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The Shipping News
- Narrated by: Robert Joy
- Length: 5 hrs and 8 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Classics
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From Annie Proulx, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Shipping News and Brokeback Mountain, comes her masterpiece, 10 years in the writing - an epic, dazzling, violent, magnificently dramatic novel about taming the wilderness and destroying the forest, set over three centuries. In the late 17th century, two illiterate woodsmen, Rene Sel and Charles Duquet, make their way from Northern France to New France to seek a living.
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A wonderful book
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Dull, uninspiring and superficial
- By Ms on 29-11-20
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Wrong voice...
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I need hardly say there was a collision.
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Irving always delivers
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amazingly inspirational!
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Summary
More from the same
What listeners say about The Shipping News
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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- DartmoorDiva
- 01-09-16
Mesmerising
I almost didn't buy this as there were some downbeat reviews that talked of 'nothing much happening' and the prose being tricky. I couldn't agree less! I thought the characters and stories were wonderful and the writing style was amazing! I was enthralled and found it more like Kate Atkinson's style than Anne Tyler's, as another reviewer had suggested. It has the wonderful mix of the mundane and the surreal. I loved it. I haven't seen the film, but will be buying the DVD.
6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Steve Kirkwood
- 16-12-12
Difficult to listen to
I got this on a recommendation from someone who had read the book. Very soon into listening to it I became very frustrated with the readers style, it seemed that the stresses and punctuations were all wrong, that is until I looked at the book. The author’s style is written like a mass of headlines and short sentences thrown together.
I struggled to finish the book and found the ending so unbelievable that it diminished any of the good I could recount. The prose is frustrating in a book that travels at 5 miles per hour on a road going nowhere.
8 people found this helpful
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- ::m::
- 06-06-18
terrible sound quality
Not going to comment on the story, I am sure it is good. However, the quality of the audio recording is terrible so I'm giving this one a miss.
3 people found this helpful
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- Dan N Smith
- 17-08-18
Sad to leave Quoyle & Newfoundland behind
Sad, bleak and beautifully uplifting. Expertly wrought with characters as unpredictable as the weather. Loved it.
2 people found this helpful
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- carolyn
- 16-07-14
Perfect
if you like Anne Tyler then you will like this. I love the slow burn of stories about people where something but nothing happens. A man moves to newfoundland with his 2 children and tries to begin again after a tragedy. but there are old family ties that create the story and interweave with his life.
3 people found this helpful
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- Marnie
- 14-08-19
wonderful
Really enjoyed this. Great portrayals of Newfoundland scenery. Quoyle's journey back home and his realisations about family.
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- nooban
- 03-07-19
wow.
enjoyable. lookforwardable to. the prose and accents swish and sway. the plot crests and troughs effortlessly. the quirky bastards of Newfoundland are known to us all. thank you thank you thank you
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- Prissy
- 21-06-19
Unmissable
Annie Poroulx writes in beautiful prose using language at its most vivid and picturesque. This is a story of redemption , one to read or listen to again and again. The reader depicted Quoyle, the Aunt, Partridge and all of the other characters in a way that made them completely real. A wonderful story.
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- Paul D
- 20-02-19
One paced . . . .slow
Interesting and well written tale of a man development in a isolated community on the Canadian coast. That's as exciting as it gets
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- JB
- 22-07-18
Wonderful
Has always been one of my favourite books - the bumbling, dogged but utterly engaging Qouile is sensitively realised, as are the many engaging characters he meets on his difficult but ultimately fulfilling journey. I've always loved this book and got more out of it every time I read it. Listening to it has been a whole new pleasure. While I would have liked the audio version to be unabridged, I have really enjoyed it
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Overall

- Karen
- 28-05-07
Find the unabridged version!
Skip the abridged version of this book! I wasn't crazy about it, then decided to give the unabrdged version a chance and I'm SO glad I did. It's a superb book when read in full. I'd rate it 5 stars.
20 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Sandra
- 07-11-04
The Shipping News
This book is such a great read I couldn't put it down. It stayed in my thoughts when I couldn't read it, and I used any excuse to get back to it. A quirky, humorous and sad story, it is written as vividly as though the author was experiencing everything as she wrote. The characters are almost alive and kind of odd, having lived in a small community for so long. But the great thing is that everyone accepts the quirks of others, at least until the end.
12 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Mary E. Johnson
- 10-10-07
Well Done
My 1st Annie Proulx novel, but certainly not my last. I chose the abridged version because I liked Robert Joy's voice. He seemed more Quoyle-like to me. Read the book, listened to the audio version and watched the movie. Time well spent.
4 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Howard
- 14-08-10
A Colossal Bore
All of the Pulitzer Prizes in the world (yes, this book won in 1994) can’t save “The Shipping News” from terminal boredom. Proulx belongs to a segment of the modern school which deemphasizes plot, which might work if the characters and their inner thoughts were fascinating. But this essentially plotless novel is populated by some very dull individuals. It’s one thing to write well, which Proulx does, but it’s another thing to have something to write about. If your want to read a book which celebrates ordinariness, this slight tale might be for you, but don’t be surprised if you, too, end up as bored as I was.
3 people found this helpful
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- Jbo
- 13-05-20
Hmmm
Well - I guess this just wasn’t for me. It was beautiful writing with lovely characters, but it felt very slow moving without much happening. Let’s just say not every book is for everyone.
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- Sarah Meaker
- 23-02-19
Absorbing and enjoyable
Brilliant story by an incredibly talented author. The narration keeps the pace moving with engaging & dynamic voice modulations. I charged through it in about 3 sittings - and wished it wouldn’t end.
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Overall

- Sue
- 26-11-18
Brutally abridged
My favourite novel slashed in two. So sad. The narrator did a good job though.
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- Susan
- 30-11-12
Good words, disappointing reader
Is there anything you would change about this book?
The book is excellent
What did you like best about this story?
It is a compelling story of growth and human character
What didn’t you like about Robert Joy’s performance?
His voice is off putting, and detracted from the story.
Could you see The Shipping News being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?
No
Any additional comments?
no
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Overall

- Patti
- 17-01-11
Less Than Entertaining
The characters didn't interest me. They were sad-sack. The narration was okay. But everything about this story seemed lame. Don't waste your time or credit.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall

- Mollie
- 10-11-10
The Shipping News
I generally liked the book but thought something was missing. When it ended I found it was an abridged version, I realized a lot must have been left out. Didn't know to pay attention to this -thought audible books were all full versions.