A precise and poetic collection of short stories, full of vivid imagery, both beautiful and grotesque, about how hard and hopeless it is to be a Wyoming cowboy. I found it hard to put down. (

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nebowers | Aug 1, 2009 |

Close Range: Wyoming Stories sets a very harsh, violent, sad landscape for its characters. Poverty and a sense of futility is in every story. Every situation is a lesson in survival and dealing with the crappy hand you have been dealt. Words like stark and bleak and depressed come to mind. The characters are born into a way of life that has barely any opportunity for change. There is no easy means of escape. The brutality of the landscape is matched only by the grit of its inhabitants. (

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SeriousGrace | Jul 21, 2009 |

Oddly enough, the book containing Annie Proulx's masterpiece, "Brokeback Mountain," was mostly a dud.

I did not finish the book. Most of the stories were uninvolving and often unconvincing. (

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DaveCullen | Jun 1, 2009 |

Stark and beautiful prose. (

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iceT | May 18, 2009 |

This is about as near a perfect collectioibn of short stories as I have read with 'Brokeback Mountain' being the best - so good that I can't bring myself to watch the film as it will only disappoint. The collection feels like a series of prose poems where Annie Proulx has slaved over the placing of every word in order to convey rich emotion in a sparse environment. Loved it. (

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riverwillow | Mar 31, 2009 |

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added by Shortride | editNew York, Walter Kirn (May 17, 1999)

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Series (with order)

Wyoming Stories (1)

Canonical Title

Close Range

Original publication date

1999

People/Characters

Important places

Wyoming, USA

Important events

Awards and honors

Pulitzer Prize finalist (Fiction, 2000)

New York Times Best Books of the Year (1999)

Borders Original Voices (2000)

Ambassador Book Award (2000.3|Fiction, 2000)

Epigraph

"Reality's never been of much use out here."
-Retired Wyoming Rancher

Dedication

These stories are for my children

Muffy
Jon
Gillis
Morgan

First words

In the long unfurling of his life, from tightwound kid hustler in a wool suit riding the train out of Cheyenne to geriatric limper in this spooled-out year, Mero had kicked down thoughts of the place where he began, a so-called ranch on a strange ground at the south hinge of the Big Horns.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (3)

Annie Proulx

Brokeback Mountain (short story)

Close Range: Wyoming Stories

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

▾Book descriptions

Amazon.com Amazon.com Audiobook Review (ISBN 0684852225, Paperback)

Pulitzer Prize-winner E. Annie Proulx forays through the underside of America's beloved Wild West in Close Range, a collection of stories about hardship and more hardship in Wyoming territory. Understanding that the West's infinite spaces tended to inspire neither introspection nor contemplation, but a violent and insatiable restlessness, Proulx's eight stories are dark reflections on the lives of a handful of characters striving to define themselves against the unforgiving landscapes. The three professional actors chosen to read the text give strong, resounding interpretations of the macabre tales. (Running time: 6 hours, 4 cassettes) --Natasha Senjanovich

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:57 -0400)

(see all 4 descriptions)

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