Brokeback Mountain - Annie Proulx

[goodreads]

Title: Brokeback Mountain Author: Annie Proulx Genre: Short story Rating: 5/10 # pages: 58 Date read: February, 2006

Summary: Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist, two ranch hands, come together when they're working as sheepherder and camp tender one summer on a range above the tree line. At first, sharing an isolated tent, the attraction is casual, inevitable, but something deeper catches them that summer.

Both men work hard, marry, and have kids because that's what cowboys do. But over the course of many years and frequent separations this relationship becomes the most important thing in their lives, and they do anything they can to preserve it.

Review: I've yet to see the movie, but after hearing so much about it, I wanted to read the short story it's based on. I must admit to not being terribly impressed though... perhaps it's just a matter of me not being too fond of short stories in general, but I was pretty much left cold by it... I'd probably only have given it a 4 if it wasn't for the fact that it's so short (58 small pages). However, reading it DID enable me to read madlori's fanfic "Human Interest" which is just amazing! Lori beats Annie Proulx hands down at writing any day. So it was worth it :-)

Book List

Comments

[jadeejf.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I still haven't read that one, and keep meaning to, but... that's somehow shocking that it's only 58 pages. Hmm.

[bogormen.livejournal.com]

That came as a HUGE surprise to me too. How could such a short book be turned into a long movie?

[jadeejf.livejournal.com]

Then again, I suppose it doesn't make sense either that they can take a super-long book (like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings) and smoosh it into an hour and a half movie ;)

[bogormen.livejournal.com]

Too true.

[madlori.livejournal.com]

The film is extremely faithful to the short story. Almost every single line of dialogue from the book is used, with a few notable exceptions. Jack's life is significantly fleshed out in the film (we see nothing of him when he's not with Ennis in the story) and both men's wives have greater roles. The film also takes it time, lets scenes sit, and is to a large extent about stillness and silence, literal and metaphorical.

You should really see the film. It's amazing.

[aurillia.livejournal.com]

I don't actually have much interest in reading this story (I'm not a huge fan of short stories either; ironically enough, they have trouble keeping my attention!), but have you read The Shipping News? It's a wonderful book, I loved the writing style as much as the story. I'd seen the movie before but it didn't ruin it for me. The image of the house perched on top of the cliff anchored down by massive chains, while it creaks in the wind... Love it!

[bogormen.livejournal.com]

I'm the same way with short stories. The only ones that are the exception to the rule are the ones written by L.M. Montgomery as her talent shines through even in (most of) her short stories. I haven't read or seen The Shipping News but will have to keep an eye out for the book.

[madlori.livejournal.com]

There's tons and tons more Brokeback fic to be had, you know. Much of it better than mine. Some of it downright literary.

[bogormen.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately the other fanfics I've had recommended have been mostly smut and not much else. Not that I have a problem with smut, but I'd rather have it futhering the plot than being the plot. However, I'd love to read any fanfics you could recommend :)

[madlori.livejournal.com]

Most of our novel-length fanfics do contain smut but it's far from the main thrust of the plot.

Our fic community brokebackslash is the place for links...each story and author has their own tag for finding stories easily. Since the story titles are there, I'll just include the titles.

You should also visit the Slash Linke thread on the Dave Cullen forum. You do need to be a member to see it, but it's free and takes five seconds. Every single fic ever written in the BBM universe that's still available is listed. And there's a message that lists all the fanfiction reviews that have been done in the Dave Cullen Daily Sheet...you can read the review of the story and see if it's one you'd be interested in reading. That message is here:

http://davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=4664.msg518449#msg518449

The Slash Links thread is here:

http://www.davecullen.com/forum/index.php?board=77.0

AU Stories:
"Beans & Crazies"
"48 Days" (has a sequel, "Book of Days")
"If I Asked"
"I'll Be Seeing You"
"Line Squall"
"Once Was Lost"
"Right Where You Are"
"Dreaming"
"Lost"
"Wiser Time"
"A Love Born From Steel"
"Divergent Dreams" (has a sequel)
"Fortunate Son"

AU!AU stories:
"Shades of Grey"
"Lead Me To Your Door"
"In Plain Sight"
"Fire & Ice"
"Going Home"
"The Wolf and the Thunderbird"
"Camden Yards"
"You & Me & a Dog Named Flea"
"Best Friends Forever"
"Another Kind of Love"
"Just Another New Kid in Town"
"Boot Hill"
"Liberation"
"Altitude"
"The Ties that Bind"

I'm writing one of these too, called "Zero at the Bone."

And there are about a zillion more that I've forgotten. Check out the fic reviews. Any fic that's reviewed there is a substantial one, not just a smutlet, pretty much.

The level of writing in the BBM fandom is extremely high-quality, much more so than any of the other zillion fandoms I've read and written in. The fandom skews older and smarter, so the fic is better.

I ought to warn you, not all of these stories are finished. Most of us plow right in anyway.

Feel free to join in the Slash discussion on any of our three forums...the Dave Cullen forum, Ennisjack.com and Bettermost.net. The latter two have separate forum threads for each story, the DC forum has a general slash discussion thread.

[bogormen.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for all the lilnks. Like I said, I don't mind smut that 'makes sense' - e.g. the sex scenes in ZatB and HI have never seemed unnecessary - but when writing a fanfic is just an excuse to write porn - that's where I draw the line.

I thought you knew, but can see now that you might not - this is kiwiria under a pseudonym ;-). bogormen is my book review blog.

[madlori.livejournal.com]

Oh! No, I didn't know that. Well hell, hon, you could have asked me this ages ago, you know!

Pretty much all of the above fics have some smut. Some more than others. But all of them have it in the context of a larger ongoing story. "Beans & Crazies" is probably my all-time favorite AU because it's so non-feminized, and it has great sex scenes. Very masculine, very true to character. The whole fic is hardscrabble and unsentimental, it's great.

[bogormen.livejournal.com]

I know, but truth be told I don't read much fanfic at all (at the moment, yours are the only WIPs I follow - which reminds me, sorry that people at PoU are giving you a hard time at the moment :-( ) so I never really thought of it. I'll be sure to try out "Beans & Crazies" and see what I think of it.