Close Range: Wyoming Stories http://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Close-Range-E-Annie-Proulx-Annie-Proulx/9780684852225?outprint=1&isbn=0684852225

By E Annie Proulx, Annie Proulx

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Reviews

This new collection from the talented Proulx includes "The Half-Skinned Steer," chosen by John Updike for The Best American Short Stories of the Century (see Prepub Alert, LJ 12/98).

"The Boston Globe" Few writers feel equally at home in the novel and the short story...[these stories] are tough as flint and on occasion breathtaking; together they stand with Proulx's best work.

Annie Proulx's new collection of short stories includes the acclaimed `Brokeback Mountain', along with 10 other stories all set in the harsh and unrelenting landscape of Wyoming. Life here is tough, and `the tragedy of people counts for nothing although the signs of misadventure are everywhere' among the bull-riding, gun-toting, hard-drinking and hard-working folk of the ranchlands. Although similar in flavour, each story is unique - sometimes confronting, sometimes poignant, but never sentimental. There is much that is grim, even gruesome, in this collection but there is a very real sense that this is life. The stories are absolutely engaging - some particularly for their narrative, others for their character interaction or their quirky, sometimes black humour. Some stories are quite bleak, such as `Job History', where life for everyone is a succession of miserable failures. They are all wonderfully written and the work of a master storyteller who leaves the reader with much to dwell upon. The style of Proulx's writing here is closer to that of Accordion Crimes than The Shipping News or her earlier short-story collection, Heart Songs. No doubt readers will find some stories more satisfying than others, but this is a collection to look forward to and certainly one to savour. Anne Austin is a bookseller at Lindfield Bookshop, Lindfield (NSW). C. 1999 Thorpe-Bowker and contributors