Quoyle, the protagonist of The Shipping News, is a lonely misfit who suffers many misfortunes in Mockingbird, NY. He marries a woman named Petal Bear, who makes him happy for only one month. Quoyle has two children with Petal: Bunny and Sunshine. But then Petal rejects Quoyle and chooses to go on the road with other men. She finally leaves Quoyle, “sells” the two girls, and dies in a car accident. Quoyle finds the girls, and he relocates with his aunt to a small town where his ancestors lived in Newfoundland.
A friend from NY, Partridge, who had been instrumental in getting Quoyle a reporting job in the past, connects Quoyle with Jack Buggitt, Editor of the Gammy Bird newspaper in Killick-Claw, Newfoundland. Quoyle begins to write stories about car wrecks for the first page of the Gammy Bird, and he also takes responsibility for articles about shipping news. Although Quoyle and Aunt Agnis Hamm had recent ancestors with disreputable characteristics, they and the girls begin to prosper in the Newfoundland shipping town. The aunt establishes a ship upholstery business, and Quoyle starts to connect with people and provides positive parenting for his two daughters.
Proulx uses multiple devices to lead readers to Quoyle’s discovery of coastal life, human connections, and himself. Her chapter epigraphs from Clifford Ashley’s 1944 The Ashley Book of Knots were particularly thought-provoking. The descriptions of knots represent the various attachments in Quoyle’s life, some supportive and some toxic. Physical knots were significant in the book since boating and fear of drowning were critical parts of the lifestyle. Tangible knots also came into play in the habits of Quole’s cousin Nolan and the aunt’s upholstery business. Several figurative knots fleshed out the plot and themes of the book—complex relationships and productive relationships were tied and untied to create a memorable and distinctive novel.
I appreciate an author like Annie Proulx who can “tie” a novel together and include so many of life’s issues, problems, and themes: family matters, sexual Abuse, small-town priorities, child-rearing, mental illness, children with special needs, ancestry, accepting the cycles of life and death and more. She provides mooring, which allows characters and readers to grow and reflect.
