Connecticut’s Proulx
By Kristen on Jul 11, 2008 in 50 States 50 Books
photo credit: Marion Doss
For those of you who have read Proulx’s Pulitzer-winning The Shipping News (and if you haven’t, please do!), you may be thinking how well she brought to life the region of Newfoundland. Or you may instead be thinking of how well she represented untamed Wyoming in Brokeback Mountain.
Throughout this series I have struggled between choosing authors simply from the state versus works about the state. And this week I’m choosing the former! Proulx is truly remarkable in her ability to recreate a time and place… Since I’ve only read The Shipping News thus far, I will focus on that work this week.
Here is Library Journal’s review:
Off the beaten track of contemporary American fiction in both style and setting, this remarkable second novel by the author of Postcards should capture the attention of readers and critics. Huge, homely Quoyle works off and on for a newspaper. His cheating wife Petal is killed in a car crash while abandoning him and their two preschool daughters. Wallowing in grief, Quoyle agrees to accompany his elderly aunt and resettle in a remote Newfoundland fishing village. Memorable characters–gay aunt Agnis, difficult daughter Bunny, new love interest Wavey, many colorful locals in their new hometown–combine with dark stories of the Quoyle family’s past and the staccato, often subjectless or verbless sentences (bound to make English teachers cringe) to create a powerful whole.
And an excerpt from Chapter 1:
Quoyle: A coil of rope.
“A Flemish flake is a spiral coil of one layer only. It is made on deck, so that it may be walked on if necessary.”
THE ASHLEY BOOK OF KNOTS
Here is an account of a few years in the life of Quoyle, born in Brooklyn and raised in a shuffle of dreary upstate towns.
Hive-spangled, gut roaring with gas and cramp, he survived childhood; at the state university, hand clapped over his chin, he camouflaged torment with smiles and silence. Stumbled through his twenties and into his thirties learning to separate his feelings from his life, counting on nothing. He ate prodigiously, liked a ham knuckle, buttered spuds.
His jobs: distributor of vending machine candy, all-night clerk in a convenience store, a third-rate newspaperman. At thirty-six, bereft, brimming with grief and thwarted love, Quoyle steered away to Newfoundland, the rock that had generated his ancestors, a place he had never been nor thought to go.
A watery place. And Quoyle feared water, could not swim. Again and again the father had broken his clenched grip and thrown him into pools, brooks, lakes and surf. Quoyle knew the flavor of brack and waterweed.
Since my sister-in-law and her family live in Connecticut, I am fortunate to visit this gorgeous state at least once a year and Proulx is a worthy representative!
Curious about what states we’ve done so far and which ones are on deck?
Photo by marxchivistFirst, from Melanie Jones:
Alabama: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (check out my To Kill A Mockingbird Sample Kit!) Michigan: The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides Alaska: The Man Who Swam With Beavers by Nancy Lord Arizona: The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver North Dakota: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger Vermont: The Secret History by Donna Tartt Hawaii: Heads by Harry by Lois-ann Yamanaka Georgia: Leaving Atlanta by Tayari Jones And I went out on my own for…
Florida: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Nora Zeale Hurston Minnesota: In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien Wisconsin: When Madeline Was Young by Jane Hamilton Louisiana: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells (Jones’ pick) and The Awakening by Kate Chopin (my pick) Colorado: Plainsong by Kent Haruf Maryland: Anything by Anne Tyler Georgia: Awakening by Kate Chopin Ohio: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison Arkansas: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Virginia: John Grisham Idaho: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson North Carolina: Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons Tennesee: Run by Ann Patchett New Jersey: Anything by Janet Ivanovich Texas: Anything by Elmer Kelton
Wondering where your state is? Coming soon… In the meantime, weigh in on future picks!
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
8 Trackback(s)
Post a Comment