Book description
The fantastic new collection of stories from the Pulitzer Prize winning
author of The Shipping News and Brokeback Mountain.
Fine Just The Way It Is marks Annie Proulx's return to the Wyoming of
Brokeback Mountain and the familiar cast of hardy, unsentimental prairie
folk. The stories are cast over centuries, and capture the voices and
lives of the settlers this sagebrushed and weatherworn country has
known, from the native Indian tribes to the modern day ranch owners and
politicians, and their cowboy forebears.
In 'A Family Man', an old man nearing the end of his life unburdens
himself of the weighty family secrets that were his father's unwelcome
legacy. 'Them Old Cowboy Songs' follows Archie and Rosie, a young
pioneer couple, and their hardships in their attempt to homestead in the
exposed wintry expanses of the prairie, and 'Testimony of the Donkey'
finds a young international couple, Marc and Caitlin, struggling with
much more modern concerns, and confronting uncertainty as their
relationship comes to its end.
These are stories of desperation and hard times, often marked by an
inescapable sadness, set in a landscape both brutal and magnificent.
Enlivened by folk tales, flights of fancy, and details of ranch and
rural work, they juxtapose Wyoming's traditional character and attitudes
- confrontation of tough problems, prejudice, persistence in the face of
difficulty - with the more benign values of the new west. These are
bold, elegant and memorable pieces, and once more confirm Annie Proulx
as one of the most talented, unique short story writers in the language.
Annie Proulx published her first novel 'Postcards' in 1991 at the age of
56. 'The Shipping News' won the Pulitzer, the National Book Award and
the Irish Times International Prize. Her third novel, 'Accordian
Crimes', was published in 1996. She is also the author of three
short-story collections, 'Heart Songs' (1994), 'Close Range' (1999) and
'Bad Dirt' (2004). Brokeback Mountain was made into an Oscar-winning
film in 2005
