The Shipping News" he transforms The Gammy Bird and eventually becomes managing editor of the paper. Discuss some of the other changes Quoyle experiences from the beginning of the novel to the end.

  3. As Quoyle arrives in Newfoundland, he hears much of his family's past. In fact, there is an old relative, "some kind of fork kin," still alive in Newfoundland. Why does Quoyle avoid Nolan -- seem angry at the old man from the start? Is the reason as simple as Quoyle denying where he came from, especially after learning the details of his father's relationship with the aunt?

  4. Proulx tells us the aunt is a lesbian, yet never makes a specific issue out of the aunt's sexual orientation. Does this fact add dimension to the story for you? Does it add to the aunt's character? We, as readers, assume that characters are heterosexual without needing to hear specifically about their sexual life. Does the matter-of-course way Proulx treats the aunt's sexuality help make the reader a less judgmental critic?

  5. Discuss Quoyle's relationship with Petal Bear. Can you justify his feelings for her? Even after her death, she continues to have a strong hold on him, and her memory threatens to squelch the potential of his feeling for Wavey Prowse. Is this because Quoyle doesn't understand love without pain? Both Quoyle and Wavey have experienced abusive relationships previously. How do they treat each other?

  6. Newfoundland is more than the setting for this story, it is a dreary yet engaging character onto itself. Does the cold weather and the rough life add to your enjoyment of the book?

  7. Do you think the chapter headings from The Ashley Book of Knots, The Mariner's Dictionary, and Quipus and Witches' Knots add to the atmosphere of the book? Did their humor illustrate some of Proulx's points, or did they simplify some of her issues? Notice especially the headings for chapters 2, 4, 28, 32, 33, and 34.

5 4

What Our Readers Are Saying

Share your thoughts on this title!
Average customer rating 5 (4 comments)

`
Sheila Deeth , September 20, 2018 (view all comments by Sheila Deeth)
Annie Proulx’s writing offers a cool blend of distracted stream-of-consciousness with intimate knowledge of her characters’ thoughts and feelings, somehow never revealing any more than needs to be known, and creating a rich tapestry of life and place. Newspaper headlines anchor ideas into place. Small town people know sometimes more and sometimes less about the neighbors surrounding them. Family ties are fragile as ice and strong as the land that binds them. And love is a many-splendored thing, taking different forms and faces, and finally proving to carry its own grace. Wounded by time, fate, betrayals of the past and misunderstandings of the present, characters don’t just move from one house to another, but their history moves houses, as depicted on the cover of my copy this book. And their shared history moves relationships, building and strengthening, through life and death, to a child’s learning that the dead won’t awaken and a man’s learning love might be reborn. In between, the reader learns too, and a small town becomes a microcosm, more alive than the city, more awake than the sleeper, and more hopeful than the dream. Disclosure: I really enjoyed this book. My thanks to the friend who gave it to me.

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gift giver , August 06, 2012 (view all comments by gift giver)
I thought I would share some advice I received prior to reading the book because I ended up really appreciating it. The advice is, keep going. The book starts out very dark and it's easy to think to one's self "oh no, what have I just committed to reading" but it really does end up getting good. Just don't watch the movie though!!!! Ugh!

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Lara Gardner , January 20, 2012 (view all comments by Lara Gardner)
Rarely has a book so completely captured the transformation of a man and the development of a life worth living. The writing is lyrical and unique, the story engaging and compelling. As Quoyle experiences moments of pure joy, so too does the reader, delighting in his metamorphosis and renewal. This is a book to read and digest, then pick up and read again. I've read it over thirty times and each time I discover something new. I could not recommend a book more.

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Jena , June 25, 2009 (view all comments by Jena)
I really enjoyed the characters in this book, and even if I wasn't so crazy about the last couple pages, it's definitely a worthwhile read. (Make sure you familiarize yourself with Newfoundland accents first--it will help.)

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780671510053
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
06/01/1994
Publisher:
SIMON & SCHUSTER TRADE
Pages:
368
Height:
.85IN
Width:
5.50IN
Thickness:
1.00
Number of Units:
1
Copyright Year:
1993
Series Volume:
no. 104
UPC Code:
2800671510055
Author:
E Annie Proulx
Author:
Annie Proulx
Author:
Annie Proulx
Subject:
Newfoundland Fiction.
Subject:
Domestic fiction
Subject:
Family
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Subject:
Newfoundland and Labrador
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
Newfoundland
Subject:
General Fiction

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List Price:$18.00
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More copies of this ISBN

  • New, Trade Paperback, $18.00
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