The Shipping News

If I had to describe this book in one word, I think it would be "lyrical". The author (also of Brokeback Mountain fame) uses almost no verbs, and it is increbibly effective. Amazingly so. And although not much happens in the book - hardly a plot, you don't even know how much time has passed from one event to the other half the time - I just drank in the words, turning page after page because I loved the writing so much.

The main character is actually quite pathetic. Quoyle- large, lumbering, slow, no amibition, no self respect. He marries a women who sleeps with another man each night, sometimes bringing them home and bedding them in the den where her husband can hear them. After 6 years of marriage, she runs away with the money she raised by selling thier two young girls to a pedofile. Luckily, the only thing that this event causes is the move to Quoyle's ancestoral home of Newfoundland. There, he settles into a new life, and finds himself through the cast of characters in the small fishing town. I don't want to give away too much, since you all should read this book. The story is subtle, it comes to an end with a small bang and you feel good when you realize this is how it ended.

I cannot stress how much I loved her way of writing. For example, Quoyle works in newspapers, so he often gives headlines to his thoughts. The best is when he, his two daughters and his aunt are sleeping in the car (long story) and his aunts dog's flatulence is keeping him awake, prompting "Dog Farts Fell Family of Four." These thought headlines are funny at times, but also heartbreaking, observant and give insight into what Quoyle is going through at that moment. It is just one of the techniques she uses to show the reader, instead of telling her.

Editor Esteems Eloquent Style and Storytelling.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (Fannie Flagg)

I would reccomend this book for anyone who loved the movie (as I did). I think the biggest problem was, however, that I loved the movie. I kept comparing and picturing the actors in my head. Even if the scene was not the same, I read the words but saw the movie scene.

That said, the book was a solid read. Evelyn's charater was a bit more flushed out (although Kathy Bates captured the essense SO well - even though she didn't get all the scenes the book had, she did the character justice). There are many terticary characters which the book follows to the death, and in addition to getting a feel for this family, you really get a feel for the times. There would be two page narrations that would break your heart.

It is also a very quick read. In two days of commuting and reading at lunch, I finished the book. The writing was good, but I don't think I would have appricitated it as much if the movie hadn't done most of the work for me. The book was less about Idgy and Ruth than it was about the whole town and how it changed over the years, which was done well.

If you are looking for a good, quick read, pick it up. The characters are easy to love and the cheese factor always stays just below normal. (And there are recipes in the back!)

Madame Bovary

Oh look! A "classic"! Or maybe the biggest waste of time ever! This book, although well written and an easy read, made me so angry that I wanted the main character to die almost from the moment she was introduced. Although I understand what the author was trying to do by having such a character, he kind of over does it for the sake of dramatics and the you close the book with a "whaaa?".

The story focuses on Emma Bovary, the farm raised wife of a small town doctor, who, raised on romance novels and songs of love, is utterly dissapointed when her own life does not turn out that way. She is a spoiled brat who throws fits whenever she wants, does whatever she wants bc it fits her image of what her life should be, and never once thinks about what may happen to her, her husband or her daughter.

At the start, I see that the author is trying to show us what life was like for a non-working woman. Her husband would be gone all day, and she would have nothing to do but walk around the garden and (surprise!) read romance novels. She takes her boredom out on her husband and begins to hate him, and when she finds that motherhood is also not all that is is said to be, she begins to push her daugher away as well, or use her to assuage her guilt when she momentatiry comes to her senses.

The story snowballs from here, lovers, debt, double dealing, prostitution, she does it all. By the end, you feel no sorrow for her, no sympathy. She is pathetic and I hate her. What kind of statement was the author making? Women who do not work are bad? Wives who do not love and adore their husbands are punished? If you are not content with your lot in life and strive for more you will be ruined? I am not sure. The end of the book, which I skimmed as fast as I could so I could never have to look at it again, might shed some light on his message as it related to the other characters. I will have to reread it once I have recovered from the book itself.