Quotes from book
The Shipping News

The Shipping News
Annie Proulx

The Shipping News is a novel by American author E. Annie Proulx and published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1993. It won the Pulitzer Prize, the U.S. National Book Award, as well as other awards. It was adapted as a film of the same name which was released in 2001.

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“We run a car wreck photo every week, whether we have a car wreck or not. That's our golden rule.”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

The Shipping News (1993)

Annie Proulx photo

“Nutbeem influenced a little by the lunar cycle. Had a touch of werewolf. At full moon he burst, talked himself dry, took exercise in the form of dancing and fighting at the Starlight Lounge, then slowly fell back to contemplation.”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

Source: The Shipping News (1993), P. 75

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“For the devil had long ago taken a shine to Tert Card, filled him like a cream horn with itch and irritation. His middle initial was X. Face like cottage cheese clawed with a fork.”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

The Shipping News (1993)

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“All stemmed from Quoyle's chief failure, a failure of normal appearance.”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

Source: The Shipping News (1993), P. 2

Annie Proulx photo

“The ocean twitched like a vast cloth spread over snakes.”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

Source: The Shipping News (1993), P. 193

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“Dad, there's smoke coming out of the can and coming out of your mouth, too. How do you do that, daddy?”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

Source: The Shipping News (1993), P. 42

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“the old place of the Quoyles, half ruined, isolated, the walls and doors of it pumiced by stony lives of dead generations. The aunt felt a hot pang. Nothing would drive them out a second time.”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

Source: The Shipping News (1993), P. 47

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“which bloody misbegotten Card takes the liberty of recasting in his own insane tongue. As the bloody bog-rat's just done.”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

Source: The Shipping News (1993), P. 58

Annie Proulx photo

“In a knot of eight crossings, which is about the average-size knot, there are 256 different 'over-and-under' arrangements possible… Make only one change in this 'over and under' sequence and either an entirely different knot is made or no knot at all may result.”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

Intro
The Shipping News (1993)

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“Quoyle with regards to Petal, his wife, "There was a month of fiery happiness. Then six kinked years of suffering…In another time, in another sex, she would have been Genghis Khan.”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

Source: The Shipping News (1993), P. 13

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“That was the stuff of other lives, he was waiting for his to begin. He got in the habit of walking around the trailer and asking aloud, "Who knows?" He said, "Who knows?" For no one knew. He meant, anything could happen. A spinning coin, still balanced on its rim, may fall in either direction.”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

Source: The Shipping News (1993), P. 11

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“Quoyle, who spoke little himself, inspired talkers. His only skill in the game of life”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

Source: The Shipping News (1993), P. 9

Annie Proulx photo

“And three lucky stones strung on a wire to keep the house safe.”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

Source: The Shipping News (1993), P. 45

Annie Proulx photo

“Petal, like a persistent song phrase, like a few stubborn lines of verse memorized in childhood. The needle was stuck.”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

Source: The Shipping News (1993), P. 53

Annie Proulx photo

“Quoyle, you got any maritime connections?' 'My grandfather was a sealer.' 'Jesus. You always come out at me out of left field.”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

Source: The Shipping News (1993), P. 30

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“Quoyle large, white, stumbling along going nowhere”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

Source: The Shipping News (1993), P. 4

Annie Proulx photo

“The editorial page played streams of invective across the provincial political scene like a fire hose. Harangues, pitted with epithets. Gammy bird was a hard bite. Looked life right in its shifty, bloodshot eye. A tough little paper. Gave Quoyle an uneasy feeling, the feeling of standing on a playground watching others play games whose rules he didn't know.”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

Source: The Shipping News (1993), P. 63

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“Why do we weep in grief,' the aunt wondered. 'Dogs, deer, birds sufferent with dry eyes and in silence. The dumb suffering of animals. Probably a survival technique.”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

Source: The Shipping News (1993), P. 24

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“Dad, are we scared?' said Sunshine. 'No, honey. It's an adventure.”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

Source: The Shipping News (1993), P. 51

Annie Proulx photo

“It was not until the next evening that he discovered he had a page from Leviticus stuck to his back.”

Annie Proulx book The Shipping News

Source: The Shipping News (1993), P.53

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