Sunday, June 26, 2011

The Shipping News

by Annie Proulx
(1993 | 337 p)

Quoyle: A coil of rope

It took nearly 5 chapters of dogged reading before I realized what a gem of a book I'd found in The Shipping News. The storytelling is subtle while the writing is close-knit. Each sentence paints a tiny picture of Quoyle's metamorphosis.

Quoyle is delivered to us as a man with a "great damp loaf of a body" and a "giant's chin." These descriptions become characters unto themselves, tormenting and comforting Quoyle in turns. His hapless forays into life have not been kind but he's more resigned than bitter. He never expected much else. A disastrous marriage, his parents' deaths, and suddenly Quoyle is cut free, alone, the single father of two girls. His options being nonexistent he decides to join his Aunt in a trek to the forgotten family place in Newfoundland where he takes a job writing the Shipping News for a small town newspaper. Things begin to change.

My first reaction when I finished this book was "I'm in love! How am I this late to the Annie Proulx party?" The feeling still hasn't worn off. I must, must read everything she's ever written immediately. Or shortly thereafter.

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