Heart Songs and Other Stories

Rating:
Summary: Clash of Values.
Review: "Heartsongs and Other Stories" is an excellent collection of short stories set in the landscape of rural New England, where poor country folk struggle to eke out a living. These tough, gritty stories focus, for the most part on hunting and fishing, activities that give full play to the author's gift for capturing the rugged, rural landscape in all its moods and also provide an unusual backdrop for the human dramas played out. Revenge, ill-will, greed, infidelity, passion and jealousy, violence and death are all strong presences in these stringent stories so don't be misled by the tame "hunting and fishing" reference. Annie Proulx creates a cast of vivid characters - eccentric, downtrodden, down and out, malicious, conniving, - bringing them alive in a striking image or phrase. One character is described as "thin as a folded dollar bill" while another has a "white face like a folded slice of store bread".

Several stories reflect the clash of values of two very different worlds: the world of wealthy outsiders from the city with their flash guns, flash hunting gear, flash cars, flash houses and flash improvements impinging on the land, customs and traditions of the poor rural community, the actions of the outsiders often appearing naive, clumsy, even foolish. Central to this theme is "The Unclouded Day". Other stories such as "Electric Arrows", "Negatives" and "On The Antler" also explore this theme but perhaps to a lesser degree.

The best stories for this reader are "On The Antler" - bad blood had always existed between Hawkheel and Bill Stong, going right back to boyhood. Now both elderly, an incident triggers life-long ill-feeling into thoughts of revenge; "Stone City" - a hunter stumbles on a remote, derelict farm high up on the snow-covered wooded hillsides but senses an atmosphere of evil pervading the abandoned ruin, Stone City, once owned by the Stone family, old man Stone and his brood of wild, unruly offsprings. Gradually, more shocking revelations about the Stones and the grim past of Stone City come to light. "Bedrock" - living alone after the death of his wife, an elderly farmer, Perley, marries a young woman (four years younger than his own daughter) who turned up at the farm one day announcing, "Come to clean for you, do some home cookin'". Perley soon discovers he's let himself in for more than he bargained for. "A Country Killing" - the grim discovery of two bodies, a man and a woman, found in a trailer in a clearing, open this full-blooded story where treacherous undercurrents swirl around a small rural community. If you enjoy "Heartsongs..." try Annie Proulx's other superb short story collection, set in Wyoming, "Close Range".

Rating:
Summary: She has the talent...
Review: E. Anne Proulx has the amazing talent to describe the small moments and details in life that we pass by everyday...but which we can immediately visualize when they are word-painted for us. She is an author that implores your every sense (sight, smell, sound, taste, touch, memory, & nostalgia) as you read. But her writing is not flowery...in fact it has a dark edge to it. Her descriptions are only surpassed by her characterization. She introduces you to the heart of rural Vermont through characters that you both admire and loathe...sometimes simultaneously. This collection of short stories is not her most famous work, but is perhaps her most classic. It is an easy read for pleasure, but one with layers and layers of depth for those who want to delve and ponder.

Rating:
Summary: She has the talent...
Review: E. Anne Proulx has the amazing talent to describe the small moments and details in life that we pass by everyday...but which we can immediately visualize when they are word-painted for us. She is an author that implores your every sense (sight, smell, sound, taste, touch, memory, & nostalgia) as you read. But her writing is not flowery...in fact it has a dark edge to it. Her descriptions are only surpassed by her characterization. She introduces you to the heart of rural Vermont through characters that you both admire and loathe...sometimes simultaneously. This collection of short stories is not her most famous work, but is perhaps her most classic. It is an easy read for pleasure, but one with layers and layers of depth for those who want to delve and ponder.

Rating:
Summary: Gritty stories that get down in the dirt.
Review: Excellent collection of short stories by one of the very best short story writers, set in a rural community where poor country folk struggle to eke out a living. Tough, gritty stories with a deep-rooted connection to the land that give full play to the author's gift for capturing rugged, rural landscape in all its moods. Hunting and fishing provides an unusual backdrop for some of the human dramas played out: revenge, ill-will, greed, infidelity, passion and jealously, violence and death are all strong presences in these stringent stories so don't be misled by the tame hunting and fishing reference. Annie Proulx creates a cast of vivid characters - eccentric, downtrodden, down and out, malicious and conniving - bringing them alive in the space of a striking image or phrase.

A strong theme threading through several stories is the clash of values of two very different worlds: the world of wealthy outsiders from the city with their flash guns, flash hunting gear, flash cars, flash houses and unwelcome improvements impinging on the land, customs and traditions of the poor rural community, the actions of the outsiders often appearing naive, clumsy, even foolish. My personal favourite is Stone City: a hunter stumbles on a remote, derelict farm high up on the snow-covered wooded hillsides but senses an atmosphere of evil pervading the abandoned ruin, Stone City, once owned by the Stone family, old man Stone and his brood of wild, unruly offspring. Gradually, more shocking revelations about the Stones and the grim past of Stone City come to light. Try also Annie Proulx's other superb short story collection of Wyoming stories, Close Range. Both books highly recommended!


Rating:
Summary: In Search of Lost Happiness
Review: To those, who were already enchanted by E.Annie Proulx's masterpieces ('Postcards' or 'The Shipping News'): do not eschew this collection of early short stories. They are not unskillful sketches of incipient, promising author but dazzlingly and glamorously brilliant splashes of her extraordinary talent (paradoxically both tragical and comical), unforgettable portraits of sundry people, to whom from the first pages you will feel admiration or aversion but never indifference or lack of interest, people in search of lost happiness... such as all of us are...