The Shipping News
I decided to read The Shipping News, winner of both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize, after stumbling upon it in my favorite travel literature destination in Manhattan, Idlewild Books. It’s hard to believe, but the only other Pulitzer winner for fiction that I’ve read outside of a classroom is The Yearling, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. If I ever get through all the unread books currently residing in my home, plus all the ones on my various lists, I’m definitely going to make an effort to read more of them!
Although I found the 2001 film version of The Shipping News to be too bleak overall, it was helpful to picture Kevin Spacey, Judi Dench, and Julianne Moore as the main characters when reading the novel. While slow at first to get into, by the time I’d finally made it to the middle I started purposely spending less and less time with it, just so I wouldn’t be able to reach the last page. This is not an easy read—I wouldn’t suggest bringing it to the beach or even a waiting room—but the intricacy, beauty, and originality of the figurative language and stark geographical imagery are well worth the investment of time required to fully appreciate them. I have visited the Canadian Maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, but I haven’t yet gotten as far east as Newfoundland—yet. Do you have any recommendations for which Annie Proulx work I should read next?
I suggest you read Postcards. I’ve read all of Annie Proulx’s books and short stories, and they all haunt me in intimate ways, but that particular novel continued its mesmerizing presence in my life long after I finished reading it for the first time. There is a fire scene which populates my nightmares - if a book can penetrate that deeply into your subconscious, I think it must be mad genius.
Thanks so much for writing, Megan! I think she’s a genius, too–and so amazingly original.