The Shipping News Audiobook By Annie Proulx cover art

The Shipping News

Preview
Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Shipping News

By: Annie Proulx
Narrated by: Paul Hecht
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $22.49

Buy for $22.49

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

Pulitzer Prize, Fiction, 1994

National Book Award, Fiction, 1994

At 36, Quoyle, a third-rate newspaperman, is wrenched violently out of his workaday life when his two-timing wife gets her just desserts. He retreats with his two daughters to his ancestral home on the starkly beautiful Newfoundland coast, where a rich cast of local characters all play a part in Quoyle's struggle to reclaim his life. As three generations of his family cobble up new lives, Quoyle confronts his private demons - and the unpredictable forces of nature and society - and begins to see the possibility of love without pain or misery.

A vigorous, darkly comic, and at times magical portrait of the contemporary American family, The Shipping News demonstrates why Annie Proulx is recognized as one of the most gifted and original writers in America today.

©1995 Annie Proulx (P)2011 Simon & Schuster
Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Heartfelt Funny
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_T1_webcro805_stickypopup

Critic reviews

" The Shipping News is that rare creation, a lyric page-turner." ( Chicago Tribune)
"The writing is charged with sardonic wit - alive, funny, a little threatening; packed with brilliantly original images... and, now and then, a sentence that simply takes your breath away." ( USA Today)
"Annie Proulx's stunning, big-hearted The Shipping News thaws the frozen lives of its characters and warms readers." ( San Francisco Examiner)
Compelling Storyline • Vivid Descriptions • Excellent Narration • Unique Writing Style • Masterful Performance
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
I would be hard-pressed to say exactly why this novel is so transportive, there doesn't seem, at first glance, to be anything extraordinarily poetic about the writing, but nevertheless it utterly carried me away to another place. Who am I to argue with the Pulitzer committee?
Well worth the read and unexpectedly moving.

Odd yet compelling story beautifully told

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

For a Pulitzer Prize winner, I expected more. Overall I liked the book because it was well constructed and interesting characters that you see grow. I especially like how we saw the younger characters grow in their understanding of life and death. However, I found the pace and excitement level to be like shipping news. I guess I can't fault it for living up to its name. In an era of YouTube short attention spans and over the top GoT characters, this book is a pleasant retreat to what seems like a forgone era. The plot is not complex and the characters feel realistic -- and that is not a short coming. The book is like a quiet companion on a slow and steady hike on a pleasant afternoon.

Good, not Monumental

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

great read, wonderful mix of fun, emotion and general life circumstance. Great narrator story and presentation .

Shipping News

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I found it a bit slow at first but very worth sticking with. It had humor and insight, brought up real meaning of life issues, and ended wonderfully.

what a journey!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Many years ago I saw this movie. The Audible narration really engaged me and the book itself is written with mastery.

Well worth the time spent!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Annie Proulx's Pulitzer winner is so vivid and unique. The descriptions of the culture and the landscape of Newfoundland was tangible and beautiful. I could feel the cold wind in the winter. I could taste the fish. I could hear the flat, nasal accents of the region. Everything about this book makes you feel like you have actually been to the cliffsides of the small seaside villages in the arctic. I love when a book transports me, and this one did. This is a new favorite.

I think I have now traveled to Newfoundland!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

This is one of the best books I've ever read. Annie Proulx doesn't give shallow descriptions of anything or anybody. It is rich and textured. And in the end hopeful. Loved Paul Hecht's narration and good Newfie accents. It comes to life and you can picture all of it. Plus you learn some nautical stuff too.

The best

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

what a wonderful story. i love the way Annie Proulx writes, it makes your imagination run with the sentences without hesitation. this narrator is my favorite so far, the way he does the childrens voices made me laugh out loud many times.

best narrator!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

We’re reading, but I cant quite tell you why. Setting, style, different. it just is.

Strange but compelling

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I really liked the narrator, some male performers can't do female characters well but this narrator didn't bother me for once. I really love the movie of this book so perhaps I am biased, but I enjoyed the story. I felt Quoyle was a very relatable character with all his insecurities and uncertainties about life.

Not bad

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews