- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Fourth Estate; (Reissue) edition (1 Oct 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1841150762
- ISBN-13: 978-1841150765
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 118,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Annie Proulx published her first novel, Postcards in 1991; her second, The Shipping News, won the Pulitzer prize in 1993 and in 1997 her third novel, Accordion Crimes, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. Close Range: Wyoming Stories is her second collection of short stories, including the acclaimed novella, "Brokeback Moutain". Described by one critic as a "profanely poetic and beautiful elegy on doomed manhood," this story of love and sex--"a shared and sexless hunger"--between two cowboys exemplifies the world of Close Range. "If you can't fix it you've got to stand it": that could be the motto of any one of these eleven tales of lives lived out in the relentless, sometimes sickening, brutality of ranch and range. From "The Half-Skinned Steer" (take the title literally) to "55 Miles to the Gas Pump" and "People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water", bodies (often male) are broken and mangled; a nervous woman throws her baby daughter away and a prodigal son rots with gangrene; women are confused with bulls, lovemaking with riding a rodeo. Grotesque, damaged: lost bodies, and dreams, are the themes of this relentless and skilfully crafted book. Far from revelling in the violence, and loss, they uncover, these stories think it through--take the reader towards the poetry and compassion which is the hallmark of Proulx's writing. --Vicky Lebeau
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
‘A stunning collection of eleven tales about the hard lives of the ranchers, cowpokes and country wives who struggle to survive in an unforgiving environment. Written in a wonderfully flexible style that can be both spare and extravagant, her book has been hailed by American critics as a masterpiece.’ Daily Telegraph
‘Like a mystic seeing the transfigured universe, she recreates the beauty of ordinary things.’ Independent on Sunday
‘The detail is meticulous, the prose poetic and Proulx's fiction teems with life. Above all, her stories engage the heart. Magical.’ Tatler
‘Proulx's style, compressed, elastic, hard-hitting, is inimitable: close to poetry but never self-indulgent. This is writing to be savoured.’ Sunday Telegraph
‘These are tales we can almost feel in our bones.’ Sunday Times
‘Individually, these 11 tales have a tautness and an urgency that are never less than exhilarating. Collectively, they encapsulate an entire, unremittingly bleak world. To find the pulse of humanity in such desperate lives betokens a writer of genius.’ Saturday Telegraph
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Bought this book as a holiday read on the back of The Shipping News, consumed(and loved)some years ago. Could barely wait to unpack before starting it on arrival, and had to force myself to stop after half a day for fear of knocking it off in one sitting and leaving me bereft for the remainder of the week. Eagerly picked it up one day later......no self control. One of those books you (I) can't put down; so evocative of unforgiving existences in the unforgiving territory of Wyoming past and present.I kept wondering how the author could have put so much expression and understanding into the varied lives of her protagonists, particularly when, in perhaps the best and most powerful of all the stories she relates the loving relationship between two cowboys. I suggest reading a story a day or you'll o.d. on the characters and the landscape - but, if you've read Proulx before, you don't need all this guff to convince you it's a buy.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a collection of short stories set in a harsh, unforgiving landscape. The reader is immediately drawn into the plots in which three dimensional characters eke out their existence beneath the mind - numbing effect of huge distances & isolation, where minor occurrances take on huge proportions.
Proulx's stories are utterly spellbinding. Her prose is hypnotic & her imagery breathtaking.
This is a book which affects your life whilst it holds you in its thrall. I have lost count of how many times I have re-read it but each time it is as fresh as the first. If you only ever read one more book, make it this one.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Close Range: Wyoming Stories is a rich collection of evocative, inspiring, challenging and uncompromising short stories. Proulx captures the culture and landscape of Wyoming - a place I have never been - through astounding descriptive techniques and breathtaking characterisation. Humour and pathos are equal ingredients in her studies of the human spirit, notably as it operates at the fringe of modern American civilisation. The last story in the collection - Brokeback Mountain - will stay in your heart and imagination for ever.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Outstanding writing
Proulx has complete mastery of "voice". She is able to present character not only through action but through diction and accent in each of her individually created Westerners -... Read more
Published 1 month ago by J. Boyle
American prose at its absolute best
The writing crackles and burns indelible images. Phrases live with you. "She was ridden hard and put away dirty" refers to a mother of four who leaves home one day - can't take it... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Stephen Summers
An unforgiving trek past Brokeback Mountain
Again I am putting the cart in front of the horses in terms of my reading habits; I was drawn to this book after viewing the amazing Brokeback Mountain. Read more
Published on 23 Oct 2009 by Matt Kennard
Not that good really
I have not yet read any of Proulx's other work such as The Shipping News. This collection of eleven short stories contains a masterpiece, Brokeback Mountain. Read more
Published on 28 Mar 2008 by Flibertigibbit
Perfect partners:blood and sludge
Suddenly coming from Sheffield, England isn't that bad at all. In fact it's a ladies night out. Wyoming life is hard. Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2001 by tim@funkyroom.demon.co.uk
Likeable stories
Well I liked it. Perhaps less mannered style than her longer fiction (which isn't supposed to sound like an insult). Try also Jonathan Raban's Bad Land. Read more
Published on 16 May 2000 by Armchair adventurer
Stunning
Simply stunning. Searing stories from a master stylist.
Published on 8 May 2000
short stories that tell of long hard lifetimes
Postcards and The Shipping News leave you addicted. Accordian Crimes gives you a hit, leaving you buzzing but sadly not satiated. Read more
Published on 31 Oct 1999
Harsh life, Good read
The characters that populate this collection of short stories will be familiar to readers of Proulxs' previous work. Read more
Published on 26 Oct 1999 by Mr. J. N. Douse
Not endorsed by the Wyoming Tourist Board
Be glad you don't have to live in Proulx's Wyoming. Full of empty, philandering men with shady pasts and desperate women who have a habit of dying of unnatural causes. Read more
Published on 20 July 1999
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