Sarah's Review of The Shipping News

"Then, at meeting, Petal Bear. Thin, moist, hot. Winked at him. Quoyle had the big man's yearning for small women. He stood next to her at the refreshment table. Grey eyes close together, curly hair the color of oak. The fluorescent lights made her as pale as candle wax. Her eyelids gleamed with some dusky unguent. A metallic thread in her rose sweater. These faint sparks cast a shimmer on her like a spill of light. She smiled, the pearl -tainted lips wet with cider. His hand shot up to his chin." In just a passage from E. Annie Proulx's, The Shipping News her unique writing style is exposed. This is a fond memory of Quoyle's first meeting with his soon-to-be wife. Every sentence I found intriguing and descriptive, meant to keep your reader locked in. It's choppy yet rich and a simple type of writing that would be impossible to replicate. Her story is about Quoyle; the protagonist, who's life has been rough and just now is blowing up in his face. He is a man of few accomplishments and had been seen as a failure all his life. His wife cheats on him in front of his face; his job unsteady; and his looks are not very appealing. This was all a fuse waiting to be lit. His abusive mother and father commit suicide, and is wife dies in a car crash while leaving him. The love Quoyle has for Petal Bear is still strong despite his wickedness. Broken, he decides he needs to start over and moves to Newfoundland where he has a long ancestral family history. Hoping to forget about the misfortune that occurred back home, he finds what happiness a small fishing town can offer. A relationship begins, a successful career blossoms and dark family secrets rise. Throughout the book Proulx shows the goodness and warmth in a place as isolated as Newfoundland. You can tell the author is familiar with and fond of the country through her descriptions of small town business. Annie Proulx has a personal connection to the setting and much of Quoyle's character. I learned that she has decided to keep little contact with her own family connecting her to Quoyle. One thing that you pick up on quickly and connects the whole story is the reoccurring theme of knots. Chapter titles are often named after knots, and the symbolism comes up frequently within the writing. Her idea behind this was to show the variety of something so simple and yet how it all remains connected. As Quoyle leaves his life in New York behind, he his reconnected with it in many ways from a country across the ocean. His purpose in the beginning is to leave an unsettling childhood behind yet Newfoundland brings him back often, like his inability to swim. That's where his father started a foundation on Quoyle's failures, and brings him back to the those days of choking on pond water. This is a book worth hours of your time. Through a dark and cold book comes a wonderful ending. It's unexpected, but it's what makes the book what it is. The author has gained much recognition, and it is all well deserved. Proulx's unique writing can be your only reason to read this. Its amazing what a writer like her can do with words in order to take an image from her mind and transfer it to hers. I once heard that reading is the closest humans have gotten to teleportation and while reading The Shipping News I can believe this 100 percent.