Barkskins
Ratings10
Average rating4.2
15
Ratings10
Average rating4.2
"Bark Skins open in New France in the late 18th century as Rene Sel, an illiterate woodsman makes his way from Northern France to the homeland to seek a living. Bound to a "seigneur" for three years in exchange for land, he suffers extraordinary hardship and violence, always in awe of the forest he is charged with clearing. In the course of this epic novel, Proulx tells the stories of Rene's children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, as well as the descendants of his friends and foes, as they travel back to Europe, to China, to New England, always in quest of a livelihood or fleeing stunningly brutal conditions--war, pestilence, Indian attacks, the revenge of rivals. Proulx's inimitable genius is her creation of characters who are so vivid--in their greed, lust, vengefulness, or their simple compassion and hope--that we follow them with fierce attention. This is Proulx's most ambitious novel ever, and her master work"--
Reviews with the most likes.
Moments of brilliance and fluidity, surrounded by quite a bit of meandering. I felt let down tremendously by the ending. But overall, an epic, aweinspiring work of a lifetime.
I had to DNF this book at around the 400 page mark. I will explain further in my May Wrap Up Video.
Barkskins is an enormous forest of a book, 700 pages and 300 years and three continents of loggers and family timber businesses and Native peoples and even a tree hugger or two. You can expect to find Annie Proulx's meticulous, spot-on use of words in every sentence of this book and you will know from page one that this book has been carefully researched, from the information given about the trees and the people and the places down to tiny details about the people's speech and mannerisms and habits. It's big, so be prepared to invest ten or twelve hours in reading through this beautifully dense work; you will be happy to do so.
