Author Topic: Annie Proulx's memoir.  (Read 56217 times)

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #50 on: February 27, 2011, 03:23:22 pm »
Thanks for an excellent review, Paul.  You're a real thinker there.   Might have a look at Bird Cloud:)

Ditto.

Jeepers, it almost seems like you read an entirely different book than the original reviewer!  ;D
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Marge_Innavera

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Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #51 on: February 27, 2011, 04:43:26 pm »
Ditto.

Jeepers, it almost seems like you read an entirely different book than the original reviewer!  ;D

Well, maybe the original reviewer was an "unreal thinker."    ;)

Offline southendmd

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Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #52 on: February 27, 2011, 06:10:37 pm »
Thanks, guys.  As with films, I like to read reviews after reading the book.  

A quick google search showed many reviews; the above one that Truman posted (via Larry) is from the New York Times, and is by far the most negative one.  The others are more mixed or positive, understandably expressing confusion over the lack of narrative cohesion, but generally appreciating Annie's language.  

*spoiler (of sorts) below*






















The "real" epilogue:  Bird Cloud Ranch is now for sale and can be yours for a mere $3.7M!

Offline southendmd

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Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #53 on: February 27, 2011, 06:17:26 pm »

The book cover shows a gorgeous photo of the land, and inside she has a few charming line drawings of the property, and of birds, but nowhere in sight was an image of the house.  Until now!  I found these below, not exactly what I had imagined the house to look like, but close:







Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #54 on: February 27, 2011, 06:21:14 pm »
I can see where it'd be a problem if that road wasn't plowed in winter.
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Offline Meryl

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Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #55 on: February 27, 2011, 06:23:19 pm »
I can see where it'd be a problem if that road wasn't plowed in winter.

Or if the river decided to flood.  :P

Looks really isolated.  I think I'd be afraid to live so far out from other neighbors.
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Offline louisev

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Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #56 on: February 27, 2011, 06:30:35 pm »
Well, it isn't what I thought her house would look like either, and I have to say, it looks like an industrial sheet metal plant.
“Mr. Coyote always gets me good, boy,”  Ellery said, winking.  “Almost forgot what life was like before I got me my own personal coyote.”


Offline southendmd

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Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #57 on: February 27, 2011, 07:25:35 pm »
I'm not sure if her interview with the Paris Review has been posted, but there's an interesting bit about this book, and her next book:

I’m all done with writing Wyoming stories at this point. I don’t know what I’ll write about next. I’ve already got two other books under contract that I’ve got to finish. One is a history of putting this property together—part autobiography and part survey of the land that Bird Cloud is on. And there’s a novel about logging and lumbering from Prince Edward Island to New Zealand that I’ve got to get to. I’ve been collecting materials for years, trying to figure out where I want to hit. It started about twenty-five years ago when I was driving through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and I came up to a sign that said on this site stood the greatest pine forest the world has ever known and now there’s absolutely nothing left of it. So that got me thinking. The story will span from the northeast corner of North America down to the Pacific. But Wyoming won’t be included in the book. Even if I keep living here I won’t want to write about Wyoming. I want to write about something else. I have a short attention span.



http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5901/the-art-of-fiction-no-199-annie-proulx

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #58 on: February 27, 2011, 11:22:46 pm »
Well, it isn't what I thought her house would look like either, and I have to say, it looks like an industrial sheet metal plant.

I don't think very much of it, either.

When I move out West I want a log cabin.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #59 on: February 28, 2011, 04:45:10 am »


  I for one knowing that I had plenty of money, and time.  Would never come up with
that monstrosity.  It is the most boring, and uninteresting looking building to live in
I think I have ever seen.  It must be a reflection of the person herself.  Self obsorbed,
self involved and cold of heart. 
  Sorry for those of you that adore her.  I just happen to not be one of those.



     Beautiful mind