THE SHIPPING NEWS

Quoyle returns to his ancestral home in Newfoundland, along with his two daughters and his aunt. Escaping from the memories of his dead wife, Quoyle fights to establish a new life for his extended family. Robert Joy reads in a slow, stiff voice as he tries to bring the characters to life. Joy's narration doesn't connect emotionally with Proulx's characters or their actions. The smooth flow of narrative is truncated by choppy dialogue and a sharply abridged disjointed plot. As the story progresses, the threads of plot slowly come together, creating a picture of life on the windswept coast of Newfoundland. M.B.K. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 02]