I'm generally not a lover of short stories (hence this has sat on my TBR for ages), but wow - this collection was just fantastic. This is the second collection of Proulx's Wyoming stories (I'll now have to buy the first), with each story a vignette on life in rural Wyoming. Some of the characters vaguely interconnect along the way, but each vignette sits independently.

Many of the stories are darkly humorous with a sprinkle of craziness here and there, and throughout the writing is just sublime. I've not enjoyed a book of short stories as much since F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', and the impressive imagination at work in this collection put me in mind of Fitzgerald's superb skill at short story writing, albeit with more of a backwoods feel.

It's been too long since I read something by Annie Proulx - I'll be moving her further up the groaning wish list.

4 stars - everything a collection of short stories should be: fun, slightly bonkers and a joy to read. ( )

This is the third collection of Proulx's Wyoming stories I've read and while there are some real gems in here there aren't enough to warrant more stars. Like "Fine Just the Way It Is" Proulx uses a series of yarns about Elk Tooth, Wyoming to connect this collection though the yarns in this one are much better than her attempt to get into the mind of the devil in "Fine Just the Way It Is. "The Wamsutter Wolf" is about as close as Proulx gets to a real horror story, imagine being trapped in a trailer park with a disgusting woman from high school and her sticky children, "Man Crawling out of Trees" and "What Kind of Furniture Would Jesus Pick?" are Proulx at her strongest and provide that sweeping beautiful landscape she details so vividly in her writing. As someone else mentioned below, Proulx is a great writer but you can't knock em all out of the park all the time. ( )

I didn't realize this was vol 2 when I began listening on Hoopla. There is also a vol 3.

I enjoyed these stories, especially The Trickle Down Effect (man hauls alfalfa from Wisconsin with breaks for drinking only); Man Crawling Out of Trees (easterners retire to WY and break the #1 rule: help others); and The Wamsutter Wolf (man rents a trailer park in the desert, only to find the high school bully and the needy girl married and living nearby). But they were all good. I wish I had read them on paper rather than listened--the worst part is not having a table of contents to refer to!

Several stories take place in the town of Elk Tooth, WY, so there are recurring characters. ( )

Dark, funny gems, every one. These reminded me of Keilor's Lake Wobegon tales, but with a significantly sharper edge. The weirdness also goes that step beyond, bordering sometimes on delicious surreality. Fabulous stuff, as I've come to expect from Proulx. ( )

Her forays into magical realism largely ruined this collection. While the grandeur of the landscape is ever present, it's apparent that when focused, the land and people are hopelessly bleak in a delightfully honest manner. Appreciated main characters in one story popping up with minor roles in another. My favorite was Man Crawling Out of Trees where a recently retired New Yorker refuses to leave her house to assist a skier who has broken his leg and crawled his agonizing way to her front door because she fears it might be a malicious trick, her husband and townsfolk are disgusted. Also enjoyed the Wamsutter Wolf and Florida Rental (3/11). ( )