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Wyoming Stories

Brokeback Mountain

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Annie Proulx has written some of the most original and brilliant short stories in contemporary literature, and for many readers and reviewers, "Brokeback Mountain" is her masterpiece.

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.

The New Yorker won the National Magazine Award for Fiction for its publication of "Brokeback Mountain," and the story was included in Prize Stories 1998: The O. Henry Awards. In gorgeous and haunting prose, Proulx limns the difficult, dangerous affair between two cowboys that survives everything but the world's violent intolerance.

55 pages, Paperback

First published October 13, 1997

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About the author

Annie Proulx

106 books2,893 followers
Edna Annie Proulx is an American journalist and author. Her second novel, The Shipping News (1993), won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for fiction in 1994. Her short story "Brokeback Mountain" was adapted as an Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe Award-winning major motion picture released in 2005. Brokeback Mountain received massive critical acclaim and went on to be nominated for a leading eight Academy Awards, winning three of them. (However, the movie did not win Best Picture, a situation with which Proulx made public her disappointment.) She won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for her first novel, Postcards.

She has written most of her stories and books simply as Annie Proulx, but has also used the names E. Annie Proulx and E.A. Proulx.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 4,165 reviews
Profile Image for Julie G .
927 reviews3,305 followers
January 15, 2019
I rarely go to the movies. Truly, the last movie I saw in a theater was Lincoln, in 2012.

But, one day back in 2005, a good friend called and wondered if I'd like to spend that snowy Sunday in a theater with her, watching something called Brokeback Mountain.

Brokeback Mountain? Never heard of it. Sure, I'd go.

Almost no one was in the theater that morning. My friend got popcorn, and I got comfortable. When Heath Ledger appeared on the giant screen, I got sassy, and my friend got uncomfortable.

For those of you who know me, you know I can get very outspoken about my leading men, and Heath has always made my heart beat faster. Before anyone could say “Ledger,” I was making Mmmm, Mmmm yummy sounds and saying things like “Mama like, oh, Mama like.”

My friend slid deeper into her seat and was like, “Rein it in, sister.”

But then Jake Gyllenhaal appeared on the screen and I had never seen him before and I was like, “What's up, Mr. Dimples? Mr. Sparkles? Why don't you come on over here with those shiny eyes?”

I swear I was worse than a 1940s sailor freshly docked at bay.

And just as my eyes were happily feasting on all of that eye candy in Levi's, the weirdest thing happened. . . the Heath character violently grabs the Jake character and they start to have a man-on-man fuck fest. Ain't no other way to describe it, folks.

I remember. . . my hands went numb and I was like. . . WTF? Why are those two hot, hetero guys up there doing that, instead of down here in this row, asking me if I'd like a drink? What is this? I thought we were having a good time, up on that mountain together. (Well, they were, I wasn't).

I was surly after that. Whenever someone asked me if I'd seen the movie, I'd respond with, “Yeah, I've seen the damn movie.”

While other people were getting themselves worked up and quoting scripture. . . I was like, “Why couldn't they have picked less attractive actors?” I didn't have a problem with them being gay, or whatever they were, I had a problem with not being able to imagine them with me. Let's face it, people, you go to a romantic movie, and part of the appeal is imagining yourself in that situation. I wish I had been AWARE of what was going to happen in the movie. I felt. . . taken unawares.

I also wish I had been one of the readers who had known the rather obscure short story when it came out in 1997. I wasn't an Annie Proulx reader yet, but I would become one, in 2013, and fall deeply in love with The Shipping News, too.

If I had read the story, before the movie, it would have been a completely different experience.

Well, anyway, now I have.

I spent last night discovering it, and I can't believe it, but it's one of the best stories I've ever encountered. The writing is stunning, just stunning, and Ennis and Jack's love story pulls you in immediately.

Please, do not mistake me. . . it is NOT a subtle story. The nearly violent interactions between the men in the movie have their basis here, in the original story. . . neither man is a shrinking violet when it comes to his love for the other.

But, oh, it is a love story.

It startled me, stunned me, aroused me, and saddened me. It is truly one of the best works of short fiction I've ever encountered.

And this line: if you can't fix it, you've got to stand it.

To me, this story isn't about being gay; it's about being in love with someone you can't have.
Profile Image for Nataliya.
840 reviews14k followers
September 17, 2023
“Jack, I swear —” he said, though Jack had never asked him to swear anything and was himself not the swearing kind.

Not a single word is wasted in this very short Annie Proulx story. It has the weight of a novel, with every word so carefully chosen, with every deceptively simple sentence packing an unexpected punch.

It’s a story of love punctuated by the weight of fear, longing that never gets rewarded, crushing loneliness that is meant to stay, and the price of denial of your needs. It’s the story of regret, the one that comes when it’s too late.

I can say it’s heartbreaking, but it’s actually way more subtle than that. It doesn’t as much break your heart - from the beginning you know there is no happy ending here - but instead makes it ache in a raw, haunting way.

“There was some open space between what he knew and what he tried to believe, but nothing could be done about it, and if you can’t fix it you’ve got to stand it.”



Two young men in working-class rural 1960s America where living life together in the open could have had dire consequences. And one of them was unwilling to take that risk. And so they carried out their affair in stolen minutes and days here and there over two decades — “One thing never changed: the brilliant charge of their infrequent couplings was darkened by the sense of time flying, never enough time, never enough.”

And it’s a protracted gut punch.

“Try this one,” said Jack, “and I’ll say it just one time. Tell you what, we could a had a good life together, a fuckin real good life. You wouldn’t do it, Ennis, so what we got now is Brokeback Mountain. Everything built on that. It’s all we got, boy, fuckin all, so I hope you know that if you don’t never know the rest. Count the damn few times we been together in twenty years. Measure the fuckin short leash you keep me on, then ask me about Mexico and then tell me you’ll kill me for needin it and not hardly never gettin it. You got no fuckin idea how bad it gets. I’m not you. I can’t make it on a couple a high-altitude fucks once or twice a year. You’re too much for me, Ennis, you son of a whoreson bitch. I wish I knew how to quit you.”

So sad, but such a well-written utterly devastating story. Those two shirts on a wire hanger — that’s the image that will always stay in my mind. The price of prejudice, denial and regret. And love.


5 stars.
________
A link to the pdf version of this story: https://www.taosmemory.com/oscar/Brok...

——————

Also posted on my blog.
Profile Image for TK421.
571 reviews274 followers
March 4, 2013
Normally, I would never read something like this. No, I am not homophobic (my older brother is gay); but I do get uncomfortable when reading about two men kissing. So, needless to say, I wasn't expecting much from this very short novella.

Let me be the first to say how utterly wrong I was. This novella is not merely about two men who fall in love; it is about love itself. The love story these men share is intense, stormy, beautiful, and heart-wrenching, and I found myself thankful that I have only ever loved one woman my entire life--I duped her into marrying me later--and, therefore, have never had my heart broken.

Put away your preconceived ideas and give this story a chance. If anything, it will only take you a few hours to read. But if you like it, I am sure you will leave this story with a greater insight to what it means to be in love with someone.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED


Profile Image for Nancy.
557 reviews821 followers
October 10, 2013
I picked this up at the library last night because it was a tiny book, perfect for today's lunch time read.

I'm ashamed to say that I attempted to watch the film, but fell asleep about 45 minutes in. Now that I've read this story, I'm going to revisit the film.

This is the first time I've read Annie Proulx. It is amazing how much story she covers in so few pages. Her spare prose, concise style and quiet intensity really worked for me.

An absolutely beautiful, heartbreaking love story! Makes me want to crack open a bottle of whiskey and roll a joint.
Profile Image for Brina.
1,013 reviews4 followers
November 20, 2017
Annie Proulx is one of the foremost American writers today. Her novel The Shipping News won the Pulitzer Prize, and her latest novel Barkskins seems to have been written in the same vain. As I am drawn to Pulitzer winners in my ongoing personal challenge to read them, I decided to sample Proulx's writing before undergoing the reading of one of her full length novels. Brokeback Mountain set high in the Rockies and later made into a movie of the same name was originally published in the New Yorker. A controversial story of forbidden love, the writing did not disappoint.

Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist were both twenty and looking to embark on their ranching careers. Each came from a distinct background from opposite ends of the state of Wyoming yet wound up on the same summer sheep drive up on Brokeback Mountain near the Montana border. Both young men were classic macho cowboys who could hold his own on the range. Ennis was engaged to be married to a local sweetheart the following December. Yet, one cold night while sharing a sleeping bag, the two men engaged in a forbidden act of love that is all but taboo in the cowboy community. This one event commenced Jack and Ennis' relationship for the next twenty years, one that would hold disastrous for them and their families.

At only fifty five pages in length, Proulx weaved a tragic story of forbidden love. It is a subject matter that I often stay away from yet the writing was so compelling that I read the entire story in mere minutes. Proulx is originally from the eastern United States, but her prose describing rural Wyoming is captivating, and one could see how from this short story, that the scenery could easily transfer to the big screen. It is because of the writing that I stuck with the story. I felt for Ennis' wife who had to hide her husband's secret for years, working to support their two daughters while he pined for Jack. Proulx set the story up so that the majority of readers would sympathize with the cowboys, but I was lead to feel for the supporting cast of characters who were all effected by these two men's decision of continuing a forbidden, clandestine, taboo relationship. Not only were the characters well fleshed out, but Proulx weaved in multiple story lines in this short tale, making the writing engaging from start to finish.

After reading the tragic Brokeback Mountain, I am left uncertain whether I will read Proulx's Pulitzer winning novel. I have heard that her full length books are slow moving albeit attentive to detail and emphasizing character development rather than plot. It is obvious that from this short tale that Proulx can write and I am intrigued to fit her novels into my ongoing Pulitzer challenge. For now, I am left with a bittersweet taste in my mouth after engaging in this short story.

4.5 stars writing
2.75 stars story
Profile Image for Suz.
1,268 reviews669 followers
November 6, 2021
Late in the afternoon, thunder growling, that same old green pickup rolled in and he saw Jack get out of the truck, beat up Resistol tilted back. A hot jolt scalded Ennis and he was out on the landing pulling the door closed behind him. Jack took the stairs two and two. They seized each other by the shoulders, hugged mightily, squeezing the breath out of each other, saying, son of a bitch, son of a bitch, then, and easily as the right key turns the lock tumblers, their mouths came together, and hard, Jack’s big teeth bringing blood, his hat falling to the floor, stubble rasping, wet saliva welling, and the door opening and Alma looking out for a few seconds at Ennis’s straining shoulders and shutting the door again and still they clinched, pressing chest and groin and thigh and leg together, treading on each other’s toes until they pulled apart to breathe and Ennis, not big on endearments, said what he said to his horses and his daughters, little darlin.”

Who’d have known this special movie was based on a short story? Obviously I am late to the party, a common theme with me, but I had no idea. I watched the movie years ago and loved it, and only just realised my work library held the audio CD. I grabbed it quick smart. Excellent and quality narration by Campbell Scott, this is a love story that is never fully realised by our two leading men.

Meeting in summertime, 1960’s, Ennis and Jack meet as ranch hands, their physical attraction immediate. Something catches these two men and summer after summer they try to grab back what they felt that first time. Both marry, and carry on with lives that lack lustre when apart, both joining again for snatches of time in the years to come.

Brutally honest writing as seen in the above excerpt, it is such succinct writing where ridiculous amount of depth is packed into something so small in volume, but so large in everything else.

I loved the scene where two work shirts joined together, unwashed sitting inside each other is a metaphor for a forever love, joined together, never to be parted.

"If you can't fix it, you have to stand it".

I loved it, can you tell?
Profile Image for Mimi.
163 reviews76 followers
February 11, 2024
My kind of romance.
30% love, 80% depression and 0% maths.

One thing never changed: the brilliant charge of their infrequent couplings was darkened by the sense of time flying, never enough time, never enough.
Profile Image for Susan's Reviews.
1,138 reviews607 followers
June 2, 2021
I have to admit that when I first read this story, I had difficulty understanding a few scenes or passages, since it was written in the vernacular of the back country. But regret and fear of discovery are languages we can all understand.

We live in a global community where tolerance and acceptance are not always uniform. Many people who make lifestyle choices that may not be acceptable to their respective communities still suffer both physical and mental retaliation and ostracism. Although we have come a fair distance in North America, and in many other parts of the world, we still have a long way to go.

This story, and The Hours by Michael Cunningham, helped me understand that we have to stop succumbing to society's views of "normal, acceptable and popular." Years ago, I made it a point never to follow fads - it is just too easy to "follow the herd" and adopt the current thinking or mode. The first time I heard the phrase "march to the beat of your own drum," I liked it. It hasn't been easy, and very often I still err on the side of caution, but for the most part, I try.

Such a heartbreaking story, but worth the read. (The movie was a fairly decent adaptation, but a few key elements were changed. Broke my heart, too.)
Profile Image for Dem.
1,216 reviews1,279 followers
March 23, 2019
Late to the party but I when I did get there I sure as heck enjoyed myself

This book was given to me by a friend who said I cant believe you have never read this or at least seen the movie. Well I hadn't and at 60 pages this short novela has a lot to say and really does pack quite a punch.

Originally published in The New Yorker in 1997 for which it won the National Magazine Award for fiction 1998.

In 1963 two young men Ennis del Mar and Jack Twish are hired for the summer to look after sheep at a seasonal grazing range on the fictional Brokeback mountain in Wyoming where they form a relationship that emotionally attaches them for the rest of their lives.

Terrific storytelling in so few pages and the emotion I felt while reading it really did surprise me. The author's writing and understanding of the characters really makes this story what it is, strong and sympathic characters make for great stories and I really found a lot of emotion in this little novel. A timeless story that that made me think, great character development and writing.

The one thing I did realise when finishing the novel is I DONT want to see the movie as I think the book works very well and while the movie may be great I dont want it to spoil my first impressions on reading this novel as even the actors playing the books characters are way too cute for the characters described in the book.

I really think a book group would get a great discussion from this one.
Profile Image for Gabriel.
526 reviews916 followers
January 18, 2023
Me ha gustado muchísimo.

La primera vez que leí el nombre de Annie Proulx fue en el libro El poder del perro de Thomas Savage el año pasado en un posfacio sobre la misma novela que me pareció maravilloso. Luego investigué sobre ella y para sorpresa mía resulta que ella es en parte la autora de una de las película que solo vi una vez en mi vida y que tengo fresca en mi memoria a día de hoy.

Aún con tantos años del visionado de la adaptación Brokeback Mountain o "secreto en la montaña" sé que no es para nada diferente a este relato corto, pero que a mí me resulta igual de fantástico por lo bien que deja relucir la ambientación rural y los comportamientos rudos, hostiles y agresivos en ese mismo entorno, incluso aún más cuando sus personajes son homosexuales a puertas cerradas y que sólo encuentran un breve resguardo entre las montañas.

Creo que no sobra decir que encuentro muchas similitudes entre esta historia y la de Thomas Savage porque se nota que nace de allí la inspiración pero también son bastante diferentes porque Annie Proulx es más explícita con la relación que mantienen sus personajes y la manera en que la tensión sexual crece y la atracción romántica es obvia cuando están solo ellos dos y no se enfrentan a las miradas de los demás porque la abominación hacia ellos mismos es tan clara hasta el punto en el que no pueden ser felices y se da el tan conocida amargo final. Creo que el magnífico encuadre de la construcción psicológica de ellos afectada por lo sociológico y asegurada por momentos en una montaña lejos de los demás en un paisaje que solo trae gratos y amargos recuerdos me resulta increíble y dura, pero a la vez tan real todavía.

Para mí, en tan poco ha dejado relucir una crítica bien construida y agridulce en la que ha dilucidado un manejo de la ambientación y la psicología a un gran nivel que solo quiero leer algo más de esta autora.
Profile Image for Puck.
702 reviews345 followers
April 20, 2017
That's fine. I didn't need my heart anyway.

This book is like a punch in the gut. I never thought that a short story could have such an impact on me. This isn’t simply a book about two cowboys falling in love: this is the heartbreaking tale of Jack and Ennis who love each other, but deny it not only because they’re afraid of the outside world, but also of their own feelings.
America in the 1960’s wasn’t a safe place for homosexuals after all, and if society can’t accept them, how can they accept themselves? That emotional struggle makes this book so heart-wrenching, because both men know their love for each other is real. It just can’t happen. And that tears them apart.

[Jack:] “You have no fuckin idea how bad it gets. I’m not you. I can’t make it on a couple a high-altitude fucks once or twice a year. You’re too much for Ennis, you son of a whoreson bitch. I wish I knew how to quit you.”


Maybe this story hits so much harder because the books I read earlier featured happy LGBT-characters. Where young transgender Stella gets the full support of her mother (The Sunlight Pilgrims) and Simon’s coming out is met with positive reactions (Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda), Jack and Ennis’s (love) life is anything but happy and easy. They were two masculine men living in prejudice Wyoming during the sixties, a place where young Ennis saw an old rancher being tortured to death for being gay. This was not uncommon back then, and times haven’t really changed for the better.
Because although the world is slowly getting more accepting of gay love, still so many LGBT-people are getting harassed, kicked out, or physically and/or emotionally abused because of who they love. Don’t get blinded by the Pride Parades or the legalisation of same-sex marriage in America: the world is still a cruel place for many.

This is why I think Brokeback Mountain is a must read for fans of LGBT-books, to get that reality check. To other readers I’d also recommend this book, because for a book with only 60 pages, this short story packs a powerful punch. The prose is concise and the writing style rough, but it suits the characters and their story.

5 stars for this heart-breaking little book, which I won’t forget soon.
Profile Image for Kon R..
279 reviews147 followers
June 24, 2022
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.
Profile Image for Caroline .
446 reviews623 followers
November 21, 2016
***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.

Final verdict: A superb short story, beautiful in its way, heavily character driven, atmospheric, and most of all, moving.
Profile Image for Axl Oswaldo.
365 reviews210 followers
November 7, 2021
If I had to describe this story in three words, they would be: beautiful, heartbreaking, and unique.

Let’s put this into context: I received not so good news yesterday at night – I really felt in a bad way, a little bit optimistic though. Before too long, I decided to pick up this book, since I have always believed that a book can help us to face any difficult situation when there’s no one around us at that precise moment. So, I read this one at 2 AM today, while I was listening to Can you feel the love tonight? by Elton John again and again and again, so that I could enjoy this love story even more.

I’d also like to say I’ve never watched the film, nor the trailer, which is based on this book; so, I always supposed this would be a love story, I mean, a completely love story; however, as I said at the beginning of my review, it turned out to be rather heartbreaking. This fact was not such a big problem, since people sometimes need to know the difficulties of others to learn how to overcome their own stuff, for instance, as Goethe said at the beginning of The Sorrows of Young Werther: And thou, good soul, who sufferest the same distress as he endured once, draw comfort from his sorrows; and let this little book be thy friend, if, owing to fortune or through thine own fault, thou canst not find a dearer companion. Thus, I decided to take his advice, and make things follow their own course.
By the way, now that I’ve read this story, I think it’s going to be a great idea to watch the movie as soon as possible; we’ll see.

In a nutshell, and in order to be truly honest, this book was even much more astonishing and compelling than I could have imagine: the story itself, its very well developed protagonists (which is impressive if you consider this as a really short story), and the affecting ending; overall, it made me feel such things that I’d never felt reading a book before – perhaps you get what I mean after I told you how I felt last night when I was reading it.

And can you feel the love tonight?
It is where we are…
Profile Image for Sarah.
402 reviews140 followers
January 5, 2018
I saw Brokeback Mountain when I was quite young (my mom changed channels when a sex scene came on like she always did) and I have to say, it sorta blew my mind. Gay was not a word I heard, unless someone in my class was teasing someone or something. I grew up in the Irish countryside so I was quite sheltered until I was at least 15/16 (hmm, same year we got Wi-Fi). But as a 12 year old, to be "gay" meant something bad and dirty and I never understood why. Nobody could give me an acceptable answer as to why it was wrong but I was afraid to question things so I just went with it. When I watched this, I remember that seed of doubt that was already there in my mind being watered a bit. The two cowboys really loved each other, in their own way and I could see nothing wrong with it. Looking back, this film was the first thing to really open my eyes to what it was like to be gay.

I've been meaning to read the book for a while now and it definitely lived up to my expectations. It is so short but it packs so many emotions into it; it really is incredible. I'm always impressed when an author can pack so much into a short story without hindering any other element. This story is beautiful, tragic, heart-breaking and heart-warming. It makes you wish that things were different for Ennis & Jack. I really enjoyed it and I would love to read more stories like this one.

I was unsure about the writing style at the start but when I got into it, I really liked it. I would definitely recommend this and I would read more by Annie Proulx.
Profile Image for Cecily.
1,187 reviews4,529 followers
June 1, 2017
I read this in the collection Close Range: Brokeback Mountain and Other stories, which I reviewed HERE.

I knew this exquisite story well from the film, and the two are very similar.

It is a story of unexpected and irresistible passion, longing and loss - understated and never graphic.

Jack and Ennis meet, lust and love one summer, and meet up over the years, despite starting more conventional families. "The brilliant charge of their infrequent couplings was darkened by the sense of time flying, never enough time, never enough." But the '60s (and even '70s) weren't as swingin' as we're led to believe, certainly in their communities, so "nothing ended, nothing begun, nothing resolved". In the interim, "What J remembered and craved in a way he could neither help nor understand was... the silent embrace satisfying some shared and sexless hunger."

It happens to concern homosexual love between cowboys, starting in the 1960s, but it could just as easily be any taboo relationship.

The harsh beauty of the mountains, coupled with love and longing, reminded me a little of Cold Mountain, which I reviewed HERE.
Profile Image for Meags.
2,261 reviews557 followers
August 21, 2018
5 Stars

Brokeback Mountain is a beautifully heartbreaking short story about two lonely cowboys falling in love.

Author Annie Proulx is one of the few impressively skilled and deftly capable writers who are able to convey an entire lifetime of joy and sorrow in so few pages. Her prose is lyrical, poignant, and so very precise, with each scarce word used to full effect. Her words moved me, plain and simple.

Regardless of how many times I’ve seen the film adaptation, reading about Ennis and Jack’s tragic love still knocked the wind out of me, much like it did the very first time I experienced their story on screen. The good news is the film is practically a scene for scene depiction of what is written here, which is such a rare occurrence where adaptations are concerned.

There is just something so sad about this one; it always makes me ache for what Ennis and Jack could have had. Although tragic in nature, I still adored this story and I definitely understand the praise and accolades this award-winning tale has received over the years. I’m just so glad I finally sat down and read it for myself.
Profile Image for Gabby.
1,432 reviews27.7k followers
March 26, 2022
"I wish I knew how to quit you."


The movie Brokeback Mountain is one of my favorite movies of all time I literally own three different versions of the DVD and I've been wanting to get my hands on the book for years now. My local library finally had the audiobook available and I listened to it immediately. It took me less than an hour to listen to the whole thing, and damn this story is just incredible. I think I loved reading the book even more after seeing the movie because I already know and love these characters. The only reason I took off a star is because I feel like this book is too short (55 pages) and it could've been so much more powerful and emotional if we had more time to get to know the characters, and if the author had given them more time to develop.

Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist are one of my favorite fictional couples of all time and I adored reading this book so much. The ending made me cry and I couldn't believe how spot on it is with the movie. The dialogue is word-for-word accurate to the movie so as a lover of book to movie adaptations I really appreciate how accurate and true it is to the book. However, I do think this is one of those rare scenarios where the movie is better than the book. I don't know if I would have loved this book as much as I did if it wasn't for seeing Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal bring these characters to life and making me fall in love with their love beforehand.

Either way, I loved this book so much and it makes me want to watch the movie again. I just love Ennis and Jack's tragic love story. BRB, crying forever.

Profile Image for Gabrielle.
1,051 reviews1,496 followers
January 20, 2019
Sometimes you read a short story that falls a bit short of expectations. Because it would have been a better, or more complete story if it had been longer. This is not how this short story made me feel. In fact, more than sixty pages of this might have been too much. I only wished I had read it before I watched the amazing movie adaptation.

This story, as Julie so cleverly phrased it, is about being in love with someone you can’t have, and few feelings are as violent as that. And I’m willing to bet that few places made you feel the burn of that feeling more than Wyoming in the 1960s. Ideas about masculinity, sex and love die hard in places where a living is earned the rough way.

It’s also about the impossible weight of such a secret, how it taints other good things. Obviously, this is Jack and Ennis’ story, but my heart also broke for Alma, who simply couldn’t understand and yet kept her husband’s secret; and for Lureen, who probably understood too late.

In some ways, it reminded me a lot of “Carol” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), which tackles a similar subject matter, albeit with less tragic consequences.

Be careful reading this: it might rip your heart out.

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About the movie: it’s sublime. It would have been sublime even if it hadn’t been Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, but they were so freaking perfect. I’ve watched it at least twelve times and cried at every single viewing.
Profile Image for Sam Quixote.
4,620 reviews13.1k followers
January 12, 2023
I think it’s taken me this long to read Annie Proulx’s Brokeback Mountain because the movie left such an indelible imprint on my mind that I didn’t want to have the story told again until its memory had faded a little - otherwise the two tend to blur together and I’m also a reader who craves novelty so I don’t like to read the same story over and over.

And the movie has made its mark on popular culture, for good reason - it really is an amazing work of art. But for anyone who isn’t familiar with the story, it’s about two Wyoming ranchers - Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist - who fall in love and have a tumultuous and doomed affair that lasts several years until society’s prejudices put an abrupt end to it.

One of the many remarkable things Proulx accomplishes is how much she’s able to put into a short story. There’s not a bit of fat to it and yet you get as much as you would from a full-length novel. There’s so much passion and intensity in the scenes, from when Ennis and Jack first tumble together, to the scene where Ennis’ ex-wife Alma confronts Ennis, to Jack’s increased frustrations at not being able to be with Ennis completely - the story starts with the two men meeting as young men not yet twenty years old in 1963 and ends in the early ‘80s; suffice it to say, attitudes towards homosexuality were not the same as they are today.

The dialogue is exceptional, not least because it conveys the characters perfectly, as well as sounding real. As good as Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal’s performances are in the Ang Lee movie, it doesn’t feel like they had to imagine much - the characters are there on the page. Ennis’ laconic speech, often giving way to physical expression, and Jack’s fiery words. “This ain’t no little thing that’s happenin here” is a standout line, but there’s a reason the line that’s entered popular culture, now and forever, is “I wish I knew how to quit you.” In the context of the story, it’s devastating, but also beautifully captures what love is and what it does to us. It’s pure poetry.

I always suspected this story would be good but I wasn’t prepared for how powerful it is. That ending… This really has to be one of the best romance stories ever written. One thing I didn’t remember from the movie - and the movie is such a faithful adaptation of the source material that it all came flooding back as I was reading - is the explanation for why Ennis only hugs Jack from behind, and it’s such a tragic indictment of the time and world they lived in.

I couldn’t have been more impressed with every single aspect of the story - I loved reading this emotional freight train and wish I’d read it sooner. It’s up there with John Steinbeck’s shorter works like Of Mice and Men. I can’t recommend it higher - it’s the pinnacle of literary art. I try not to use this word often because it should mean something but this story completely deserves it: Brokeback Mountain is a masterpiece.
Profile Image for Nat K.
451 reviews171 followers
May 26, 2019

"I goddamn hate it that you're goin a drive away in the mornin and I'm goin back to work. But if you can't fix it you gotta stand it...."

The story of Jack & Ennis who met and loved on Brokeback Mountain is unutterably raw. Though a quick read coming in at around 55 pages, it certainly packs a punch.

It's a sparse tale. Minimalist. Kind of like their time together. Over in a rush, never enough. Sometimes only seeing each other every few years, each having their own family. But always on each other's minds.

"One thing never changed: the brilliant charge of their infrequent couplings was darkened by a sense of time flying, never enough time, never enough."

"I wish I knew how to quit you."

My heart ached for Jack & Ennis. Who has the right to question anyone's love?

The end of this book... I felt sadness for a life half lived. The cruelty of having to live a lie. But the reality being that at that time, men in the area even suspected of being gay met their untimely end with the help of a tyre iron.

This is definitely a story that will stay in my find for some time. It's just one of those that resonate long after the book has been closed.

JV's review caught my eye. Reading it made me wonder why I'd never read the book before (though I'd seen the movie long ago). I figured it would be a good change of pace to the usual bookclub pick. Please have a look at JV's words, they're beautiful, as they come from the heart 💝
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Profile Image for JaHy☝Hold the Fairy Dust.
345 reviews614 followers
Read
May 4, 2015
This novel is surprisingly short . . . which makes it difficult to rate the book unbiasedly :-/ I found myself replaying the (exceptional) movie in my mind the entire time.

. . .

. . .

. . . . Now please excuse my while I imagine this scene over and over again ..


#neednewovaries


May 6, 2015
This is the first audio book I've 'read'. It was much more akin to listening to a radio play than sitting reading a book. There was no effort involved and by the nuancing of the narrator the book was interpreted for me. It was fast-paced, no time to sit and ponder a paragraph, no natural break between chapters just a pause. I can't say I enjoyed it, it felt fake, it felt like cheating, it felt like the dumbed-down version - all the work done for me and no need to particularly concentrate either, in fact I played spider solitaire and tetris while I was 'reading' the book. I can only think I would use this format again for a book I had to read but couldn't get through.

I find that reading a book, I really concentrate on it, nothing else around me exists, I enter the world of the writer, I might stop and think about what I'm reading once in a while, reread a particularly difficult or beautifully-written paragraph and even enjoy the way book is laid-out, the font, the margins, the spacing, the look of paragraphs on the page, and of course the feel of the paper (I like thick, creamy hardback book pages).

Last year I kept a list on a Goodreads thread of a 100-book a year challenge. I could see with audio books, I could easily increase the number of books I've 'read', but it would feel to me the same as including children's books, too easy an option.

This is only my experience. Others think of audio books in quite different ways and thoroughly enjoy them. I had hoped I would, but nope, I just wasn't feelin' it at all. I would quite like to 'read' an audio book along with someone who enjoys them, a chapter at a time and see if I could get more from it than I had alone.

To move on to a review of the book itself - I found the prose, described by almost everyone to be 'spare' as the opposite, overly descriptive, but this could be the media, perhaps written it reads quite differently. I feel any review of the book is a review of the way the narrator chose to interpret it and not the book itself, so I'm going to end by saying, I enjoyed the book, but not a lot and I enjoyed the media not much at all.
Profile Image for Mª Carmen.
694 reviews
February 1, 2023
4,5 ⭐

Annie Proulx nos describe en pocas páginas una historia de amor homosexual en la Norteamérica profunda de la segunda mitad del siglo XX. Lo hace de forma magistral. No necesita más que dos pinceladas para definir los personajes. Dos vaqueros, veinte años de una relación, nunca vivida abiertamente, por temor a los condicionantes del lugar y de la época.

Sentimientos y emociones a flor de piel, deseo, pasión, miedo y frustración. El miedo de Ennis, la frustración de Jack y, ante todo, la pena por dos vidas malgastadas. Todo ello narrado con una prosa bonita y directa sin caer en el sentimentalismo fácil. La historia ya es bastante amarga así sin necesidad de revolver más al lector. La película basada en este relato, también muy buena, me dejó hecha polvo cuando la vi.

En conclusión. Una historia amarga condensada en pocas páginas. Una prosa magnífica y una autora a la que seguiré leyendo. Recomendable.
Profile Image for Jane.
385 reviews612 followers
January 7, 2018
I don't know how I never knew this was just a very short story. I wish I'd read this years ago. The movie was good, but this was even better. It always amazes me how even a very short story can pull so strongly at your emotions. Thanks so much for the suggestion, Jessica :)
Profile Image for Moony Eliver.
374 reviews208 followers
October 19, 2019
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.
Profile Image for CHAMPAGNE.
302 reviews179 followers
November 30, 2021
i don't understand why authors back then had a hard time writing love stories that ends happily. who hurt you?!?!?!?

I wish I knew how to quit you.


This is the worst kind of love story, I hate the fact that people were actually kept in the closet because of bigoted assholes. Our generation is still fucked up but boy am I glad it's not as close minded as it used to.

I decided I wanted to make my depressed ass cry even more so I picked this up, then watched the movie for the first time afterwards.

See, Jake Gyllenhaal is an ass, but the movie was great. The movie was good and I've got to applaud the ability of such a short book to make me cry...

sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it
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