I'm fucking terrified that yesterday will mean a lackadaisicaling of today, wherein a legal, incorporated, minute change of one of many laws interwoven in the Hetereosexual Agenda banishes the rest to the "what more could you need?" closet and the society spectacle incineration. This work has been termed apolitical by some, but seriously, how can you call a history of human sacrifice apolitical? Not even dwelling on the money, status, and human network so often illegally amputated and afterwards legally maintained, but you should really be looking at where one may be fired, alienated, and killed for same sex marriage. Here is a good start. So long as all that exists, the tire iron is still in force. I'm not even going to talk about countries outside the US, both for reasons of US-centricity and, really, if the biggest imperial force of contemporary times starts putting socioeconomic pressure on the source of those homophobic delegations fucking around on their passports, some good may come of it.

The book? Well, for a tip of the iceberg, it doesn't mince around the brutality of living a love that historically and presently is deemed obscene, perverse, unnatural, absurd, corrupting, and above all, other. We're talking a difference of sexuality, indeed only the most popular of many myriads, that the US used in the late 20th century as an excuse for ignoring a pandemic within the boundaries of home territory. The book is wary, self-sufficient, sweet (mind, I wouldn't recommend using it as a guide to safe sex of the sort it contains), and knows that particular future of blood and vice and quarantine is to be expected. One review says, of the two main characters, that "[t]hey know what they're not—not queer, not gay—but they have no idea what they are"; to be labeled with the popularly ostracized is to commit to death.

In regards to same sex marriage? I'd like to think that bans lifted in conjunction with legal marital rights (hospital visits, name on the death certificate, adoption) will expand the reality beyond the sensationalized stereotypes and into the mundane of missed deadlines, exasperating paperwork, and side characters in a novel who, thanks to the author's experiences in a broader space of public personal interaction, will be enhanced with real flesh and blood. The problem, you see, is this is all very mental, philosophical, the sort of social structuring that really doesn't mean much to those who are still dying. The problem is whether this story of Brokeback Mountain will have to be told again, and again, and again, as the public refuses to take LGBT in more than a single wave of dosage, that category here, this category there, never mind the intersections of gender, race, religion, others upon others whose denizens will be impacted regardless of the awareness of common sense.

I don't know. I really don't. I'll keep reading, though. That much I am capable of.

This was the perfect book in the "to short" categorie! Sure it did packed a punch and in the short amount of pages it's was both romantic and heart wrenching. But my ebook was 60 pages and I was afraid I had picked up an abridged version but after looking at goodreads and seen that it's just 55 pages long makes me think otherwise. A very good short story/book but I wanted so much of the characters and writing. I might need to watch the movie instead but I'm a terrible movie watcher. Books are more my thing of entertainment

These guys went from 0 to 100 real quick. I guess that's because this was a short story and not a full length novel. In this rare case the movie is somehow longer (1 hour audiobook vs 2 hour movie). I did see it years ago and it was definitely a bit more subtle in regards to the first interaction between the main characters.

This story is more about not being able to live the life you want than a gay relationship. It's about society's norms and families' expectations. It's about putting your needs and happiness on the back burner to satisfy others. Even worse, it's also about regret and taking time for granted. Regardless of sexual orientation, I think everyone will have an emotional response from it. Truly moving for such a short story.

"if you can't fix it, you've got to stand it."

This is a tragic short story about the forbidden love between 2 Wyoming cowboys, Ennis and Jack. They meet one summer as young men working on a sheep farm in Wyoming, Brokeback Mountain. Thus starts a forbidden love story that spans 20 years. Proulx spare prose gives the reader brief glimpses into the lives of these men over the years as they try to create conventional lives while they still ache for each other. Ennis is stronger than the other and voices the quote at the top of this review. Jack cannot stand their separations and believes in a dream of their being together. I ached for him as he ached to figure out a way for his dream to come true.

Proulx's prose is spare but evocative. So much is said and felt in so few words. I was very moved by this story and by it's ending.

Read this short story a few times now, but having just seen the movie again, and watched the extras, I wanted to see how much was in the original and how much was interpolated by the screenwriters.

In fact, a lot of it is in this amazing piece of writing, especially from Ennis' point of view. He doesn't know what is going on with Jack in Texas and Mexico and that is the portion which was fleshed out for the moviegoers.

Beautiful poetic language, and a sad story.

[On a writing note, this is a work I often point to when people claim writers should not be allowed to write about characters who are outside their own demographic.]

I adore the movie, but I have never considered to read a book. I think I just was afraid to read it.



My first surprise was the length of the novel. 55 pages?! (And audio book of 1 hr and 4 mins?!)
My second surprise was...my naivety. I thought, because I KNEW the story, I COULD read it, without being emotionally a mess. I couldn't. I didn't. I cried a river. And I still have no idea if my emotional response could be explained by a beautiful and unique prose of Annie Proulx or an outstanding narration of Campbell Scott or the vivid images of one of my favorite movies that I won't be able to forget...or maybe ALL of these together...

Masterful storytelling that I never want to read again.

The phonetic dialogue tripped me up at the beginning, but I adjusted. Might have been better if it could have insulated me emotionally. I was sure that a 10K-word short couldn't possibly gut me as badly as the movie did.

I was wrong.

***NO SPOILERS***

“Gay cowboy love story” may be how it’s often summed up, but that’s flippant. Brokeback Mountain is emotional, resonant, and ultimately gut-wrenching—and quietly so. This is a humble story, tightly focused almost exclusively on young Wyoming cowboys Ennis and Jack as they spend a summer working together on Brokeback Mountain. Before long they’re forced to reconcile their love for each other with their everyday, conventional, socially acceptable lives.

What’s most powerful about Brokeback Mountain is the frightening reality facing these two, that they would be in danger if together, not just frowned upon and harassed:

Jack, I don’t want a be like them guys you see around sometimes. And I don’t want a be dead. There was these two old guys ranched together down home, Earl and Rich—Dad would pass a remark when he seen them. They was a joke even though they was pretty tough old birds. I was what, nine years old and they found Earl dead in a irrigation ditch. They’d took a tire iron to him, spurred him up, drug him around by his dick until it pulled off, just bloody pulp. What the tire iron done looked like pieces a burned tomatoes all over him, nose tore down from skiddin on gravel.

Proulx bravely addressed a taboo topic head-on but refrained from pushing an agenda or manipulating emotions. Brokeback Mountain is a story she constructed around a reality; there’s a sincerity to what happens in these pages. A surprise toward the end takes the story in a direction the reader won’t predict, and it’s perfect, true to the overall serious, introspective tone but also reinforcing Proulx’s message well.

I expected it to be great. It was. A great afternoon read.

4 Stars


n  If you can't fix it you’ve got to stand it...n

Heartbreaking and no less powerful for its 50 sparse pages.

I've never seen the movie of this, so I went in with no preconceptions, and I loved it. It was beautiful, tender and oh-so heartbreaking, and the writing was exquisite.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Campbell Scott, and would thoroughly recommend it.

ANNIE PROULX bei jos KUPROTAS KALBAS. Kai vienas vaikinas pamilsta kitą vaikiną. Ir pasaulis jiems nesišypso. Nors diskutuotina.

Prieš daug metų pažiūrėjau filmą. Nežinojau, kad egzistuoja knyga, pagal kurią buvo parašytas scenarijus. Konkreti ir labai taikli novelė apie dviejų asmenų meilę vienas kitam, užgimusią kiek atokiau nuo miestelio, jų gyventojų bei labai jau įpareigojančios aplinkos.

Kai gavau į rankas knygą, nustebau. Maniau, kad tai didelės apimties kūrinys, kuris ekranizacijoje man pasirodė turtingas ir labai prasmingas. Kaip tiek daug sutalpinti į tiek mažai. Veiksmas vyksta greit ir pakankamai padrikai. Bet ir vėlgi, ne kūrinio apimtyje ir greitume glūdi visa esmė.

Labai vieniši, sukaustyti baimės, alkani ir ilgesingi, atrandantys, bet nuolatos prarandatys, jaunčiantys gėdą, tačiau užsimirštantys maloniomis akimirkomis. Koks klimatas buvo tuomet ir koks klimats yra šiuo metu, kas panašaus tarp „anksčiau“ ir „dabar“. Taip, dabar geriau, patogiau, drąsiau – ne taip vieniša, ne taip baisu, ne taip liūdna. Anksčiau galėjai mirtį už tai, kas es ir kad esi. Buvo sunku jiems, buvo sunku plačiai visuomenei, bet lygiai taip pat buvo sunku ir moterims. Atsiprašau, kad kurį laiką teko slėptis už Jūsų ir su Jumis.

Prisiminiau labai daug detalių, kurias buvau užmiršęs. Tarsi kino filmo nebūčiau matę - po išsiskyrimo scenos daugiau nieko neįvyko. Perskaičius, vadinkim, antrąją istorijos dalį naujomis akimis. Viskas žavesys yra detalėse. Marškiniuose esantis netikėtumas, nuotraukoje slypinti prasmė, grubumas, atžagarumas, aistra, ašaros, žvilgsnis, trumpi dialogai, prisilietimai, ilgesiu paremti sprendimai.

Ištaikiau progą. Rekomenduoju ištaikyti progą ir Jums. Kol kas tai giliai įsišaknijusi meilės istorija, iki šiol gyvuojantis prisiminimas bei priminimas, kaip viskas gali būti blogiau. Ir kas yra meilė. Gyvenkime laimingai, gyvenkime dabar.