Barkskins
Barkskins 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"
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Victoria | Available |
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Subject |
Indentured servants > Fiction. Families > Fiction. Canada > History > 17th century > Fiction. |
Genre |
Audiobooks. Historical fiction. Epic fiction. Sound recordings. Fiction. |
- ISBN: 1442370068
- ISBN: 9781442370067
- Physical Description 21 audio discs (approximately 26 hr.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.
- Publisher New York, NY : Simon & Schuster Audio, [2016]
- Copyright 2016
Content descriptions
General Note: | Compact discs. Unabridged. GMD: compact disc. |
Participant or Performer Note: | Read by Robert Petkoff. |
Immediate Source of Acquisition Note: | LSC 77.99 |
Additional Information
Summary
Barkskins : A Novel
Finalist for the Kirkus Prize for Best Novel A New York Times Notable Book A Washington Post Best Book of the Year From the Pulitzer Prize---winning author of The Shipping News and "Brokeback Mountain," comes the New York Times bestselling epic about the demise of the world's forests: " Barkskins is grand entertainment in the tradition of Dickens and Tolstoy...the crowning achievement of Annie Proulx's distinguished career, but also perhaps the greatest environmental novel ever written" ( San Francisco Chronicle ). In the late seventeenth century two young Frenchmen, Ren Sel and Charles Duquet, arrive in New France. Bound to a feudal lord for three years in exchange for land, they become wood-cutters--barkskins. Ren suffers extraordinary hardship, oppressed by the forest he is charged with clearing. He is forced to marry a native woman and their descendants live trapped between two cultures. But Duquet runs away, becomes a fur trader, then sets up a timber business. Annie Proulx tells the stories of the descendants of Sel and Duquet over three hundred years--their travels across North America, to Europe, China, and New Zealand--the revenge of rivals, accidents, pestilence, Indian attacks, and cultural annihilation. Over and over, they seize what they can of a presumed infinite resource, leaving the modern-day characters face to face with possible ecological collapse. "A stunning, bracing, full-tilt ride through three hundred years of US and Canadian history...with the type of full-immersion plot that keeps you curled in your chair, reluctant to stop reading" ( Elle ), Barkskins showcases Proulx's inimitable genius of creating characters who are so vivid that we follow them with fierce attention. "This is Proulx at the height of her powers as an irreplaceable American voice" ( Entertainment Weekly , Grade A), and Barkskins "is an awesome monument of a book" ( The Washington Post )--"the masterpiece she was meant to write" ( The Boston Globe ). As Anthony Doerr says, "This magnificent novel possesses the dark humor of The Shipping News and the social awareness of 'Brokeback Mountain.'"