Brina's Reviews > Brokeback Mountain

Annie Proulx is one of the foremost American writers today. Her novel The Shipping News won the Pulitzer Prize, and her latest novel Barkskins seems to have been written in the same vain. As I am drawn to Pulitzer winners in my ongoing personal challenge to read them, I decided to sample Proulx's writing before undergoing the reading of one of her full length novels. Brokeback Mountain set high in the Rockies and later made into a movie of the same name was originally published in the New Yorker. A controversial story of forbidden love, the writing did not disappoint.

Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist were both twenty and looking to embark on their ranching careers. Each came from a distinct background from opposite ends of the state of Wyoming yet wound up on the same summer sheep drive up on Brokeback Mountain near the Montana border. Both young men were classic macho cowboys who could hold his own on the range. Ennis was engaged to be married to a local sweetheart the following December. Yet, one cold night while sharing a sleeping bag, the two men engaged in a forbidden act of love that is all but taboo in the cowboy community. This one event commenced Jack and Ennis' relationship for the next twenty years, one that would hold disastrous for them and their families.

At only fifty five pages in length, Proulx weaved a tragic story of forbidden love. It is a subject matter that I often stay away from yet the writing was so compelling that I read the entire story in mere minutes. Proulx is originally from the eastern United States, but her prose describing rural Wyoming is captivating, and one could see how from this short story, that the scenery could easily transfer to the big screen. It is because of the writing that I stuck with the story. I felt for Ennis' wife who had to hide her husband's secret for years, working to support their two daughters while he pined for Jack. Proulx set the story up so that the majority of readers would sympathize with the cowboys, but I was lead to feel for the supporting cast of characters who were all effected by these two men's decision of continuing a forbidden, clandestine, taboo relationship. Not only were the characters well fleshed out, but Proulx weaved in multiple story lines in this short tale, making the writing engaging from start to finish.

After reading the tragic Brokeback Mountain, I am left uncertain whether I will read Proulx's Pulitzer winning novel. I have heard that her full length books are slow moving albeit attentive to detail and emphasizing character development rather than plot. It is obvious that from this short tale that Proulx can write and I am intrigued to fit her novels into my ongoing Pulitzer challenge. For now, I am left with a bittersweet taste in my mouth after engaging in this short story.

4.5 stars writing
2.75 stars story