"Close Range," by Annie Proulx: The star of this collection is "Brokeback Mountain," which was brought to the masses by Hollywood.
But it is one of the most heart-breaking tales you'll ever read. Proulx is a master of humanizing a barren Wyoming landscape and sculpting pure scenic beauty, complete with accents of local culture. Characters face hardships while living a rural lifestyle down to the bare necessities, and their resistance to the changing times is the force that fuels these lean and powerful stories.
Most people learn about Proulx through her magnum opus, "The Shipping News," which won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
This story collection is another solid introduction. I am still partial to her other story collection, "Heart Songs," set in New England. The title story in "Heart Songs" follows a daydreaming drifter into an old farmhouse as a guest guitarist for a family band. These tales also focus on the conflict between rural life and the city dwellers who encroach on unspoiled land.
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