Review: Barkskins

Barkskins

Annie Proulx

Barkskins, which refers to wood or timber cutters, is a story which follows two poor, young men from France in 1693 as they travel to New France to start an arduous life working as barkskins. It also follows the ups and downs of their descendants right up to 1960.

While this is a well written book, it is long. I think the short chapters work well since it seems to make the reading move along at a steady pace and it keeps the reader interested in the story. The book is loaded with interesting descriptions and details and it shows how the world was rapidly changing around the characters, but, I personally felt that there wasn't a lot of deep character development. It seemed as if every time I got interested in a character and their particular story they either died or disappeared. Perhaps for that reason I just couldn't really enjoy this book as much as I should have. On some levels it seems it just might have been a bit over ambitious and maybe it just tried to pack in too much in one book.

Thanks to Goodreads giveaway for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.