Read half of "The Shipping News." Gave up.

[bif]

Am I the only one who wasn't wild about it? Not sure why it got all the awards it did. It seemed like a Garrison Keilor "Lake Wobegone" series of stories and I didn't really care about any of the characters. Am I missing something?

[samnsara]

1. i liked the movie...the book reviews said you will hate all the characters at first...

..then they grow on you. I want a book that grabs me from the beginning...as i have a very short attn span.

[bif]

2. I hear ya. I usually give a book 50 pages

and then I cut my losses. I gave this a bit more since everyone loved it. Should have stopped sooner.

[Demovictory9]

12. me too. I used to feel guilty about bailing out of well reviewed books... now... "life is short"

[no_hypocrisy]

3. I endorse your view.

I didn't make it to page 50.

I forced myself to read in its entirety Confederacy of Dunces. I didn't like it all.

[murielm99]

4. I liked

The Shipping News.

[Claire Oh Nette]

5. Shipping (yawn) news...

Slow, dull, gray.

I'll usually try 100 pages, and I'll usually try twice. Nah.

[Nitram]

6. One of my all-time favorite books. The writing is beautiful and the characters are original and

entirely empathetic and believable. Great humor along with the moving developments. I believe you are missing a great deal if you put a novel like this in the category of a Lake Woebegone radio play.

[Oldem]

8. Agreed.

I recently finished my second reading of it. I admit that I was more smitten, especially with the writing, the first time. But this time, I got more of the characterization and themes. I also understand why some wouldn't like it. The style is quirky. The characters are losers, or at least misfits--people who, for the most part have never found a place to belong. And here they've washed up in this wilderness of ice, a setting that reflects their isolation and helps explain their peculiarities.

[Nitram]

9. Apparently some readers are wedded to the idea of cliched ordinary people and can't see the humor,

and the truth embedded in it, of a writer like Proulx. I enjoyed every line in this novel, and it resonated with me like temple bell.

[Oldem]

10. Resonate is a good word.

There's so much to savor. Quoyle's anguish; Bunny's anger. Agnis' pain; Wavey's blossoming. The symbolism of the house at Quoyle's Point. I admire Quoyle's doggedness. After enduring so much, he won't quit; instead, he prospers. Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances....

[LearnedHand]

11. Ditto every word

I was transported by the beauty of it. The film simply could not have captured the complex elegance.

[birdographer]

7. I'm with you on this

I tried it, too, since it was supposed to be so great. Didn't work for me.