Bill's Book Reviews
THE SHIPPING NEWS
This is Quoyle's story (we never do learn his first name), a well-meaning, unattractive clumsy giant of a man who finds himself working as a journalist (not a great one) in New York City.
Quoyle is married to a whore who gives him two boisterous daughters who unfortunately have inherited their father's looks. Mercifully, the wife is killed in a gruesome road accident and Quoyle, at a loss, decides to take the girls and head for Newfoundland, the home of his spectacularly nasty ancestors. There, Quoyle and his aunt become involved in a perilous maritime drama.
Proulx has written, against the odds, a very funny book about a man who stumbles his way through a tragic existence and makes the best of it all through a combination of soft, good nature and a fair measure of luck.
In part, the book was inspired by Proulx's find of a copy of Ashley's Book of Knots, at a bric-a-brac sale. Each chapter is wittily headed by an appropriate quote from this most unlikely source.
This is fiction for everyone, and particularly for people with an interest in the sea. The nautical elements, though well-researched, are unobtrusive and are part and parcel of the story line. Boat designers will be greatly amused by the inappropriateness of Quoyle's first boat, and his "I think, therefore it is" approach to boating. Equally impressive is the approach of the traditional boatbuilder who makes Quoyle's second boat.
The Shipping News has won a number of awards, including the Pulitzer prize for fiction. A fine piece of literature, and great fun, too.
Click Here to Order THE SHIPPING NEWS From AMAZON.COM
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My friend BILL SAMSON in real life has been a higher education consultant with his Ph.D. degree in Astronomy, Masters in Computer Science and B.Sc. in Mathematics. Now, he's the Astronomer at Mills Observatory, Britains only full-time public observatory. He lives and works in Dundee, Scotland, a stones throw from the Tay River where he spends most of his spare time sailing his Bolger Chebacco "Sylvester", building boats, studying and thinking about all things nautical. |
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