Close Range: Wyoming Stories

Okay, The Brokeback film is one of the greatest pieces of LGBT cinema but this short story had some of the worst writing I’ve ever seen

I don't read a lot of short story collections, maybe 2 or 3 a year; I find the genre difficult and I have trouble getting into a rhythm. I usually only read a collection if it is by an author I really like or the book is supposed to be really good. I read this book mostly because I wanted to read Brokeback Mountain and I quite like Annie Proulx. These stories were all great. The style of writing is dense, rich, beautiful, and layered, so it is the type of book that you could certainly enjoy re-reading. These stories need to be enjoyed slowly. I read a couple of the longer ones a little too fast and found myself having to flip back a few pages because I missed some important detail buried in of Proux's river-like flowing prose. Most of the time when I finish a story collection I tend to only clearly remember a few selections from the volume. The Mud Below, the 2nd story in the book, is just gutwrenching but also my favorite from it. Brokeback Mountain is maybe one of the saddest pieces of writing I've ever read, but also one of the most moving love stories I've experienced.These stories are bleak and grim - mirroring perhaps the desolate landscape of rural Wyoming. Keep the tissue box next to you as you read this one; you'll need it!

Not a huge fan of this book to be perfectly honest. It felt rushed and too short. There were some parts that gave so much feeling and emotion and I wish she would turn this into a novel with more character development.