Brokeback Mountain

by Annie Proulx

I was curious about this book. Have seen the film. It's about two ranch hands who meet while herding sheep for a season. Alone together in the isolation of the sheep camp, they find themselves connecting in ways neither one of them would have expected. After that time they part ways, each goes on to get married and have kids, but they never forget about each other. They try to find ways to reconnect throughout the years, while keeping their relationship a secret.

I wasn't able to finish reading this book, in spite of its length. It's really a novella, or short story. It was just a bit too crude for my taste. Of course, seeing as it's about a clandestine love affair, I was expecting some sex. I'm fine with sex in books, in general. And this one didn't even have excessive detail, the explicit scenes were brief, to-the-point. But they were crude enough that I found it distasteful and didn't want to continue.

I do love the way the author describes places and people, relationships and formative moments in how these boys grew up (as they describe their pasts to each other). It's concise, and very vivid. I flipped through most of the book after deciding to quit, and it seems like the movie version was very faithful to this story. The book has more of the grittiness, though. The characters are depicted with all their little unclean habits, sour unwashed clothes, dirty teeth and so forth. And yet they found each other irresistibly attractive, with an intensity and passion that is a bit frightening in its power.

It is a strong story. I just didn't care for it. You might. Don't take my word as the last one.

When I come across another book by this author, I am definitely going to pick it up. I like the way she writes.

Abandoned ........ 55 pages, 1997

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