Nová sbírka povídek tematicky navazující na slavnou Zkrocenou horu, jejichž děj je zasazen do drsné krajiny rurálního Wyomingu, zobrazuje mnohdy tíživý životní úděl zdejších obyvatel. Hrdiny autorčiných příběhů jsou rozdílné postavy a charaktery z rozličných časových období - vysloužilý rančer, mladá dvojice z průkopnických časů, indiánský kmen z doby kamenné, chytač koní nebo dívka bojující v Iráku. Ti všichni vyrůstají ze společných kořenů a jsou spojeni láskou k rodnému kraji, který je líbezný, ale chudý a divoký, a nedá nikomu nic zadarmo.

I’m such a lazy person. Too often I write really quite the best reviews in the world in my head – and that’s enough for me. I move on. They never see the light of day.

I read this at the same time as I read my first book of Alice Munro stories and my first inclination was to write something where something of a shadow cast over Munro would be to the benefit of Proulx, a writer who has never disappointed me and I’ve read all of them. Checking, I see that I’m talking about early 2014 – over four years ago, and this book by Proulx has been sitting in my queue, waiting for a mention and she’s coming out now, courtesy of my spring clean.

rest hereL https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2018/05/26/fine-just-the-way-it-is-b... ( )

I’m such a lazy person. Too often I write really quite the best reviews in the world in my head – and that’s enough for me. I move on. They never see the light of day.

I read this at the same time as I read my first book of Alice Munro stories and my first inclination was to write something where something of a shadow cast over Munro would be to the benefit of Proulx, a writer who has never disappointed me and I’ve read all of them. Checking, I see that I’m talking about early 2014 – over four years ago, and this book by Proulx has been sitting in my queue, waiting for a mention and she’s coming out now, courtesy of my spring clean.

rest hereL https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2018/05/26/fine-just-the-way-it-is-b... ( )

I’m such a lazy person. Too often I write really quite the best reviews in the world in my head – and that’s enough for me. I move on. They never see the light of day.

I read this at the same time as I read my first book of Alice Munro stories and my first inclination was to write something where something of a shadow cast over Munro would be to the benefit of Proulx, a writer who has never disappointed me and I’ve read all of them. Checking, I see that I’m talking about early 2014 – over four years ago, and this book by Proulx has been sitting in my queue, waiting for a mention and she’s coming out now, courtesy of my spring clean.

rest hereL https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2018/05/26/fine-just-the-way-it-is-b... ( )

This story collection has the feel of the answer to the literary agent's query, "What else have you got in your files?" And Proulx coming up with this bunch. The only cheerful stories are the two in which the devil plots up amusing and wicked ways to make lives more unhappy and another one about a hungry sagebrush. Another story is set thousands of years ago and is about a buffalo hunt -- maybe the best thing in the book as far as I'm concerned. Every single one of the rest of the stories addresses just how tough life can be for those born poor or impulsive or not terribly bright or into a family with careless or cruel parents . . . and it all plays out in rural Wyoming with whatever particularities of weather and scenery of the place and with its own special flavor of unforgiving viciousness for the hapless, helpless, and unlucky. I confess I skimmed the last story, grasping the gist; from page one it was evident that it would be a recital of cruelty and misery dogging a perfectly innocent little girl through her life and I was not mistaken. I have no doubt, because of what I know about Proulx, that the stories here are all based around a kernel of truth, something she heard or read about, but it is an unbalanced collection, just too relentless; Proulx's humor which balances her novels, is absent here even though the writing, as ever, is brilliant. ***1/2 ( )