Brokeback Mountain and other stories
13 journalers for this copy...
Jack Twist and Ennis del Mar live hard and lonely lives as ranch hands in the wild, unforgiving landscape of Wyoming. They are country boys with no prospects, brought up to hard work and privation, both rough-mannered and tough-spoken, glad to have found one another's company where none had been expected. But suddenly companionship becomes something else on Brokeback Mountain: something not looked for, something deadly.....
I read this last night, as it was a short story. I really enjoyed it but felt parts were to rushed. I think more should have been written about how the relationship developed (a bit too wham bam thank you mam for my liking), but on the whole a good story. I can't wait to see the movie now.
This book is going out on an Australian Only Bookring.
Rules:
1. Journal the book when you receive it
2. If you need longer than a month to read it,let me know.
3. Journal to share your thoughts on the book.
4. PM the next person and send the book on.
Participants:
1. -Bohdi-
2. Goodthinkingmax
3. piemunga
4. Mummafour
5. Theadi
6. xoddam
7. LizzieM
8. Binkatron16
9. Arrietty
10. Crimson-Tide
11. BellaMack
Back to me
Rules:
1. Journal the book when you receive it
2. If you need longer than a month to read it,let me know.
3. Journal to share your thoughts on the book.
4. PM the next person and send the book on.
Participants:
1. -Bohdi-
2. Goodthinkingmax
3. piemunga
4. Mummafour
5. Theadi
6. xoddam
7. LizzieM
8. Binkatron16
9. Arrietty
10. Crimson-Tide
11. BellaMack
Back to me
Journal Entry 4 by Mistlerose at In The Mail in Bookring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Saturday, February 11, 2006
Released 18 yrs ago (2/11/2006 UTC) at In The Mail in Bookring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
posted
posted
Thanks for sharing this! I havent seen the movie yet but I usually prefer to read the book first anyway. I wanted to read it as I really, really loved The Shipping News (I am such a sucker for barren wind blown towns and wild oceans). Annie Proulx just has a way with words that I adore. I also read a review somewhere that made me shiver, something like "she is a mystic seing the transfigured universe - recreating the beauty of ordinary things" To me her work is wabi-sabi incarnate.
Dark, savage, brutally real, intimate and vast all at once and very, very beautiful - of course.
Thoroughly enjoyed the whole collection, in fact I couldnt put it down.
Passing it along to Goodthinkingmax. Thanks for my first bookring experience Mistlerose :)
Thoroughly enjoyed the whole collection, in fact I couldnt put it down.
Passing it along to Goodthinkingmax. Thanks for my first bookring experience Mistlerose :)
Journal Entry 7 by goodthinkingmax from Sydney CBD, New South Wales Australia on Monday, February 20, 2006
Received this morning. Thanks! I will begin reading it immediately.
Journal Entry 8 by goodthinkingmax from Sydney CBD, New South Wales Australia on Sunday, February 26, 2006
My thoughts are similar to those of Mistlerose on Brokeback Mountain.
The shortness of the story did not allow me to become absorbed by the characters and the relationship. Although I have not seen the movie, I suspect my expectations were formed by all the publicity surrounding its release.
Nevertheless I did enjoy the interesting writing immensely and Annie Proux certainly took me to environments I did not know existed! What a strange brief tale "55 Miles to the Gas Pump" is. "When you live a long way out you make your own fun" is the final line of that story and very powerful and macabre.
I will post this off to Piemunga soon.
The shortness of the story did not allow me to become absorbed by the characters and the relationship. Although I have not seen the movie, I suspect my expectations were formed by all the publicity surrounding its release.
Nevertheless I did enjoy the interesting writing immensely and Annie Proux certainly took me to environments I did not know existed! What a strange brief tale "55 Miles to the Gas Pump" is. "When you live a long way out you make your own fun" is the final line of that story and very powerful and macabre.
I will post this off to Piemunga soon.
received today. thanks for starting this ring mistlerose!
i'm halfway through another bookring book at the moment, but i'll be sure to get to this shortly!
i'm halfway through another bookring book at the moment, but i'll be sure to get to this shortly!
Journal Entry 10 by piemunga from Marrickville, New South Wales Australia on Tuesday, March 21, 2006
I hate to say it, but I really didn't enjoy this book of short stories. With the non-stop child abuse and rape that ran through almost every single story, it was just too much for me.
Obviously others haven't agreed with me, so I could well be on my own, but that's just fine! I can handle it!
...waiting to hear from Mummafour so I can post it on...
Obviously others haven't agreed with me, so I could well be on my own, but that's just fine! I can handle it!
...waiting to hear from Mummafour so I can post it on...
Thank you piemunga book arrived this morning. I will start reading it tonight!
I really enjoyed reading this book. I also enjoyed the other short stories.
I cant wait to see the movie.
Thanks for sharing Mistlerose!
Posted to Theadi this morning!!
I cant wait to see the movie.
Thanks for sharing Mistlerose!
Posted to Theadi this morning!!
Arrived safely today - thanks!
I didn't feel particularly hooked at the time of reading this one, but it's been a couple of days since I finished it and I find myself wanting more stories. It's really stayed with me and I can't stop thinking about it. A raw and haunting collection of tales (but definitely not uplifting ones!).
Sending it on to xoddam today.
Sending it on to xoddam today.
Arrived in the post at work just now. Thanks Mistlerose, theadi, everyone.
This fit my expectations pretty closely, I've been a Proulx fan since Postcards. Hard people leading cruel lives told without a trace of sentimentality -- yet the most beautiful things are still worth savouring. Every step of the way was worth it.
I wish the story names were in the page margins -- often the title of a story only makes sense once you get to the sticky ending, and it would make it easier to remember which one it is, that you want to go back to.
My pick for most likeable story is The Bunchgrass End of the World, having at least a funny ending (if not exactly an upbeat one), but nothing can beat People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water for sheer narrative skill and pathos, not even the title story. Stunning.
I have a lunch date with LizzieM tomorrow to exchange some books, including this one. Some other BookCrossers are also invited.
I wish the story names were in the page margins -- often the title of a story only makes sense once you get to the sticky ending, and it would make it easier to remember which one it is, that you want to go back to.
My pick for most likeable story is The Bunchgrass End of the World, having at least a funny ending (if not exactly an upbeat one), but nothing can beat People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water for sheer narrative skill and pathos, not even the title story. Stunning.
I have a lunch date with LizzieM tomorrow to exchange some books, including this one. Some other BookCrossers are also invited.
Well after a couple of missed appointments LizzieM decided she never wanted to see me again and has fled south of the border ;-) I'll post this to her new abode in Melbourne tonight. Thanks so much for sharing, Mistlerose! One of my best reads of the year.
Have I missed the film altogether now?
Have I missed the film altogether now?
A good read, and definitely better than the movie, but i was a little disappointed that this wasn't as well written as Proulx other novels.
Journal Entry 19 by Binkatron16 from Rivett, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Monday, July 31, 2006
Received in the mail today.
Journal Entry 20 by Binkatron16 from Rivett, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Monday, August 14, 2006
I think I have to agree with piemunga, I also didn't enjoy the stories in this book. I think they were well written but just not my type of thing.
Thanks Mistlerose for starting this bookring and giving me a chance to read this book.
I have sent Arrietty a PM, and I will send the book on once I get an address.
Thanks Mistlerose for starting this bookring and giving me a chance to read this book.
I have sent Arrietty a PM, and I will send the book on once I get an address.
Journal Entry 21 by Binkatron16 from Rivett, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Posted to Arrietty today.
thanks for sending me the book Binkatron16 and also the cute little keyring :) I loved Shipping News so am sure I will love these short stories as I'm a fan of short stories anyway.
Wow, what a marvellous set of short stories. If I knew nothing of the harsh Wyoming ranching life before, I certainly have had my fill with these wonderfully hard-hitting and disturbing stories. I love the way Proulx weaves the Old West legends into the narrative and still manages to be original and insightful.
It's hard to know which story to start with, I loved them all from the short present-tense article style 'Job History' to the gritty and political 'The Governors of Wyoming". If the women seem as stoic and tough as the men, it is because Wyoming women were the first in the World to gain the vote in 1869!
When we think of Wyoming, we see images of Wagon trails, Buffolo Bill and Cowboys and Indian games, not these tough individuals, men and women seasoned with lusty and uncompromising realism. In Proulx landscape even the harsh enviroment becomes anthropomorphic.
Who could forget Ottaline built about the 'size of hundred-gallon propane tank'...'reddish-pink hair as thick as whip handles' and eyes 'crystal-crack blue'? Ottaline whose bizarre relationship with an cynical and haunted tractor leads to a vengeful conclusion. Or Brokeback Mountain where 'Dawn came glassy orange, stained from below by a gelatinous band of pale green'. As Jack and Ennis prepare to leave the mountain, it 'boiled with demonic energy, glazed with flickering broken-cloud light.'
Prouxl has used oral history to bring her character to life. Mrs Freeze, Shy Hamp, the Muddymans, Josanna Skiles....their stories are the Wyoming country and although some are set in an earlier era, they are as relevant today as ever. This quote at the end of 'People in hell just want a drink of water' sums it up.
"That was all sixty years ago and more. Those hard days are finished. The dunmires are gone from the country, their big ranch broken in those dry years. The Tinsleys are buried somewhere or othere, and cattle range now where the Moon and Stars grew. We are in a new millennium and such desperate things no longer happen.
If you believe that you'll believe anything."
It's hard to know which story to start with, I loved them all from the short present-tense article style 'Job History' to the gritty and political 'The Governors of Wyoming". If the women seem as stoic and tough as the men, it is because Wyoming women were the first in the World to gain the vote in 1869!
When we think of Wyoming, we see images of Wagon trails, Buffolo Bill and Cowboys and Indian games, not these tough individuals, men and women seasoned with lusty and uncompromising realism. In Proulx landscape even the harsh enviroment becomes anthropomorphic.
Who could forget Ottaline built about the 'size of hundred-gallon propane tank'...'reddish-pink hair as thick as whip handles' and eyes 'crystal-crack blue'? Ottaline whose bizarre relationship with an cynical and haunted tractor leads to a vengeful conclusion. Or Brokeback Mountain where 'Dawn came glassy orange, stained from below by a gelatinous band of pale green'. As Jack and Ennis prepare to leave the mountain, it 'boiled with demonic energy, glazed with flickering broken-cloud light.'
Prouxl has used oral history to bring her character to life. Mrs Freeze, Shy Hamp, the Muddymans, Josanna Skiles....their stories are the Wyoming country and although some are set in an earlier era, they are as relevant today as ever. This quote at the end of 'People in hell just want a drink of water' sums it up.
"That was all sixty years ago and more. Those hard days are finished. The dunmires are gone from the country, their big ranch broken in those dry years. The Tinsleys are buried somewhere or othere, and cattle range now where the Moon and Stars grew. We are in a new millennium and such desperate things no longer happen.
If you believe that you'll believe anything."
I will now contact Crimson-Tide so the book can continue on its journey.
Brokeback Mountain is on its way to Crimson-tide.
Journal Entry 26 by crimson-tide from Balingup, Western Australia Australia on Sunday, September 10, 2006
Arrived safely today. Thanks for the postcard Arrietty.
Have two or three in the queue.
Have two or three in the queue.
Journal Entry 27 by crimson-tide from Balingup, Western Australia Australia on Saturday, October 7, 2006
This collection impressed and moved me. Such truly powerful writing. Bleak, windswept, violent, hard lives so foreign to my own, and yet it was impossible not to be drawn into their worlds.
Next back to Mistlerose unless I hear of any others wanting to join the list.
Next back to Mistlerose unless I hear of any others wanting to join the list.
Journal Entry 28 by crimson-tide from Balingup, Western Australia Australia on Sunday, October 8, 2006
BellaMack has joined the ring, so it's off to Tasmania.
Arrived today, will journal again when read , have a few other rings before it but hopefully wont be too long , thanks for sharing Mistlerose
I'm not a short story fan generally but love Annie Proulx. For the most part I enjoyed the stories, skimmed some of them and agree with Mistlerose about Brokeback Mountain. Thanks for sharing Mistlerose , will post back to you when I have an address :)
This book was waiting for me when I arrived home from Sydney today.
Thanks to all for taking part.
Thanks to all for taking part.
Being released today
Journal Entry 33 by Mistlerose at Deli 1884 in Melbourne CBD, Victoria Australia on Saturday, April 25, 2015
Released 8 yrs ago (4/26/2015 UTC) at Deli 1884 in Melbourne CBD, Victoria Australia
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
on table
I can't believe I haven't read this a real find from today