Close Range

Wyoming Stories (Selected Unabridged Stories)

By: Annie Proulx

Narrated by: Frances Fisher, Bruce Greenwood, Campbell Scott

Annie Proulx's masterful language and fierce love of Wyoming are evident in this collection of stories about loneliness, quick violence, and wrong kinds of love. In "The Mud Below", a rodeo rider's obsession marks the deepening fissures between his family life and self-imposed isolation. In "The Half-Skinned Steer", an elderly fool drives west to the ranch he grew up on for his brother's funeral, and dies a mile from home. In "Brokeback Mountain", the difficult affair between two cowboys survives everything but the world's violent intolerance.

These are stories of desperation, hard times, and unlikely elation, 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.

This collection includes:

• "The Half-Skinned Steer", read by Bruce Greenwood
• "A Lonely Coast", read by Frances Fisher
• "People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water", read by Campbell Scott
• "The Mud Below", read by Bruce Greenwood
• "The Blood Bay", read by Campbell Scott
• "The Bunch-Grass Edge of the World", read by Frances Fisher
• "Brokeback Mountain", read by Campbell Scott

©1999 Annie Proulx (P)2004 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"The author is a true original in every sense of the word, and her evocation of the West is as singular and surprising as that of Cormac McCarthy or Ivan Doig. Close Range is Proulx at her best." (Amazon.com)

Great portrayal of Wyoming

This talented writer captured the essence of Wyoming and its people - harsh, fierce, determined, and a lot of stubborn! Her descriptions reminded me of a road trip I took across the state some 20 years ago. I had never before seen such colors when I encountered a rainstorm on the prairie, and the ceaseless wind seemed to erode my sanity. It was a memorable trip, but I don't think I left anything there that I need to retrieve, except perhaps in the Tetons. Nevertheless, I enjoyed these stories immensely!

Fabulously dark witted entertaining stories except chapter 6 cuts out in this version:(

I loved every single one of these short stories and appreciated the narration. However, bummed!!!!!!when right in the beginning of 2nd to the last of all the stories (chapter 6) just cuts out. Somehow it’s been obliterated in this version. Glad there are more stories. Looking forward to 2nd book in her ‘Wyoming Stories’. Thoroughly enjoyable

Masterful

For some someone who called Wyoming home Annie Proulx's Wyoming stories are like taking a trip back to the home place. Don't pass up any of her Wyoming short story compilations. She is a masterful story teller and lays bare the character of the people and the place. Her work is Beautiful, heartbreaking, accurate; modern mythos sounds like from the words of a brilliant writer who grasps the zeitgeist of a complicated land.

Sensuous and Enveloping

Annie Proulx draws the reader into this rough and beautiful landscape of earth and hearts through her incisive description and complete acceptance of the terrible and strange and tender experiences of the people we meet in her words. Deserving of multiple listenings. The narrators seem perfectly matched to the stories they unfold.

greatest living writer

proulx is a force of nature. and she is the most intelligent person writing today and the reason I know that is because there's not one cliche in the book. totally original every sentence.

Love it, but they need to work on Bookmarking

This is a great book of stories, playful, sad, and lush. I've read it before, and now getting to listen to it adds multi-dimentional enjoyment to my memories of the text.

But please, Audible, expand the capacity of your bookmarking. I've make bookmarks for class purposes, but sometimes they all suddenly disappear. All that work for nothing!

Always a pleasure to “read” her work.

Like I said above it’s always a pleasure. I drive a lot and always listen to Audible books but Annie is the only one I will stop the car for and rewind just to hear a passage or chapter or whatever.

A Wonderfully Ironic and Surprising Read

Any additional comments?

Like the previous reviewer, I don???t usually enjoy short stories. I don???t know why. In fact, this is the first book of short stories I have downloaded in my many years of being an Audible member. However, unlike the previous reviewer, I highly recommend Proulx???s text. Do realize that Proulx doesn???t provide fairy tale endings. Rather, she captures the ironic nature of living in a world that is ugly and beautiful, cruel and loving, desolate and plentiful. She describes the rich and sometimes impoverished sense of Wyoming and any other open range that seldom embraces an easy life, particularly in human terms. Proulx???s Wyoming and other spaces like Wyoming don???t always tolerate humans. Nevertheless, the humans Proulx describes (and others I???ve known) feel compelled to inhabit (conquer?) these open spaces. She reminds us of human frailty in the midst of large spaces that can???t be conquered. I liked these stories, even if they made me feel small. I liked the surprises even if they weren???t pleasant. I liked the humanity even when it seemed to get lost in acres of snow or mud. And I liked how humanity is frequently defeated even as it is elevated.

I had forgotten what a good writer she is

I will say this upfront: I just returned from a trip to Wyoming, so my heart and mind were ready to hear these stories. You might even say I longed to hear descriptions of the scenery and the hard scrabble characters who populate it. Nonetheless, this group of stories is so full,so beautifully varied and so exquisite ly written that it would probably have been a treat if I had just returned from New Jersey.

I loved Shipping News because of Proulx's descriptions but also her love for her characters whom I might not give a second glance to if I met them in real life- which is my point. The way she immerses you with her language into the lives of these people is to remind you that it is important to take time with everybody who crosses your path. The story Brokeback Mountain is a case in point. As I am walking for my exercise weeping for these two men whose lives connected and disconnected through no fault of their own, I was so thankful to have rediscovered Proulx's artistry.Finally,the three narrators have the Wyoming voice to a tee. Don't skip this one.

Best Short Story Collection on Audio Bar None!

What did you love best about Close Range?

Don't even get me started on the amazing Annie Proulx and her powerful stories including those in Close Range. One short story is more amazing than the one before. But in this case, it's not just the writin', it's also the readin'.

I think when it comes to books most people probably say the same thing about audio books that they say when a book comes out as a movie: "The book was better." Not in this case. The narrators are splendid, they have the most wonderful voices. My vote would be that Francis Fisher, Bruce Greenwood and Campbell Scott just read all audio books ever produced. There are no better narrators.