I was wandering through the dusty shelves of long- forgotten paperbacks in the used book store in my hometown this summer (stocking up on novels for our months of living out of our mini-van) when I stumbled upon a copy of The Shipping News. It was on sale and I saw that it had been made into a movie. Based upong those two facts, I made the purchase.
Only after getting it home, did I realize all the awards that the book had merited: a Pulitzer, a National Book Award, an Irish Times International Fiction Prize, a notable book of the year naming by The New York Times and a Chicago Tribune Heartland Award. Yet I was still a little skeptical that this book would grab me.
Well I guess these award people knew what they were talking about. It is truly a masterpiece. beautifully crafted, well paced, artful descriptons, endearing characters, all in a brilliant native voice.
My overall impressions echo the sentiments of this book reviewer : "The only thing I regret about having read this book is that I can never come to it for the first time again, to be freshly astonished by its quiet truths and its artful blending of dark humor and honest warmth."
Comments