Review of Annie Proulx's Close Range: Wyoming Stories

It’s time for a change of pace. Instead of moving on from my fiction directly into my poetry I thought it’d be nice if I stopped talking about myself.

This week I will begin my reviews of other’s books and works. This can cover anything from the basic novel to a collection of poems to movies (though the farther away I get from my comfort zone the less likely I will review it). Generally they will be shorter than the introductions to my own works and I will try describing the basic qualities of the work, whether good or bad, and whether or not I suggest it for other readers. To begin, I will review the short story compilation: Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx.

You might already be aware of Annie Proulx’s work (or at least one of her short stories). Made into a movie in 2005, the final work of this collection, Brokeback Mountain, is the story of two sheepherders who share that bond which could never be accepted by the society they lived and grew up in. However, there is a great deal more to this compilation and it would be an error to talk only about this one story.

Close Range contains eleven works of varying length (anywhere from 2 to just over 40 pages) that each present a picture of the harsh and unyielding life that seems to encompass everything in Wyoming. From the almost ironically named Pair of Spurs to the appropriately titled People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water each story explores the solitude of Wyoming life that seems only to be relieved by the temporary pleasures of the flesh. This pleasure is not, however, just about sex, though that is certainly one of the methods, but includes the eight seconds spent bull riding and the feel of a pair of good boots. But temporary is temporary and there is always a looming inevitability in these stories, that even fulfilled lives are not necessarily pleasurable and that pleasure is the one thing universally missing and that, if done wrong, the pursuit of pleasure will ultimately prevent fulfillment. A depressing, yet generally accepted, outlook on life from each of the characters’ perspectives.

If you aren’t familiar with the Wyoming life (as I am not) Proulx takes care of you. In The Half-Skinned Steer, the very first story, the reader is taken out of whatever comfortable and familiar life they live in and is introduced to the harsh realities of Wyoming: that one mistake or underestimation can lead to dire consequences. Overall Close Range depicts a, at times tender and at others disturbing, look into the uncertain, though unrelenting life of Wyoming residents, while pulling at you with the undercurrents and unwritten rules that have very little room for variability. If you are at all interested in short story collections or stories about the western United States I highly suggest this one.

Proulx, Annie. Close Range: Wyoming Stories. New York: Scribner, 1999.