Product Description

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling author of The Shipping News and Accordion Crimes comes one of the most celebrated short-story collections of our time.

Annie Proulx's masterful language and fierce love of Wyoming are evident in these breathtaking tales of loneliness, quick violence, and the wrong kinds of love. Each of the stunning portraits in Close Range reveals characters fiercely wrought with precision and grace.

These are stories of desperation and unlikely elation, set in a landscape both stark and magnificent -- by an author writing at the peak of her craft.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #152399 in Books
• Published on: 2000-02-10
• Released on: 2000-02-10
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 8.00" h x .70" w x 5.30" l, .53 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Amazon.com Audiobook Review
Pulitzer Prize-winner E. Annie Proulx forays through the underside of America's beloved Wild West in Close Range, a collection of stories about hardship and more hardship in Wyoming territory. Understanding that the West's infinite spaces tended to inspire neither introspection nor contemplation, but a violent and insatiable restlessness, Proulx's eight stories are dark reflections on the lives of a handful of characters striving to define themselves against the unforgiving landscapes. The three professional actors chosen to read the text give strong, resounding interpretations of the macabre tales. (Running time: 6 hours, 4 cassettes) --Natasha Senjanovich

From Library Journal
This marvelous collection proves that Proulx's Pulitzer Prize for The Shipping News was no one-shot deal. Set in Wyoming, the 11 stories "feature down-on-their-luck ranchers, cowboys, and working men who watch helplessly as the modern world leaves them behind." (LJ 5/1/99)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Annie Proulx shapes a story like Andrew Wyeth paints a picture: simple, clear, realistic, and stunning in its revelation. And William Dufris brings Proulx's stories to the ear with the same elegant ease, layering fine washes of tonal inflection over strong individuals and the unyielding landscape of Wyoming. Dufris misses none of the stories' flatness or emotionality, lending dignity and insight to dysfunction, love, and desperation. The relentless battering of the wind, the mysterious allure of a pair of spurs, the shame of forbidden lust come together in sometimes breathtaking blends of sound and silence. Unfortunately, the audiobook's editors have crowded the stories together, shattering the listener's sense of closure after each one. Still, Dufris's performance places Proulx's characters strongly within a sense of place. R.P.L. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine