Wyoming Stories

by Annie Proulx

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx's mesmerising stories inspired by the harsh and unforgiving landscape of Wyoming are gathered together for the first time in one beautiful and collectable volume. On the heels of last year's mesmerising film adaptation of 'Brokeback Mountain' comes this beautiful, single volume collection of Annie Proulx's celebrated Wyoming stories. Inventive, compassionate and wildly funny, they explore the unbreakable bond between a people and their land in rich and robust language, with an eye for detail unparalleled in American fiction. In 'The Contest', the men of Elk Tooth, Wyoming, vow to put aside their razors for two seasons and wait to see who has the longest beard come the 4th of July. Deb Sipple, the moving protagonist of 'That Trickle Down Effect', finds that his opportunism - and his smoking habit - lead to massive destruction. And 'What Kind of Furniture Would Jesus Pick?' is the story of Gilbert Wolfscale, whose rabid devotion to his ranch drives away his wife and sons. Every story of this stunning collection is a tribute to Proulx's wit, her knowledge of the West, and her profound sympathy for characters who must use sheer will and courage to make it in such unforgiving territory.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Westerns, Adult Fiction, Literary Fiction, Americana, Novels

528 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Edna Annie Proulx (Chinese:安妮 普鲁) is an American journalist and author. Her second novel, The Shipping News (1993), won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for fiction in 1994. Her short story "Brokeback Mountain" was adapted as an Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe Award-winning major motion picture released in 2005. Brokeback Mountain received massive critical acclaim and went on to be nominated for a leading eight Academy Awards, winning three of them. (However, the movie did not win Best Picture, a situation with which Proulx made public her disappointment.) She won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for her first novel, Postcards.

She has written most of her stories and books simply as Annie Proulx, but has also used the names E. Annie Proulx and E.A. Proulx.

Reviews

[Mike Goldstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is some next level shit. Beautifully written, sad, menacing, funny, everything. Some of the best.

[Guillermo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tres libros de cuentos reunidos. Todos parejos en tema y estilo. Algunas historias mejores que otras.
El tema es la áspera vida de los rancheros. Los que tienen un poco de vida salvaje son más interesantes. O los matrimoniales. Cuestión de gustos.

[Florence Buchholz · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there is beauty in the high plains of Wyoming you won't find it in this book. It is mostly a man's world. There are no chintz bedspreads and lace curtains either. Grizzled ranchers and their downtrodden spouses survive and amuse themselves as best they can. There is humor and it is dry and black. In the last story, Brokeback Mountain, love or something like it briefly surfaces. It is preordained that it will soon be snuffed out. As tough as life is for humans, animals have it much worse. Still, Annie Proulx's prose is unique and wonderful.

[Hollis Queens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliance is sometimes difficult to read, but once you understand the language Proulx writes with, it becomes easier to find yourself immersed in her prose. If you get stuck, or don't understand something, you can always look up a few scholarly articles online, and when you read it a second time, you'll get it. Each story is like a town you get to on a road trip through the stark West. Better pad your saddle, because it is going to be a rough ride!

[Tomás ☁️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

fuck novela embrace leer relatos cortos

[Sean Morrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

There might be some happy people in Wyoming, but they sure aren't in this book. Proulx does an excellent job of conveying what it's like to live life impoverished in rural Wyoming. However, most of the stories aren't really narratives so much as rambling descriptions of people's lives that abruptly end, seemingly whenever Proulx gets tired of writing about them.

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although it's set in the same landscape, the stories are very different. It was interesting too to read the original Brokeback Mountain short story. An excellent collection.

[Maga DeLin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wyoming, de Annie Proulx

¡Vaya manera de comenzar el año! Recurrí a mi anti-biblioteca y me encontré con esta joya que tenía guardada desde hace algunos años, cuando la providencia me la señaló en una mesa de saldos. No conocía a la autora pero me encantó la premisa del libro: una compilación de relatos sobre cowboys, vaqueros e indios. Son 24 cuentos divididos en tres libros y en todos ellos sus personajes forman parte del viejo Oeste, ese sitio mítico que todos conocemos a través del cine. Pero estas historias no se ambientan en tiempos lejanos sino en uno cercano, tan alienado por el peso del pasado y la lucha entre las tradiciones antiguas y el nuevo siglo que se aproxima. Aquí sientes que el polvo del desierto se te mete en los poros. Sientes aullar al viento, la nieve cubre cada extensión de campo. Hay promesas de abundancia y tristes derrotas. Las montañas, implacables, ven el desfile generacional de sus habitantes, atados a la tierra, con sus sueños hechos trizas, con sus luchas agobiantes y sus fracasos estrepitosos.
Hay amor en estos relatos, y hay humor también, pese a lo antes dicho. Están todos los elementos que conforman la vida y por eso todas estas historias laten con corazón propio y abruman con su peso.
Las historias familiares, los giros del destino, las elecciones equivocadas y aquellas que cambian la vida no necesariamente para mal, están presentes. El hombre en la naturaleza, expuesto ante su grandeza y no siempre victorioso pero sí tocado por ella, metamorfoseado por su poder.
Impresionante la escritura de Proulx, conmovedora, atenta al detalle de continuo. Leer sus cuentos es viajar a otras realidades y volver transformado por ellas. Este libro, publicado por Lumen por primera vez en español en 2009, es increíble, y deja ganas de seguir leyendo a la autora nacida en 1935.
Por cierto, aquí se incluye el cuento «Brokeback Mountain», que fue llevado al cine, y que fue uno de mis favoritos.
Si tienen oportunidad, lean a Annie Proulx, escritora norteamericana que es una referente de su literatura contemporánea. No se arrepentirán.

[Mona Ammon · Rating 3 out of 5]

TITLE: Close Range: Wyoming Stories
WHY I CHOSE THIS BOOK: It is a National Book Award Winner
REVIEW: My enjoyment of the stories in this book was uneven. Some seemed bizarre and pointless. Some were quirky but had heart. A lot of characters short on talk or looking at their feelings. Lives full of struggle and hardship wrought from outside and what they do to themselves and others. Women clearly do not fair well, if more important than cattte then barely so. This collection includes Brokeback Mountain, the short story the Oscar winning film was based on. It was sweet and sad just like the film, and suprisingly more forthright in the depiction of the two men's physical relationship. Within the context of the entire book I had even more feeling for the women (the wives) who are incidental used as camaflogue and stop gaps with little thought for their feelings.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely love the gritty, humorous style of this author! I've read her stuff before (though I would need to re-read to remember) - and knew that I loved her. Yep - this is great and I didn't want it to end.

I was surprised that "Brokeback Mountain" was the final story in the collection - had no idea she had written it.

Let me just say that I have zero interest in rodeos, westerns, etc. - which comprises a good share of this book. The fact that I loved it in spite of the subject material says a lot about how good she is at her craft.

[David Gagen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb collection of short stories that feature characters (mostly men) battling with broken families, the beautiful though harsh Wyoming landscape, the struggle to find a place for themselves. It features her great story Brokeback Mountain but most of these stories are as memorable. This collection is on a par with her best novels.

[Adrian Santiago · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lets put it simple, when the autor does not make "cowboys" about boots, horses and manliness she can write awesome stories.

When she writes about same-sex sex, death, poorness and life struggle the stories are actually pretty good. Yeah, no doubt Breakback Mountain is the best of them all.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, the voices! So authentic and rhythmic. I felt as though i was sitting by a campfire listening to a bunch of knarly old cowboys. Brutal, tender, heartbreaking and absolutely wonderful...and I say this having hitherto no interest in cowboy stories.

[Nancy Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

harsh lives portrayed for animals and people.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

adult fiction; stories/modern Wyoming.

[Margie Kuzminski · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I liked this book more -- a Wyoming version of Flannery O'Connor. A lot of ranch jargon made it hard to create a mental landscape, even though I felt pretty familiar with the geographical one.

[Barbara Carder · Rating 5 out of 5]

You cannot praise the writing of Annie Proulx enough . . . a must-read for all college literature classes in American 20th/21st century literature. Love loved loved every word.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gorgeously written, grim as a Wyoming winter.

[Женя · Rating 4 out of 5]

Фильм однозначно круче!
Рассказ же, мне показался, сухим и грубым.

[Shirley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Proulx is an incredible talent in capturing dialect and nuance along with the culture of an area. Each of her stories reflects the location, and in this book the stories are funny, sad, predictable,surprising, and true to life. Very enjoyable. When I picked it up, I didn't realize Brokeback Mountain was written by her as a short story. I can see how they could take these 30 pages so vividly written and turn it into the blockbuster that it was.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with so many short story collections, something of a mixed bag. Her writing is exquisite but these short pieces are more like windows into characters' lives than actual stories. The famous one in this collection is the original Brokeback Mountain short, which surprised me by being slighter and more sexually graphic than the Oscar-winning movie.

[Deanna Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It reminded me of growing up in Colorado ranch country although Wyoming is much more harsh. The stories illuminate the human propensity to try and live a certain kind of life no matter how difficult or inappropriate that life is in a given environment. Wyoming is no place for cattle and barely fit for humans, yet wild and beautiful, just like the stories.

[Heleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prachtige stijl van schrijven, die bijzondere vergelijkingen, die beschrijvingen van mensen in het harde bestaan met het harde klimaat. Alleen het allerbelangrijkste wordt opgeschreven. Liefde, tederheid, warmte, aandacht ontbreken al hunkert er men wel naar.

[Eleazar Herrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pensaba que había incluido ya este libro en GR. Es UNA PASADA. Mierda de la buena. Empieza con el relato de Brokeback Mountain, que es precioso y jodidísimo, y sigue con otras historias por lo menos igual de buenas. En serio, lo recomiendo muchísimo.

[Howard]

An great collection

[Janine · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be read with Texan drawl...loved it - short stores set in the mid-west - dry, isolated, people act different out there... the environment affects their relationships.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had to read "Brokeback Mountain" for a book club, but decided to read some other stories too. This would not make a good Welcome to Wyoming required read for new residents, but it is great.

[Nicola · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love Annie Proulx's gritty short stories. The names are outlandish, the dirt and dashed dreams are palpable, and the stories are mesmerising. I'd rate this 10 if I could.

[Mckinley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seems like real Wyoming to me.

[Mat Weddle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I particularly liked The Mud Below, Brokeback Mountain, and Job History. I really like the way she writes but man, these stories are just brutal. Makes me appreciate my easy life!