Annie Proulx

This was a good book made better by an excellent narrator, Paul Hecht, that was able to 'do the voices' with convincing characterization. Not easy to do when a lot of the characters are middle aged white men from Newfoundland. It got off to a rocky start. I thought it was going to be more magical realist, or at least more satirical as the characters are drawn more like caricatures at first, but over time they become the more standard stuff of a standard novel.

There is a strange undercurrent of sexual abuse throughout the book for a number of characters, which I felt was odd, particularly when it came to the main character's wife selling her children to a pedophile. I have no idea what attracted him to her in the first place - she was the least believable character in the book, but fortunately her appearance was short.

Once we get to Newfoundland the story really takes off. Lots of interesting characters as our hero begins to learn how to live and truly love. It's a voyage of discovery for him as much as for us as we learn a lot about life in Newfoundland and what it's like to live in a harsh part of the world reliant on the ocean for livelihoods and survival. I enjoyed the opening of each chapter - an excerpt from a book of knots and their uses, and how it set up a theme for the chapter.

Overall a pretty satisfying read.… (mere)