The theme running through all of these stories is the hardness of the place where they are set, how it takes lives--either violently and unexpectedly, or slowly wearing them down over years into tough, bitter nubs. Yes, the stories are bleak, and a couple even border on horror (or Western gothic?), but Proulx's writing is so precise and evocative and such a pleasure to read. The final story is "Brokeback Mountain," a heart-breaking love story and Proulx's writing at its finest. ( )

I loved the second book of short stories in the Wyoming series when I read it a few years back, so I was looking forward to this first book but sadly didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much.

Brokeback Mountain probably was the best story in the collection; it was tightly woven, there was a connection with the characters and Proulx took her time with the ending. Many of the other stories had a lot of characters as Proulx wanted to connect up their different back stories at the end of the piece, and they felt unsatisfying to read, with too much time spent on these different narratives as a beginning, not much of a middle and then sudden, abrupt endings.

The writing, as always from Proulx, was superb, and there was plenty of dark humour in phrasing she used throughout the collection, but in all I laboured somewhat through this book. Some sort of linkage between the stories probably would have worked better rather than the individual stories with far too many characters to get to grips with.

3 stars - I glazed over too many times in this collection.

PS - I'm guessing the Wyoming tourist board doesn't use these stories from Proulx... ( )

Not my favorite, but some things I will remember. For that reason, it was okay. ( )

adult fiction; stories/modern Wyoming. ( )

Her style is not my taste. ( )