Author Topic: Annie Proulx's memoir.  (Read 56229 times)

Offline Monika

  • BetterMost Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 6,587
  • We are all the same. Women, men, gay, straight
Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #60 on: February 28, 2011, 05:23:15 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. 

You got all that from looking at the exterior of her house?

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *******
  • Posts: 9,566
  • Those were the days, Alberta 2007.
Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #61 on: February 28, 2011, 01:08:22 pm »
Well I got done reading the book yesterday and can say it was an over all pleasant experience, but somewhat of a chore.

I can certainly relate to what Janice says, the only way this story ever made it into the world is because of Proulx's celebrity. In a strange way this very private person opens up and talks a lot about her family and about herself and about some of the places she has lived and then we are treated to her conspicious consumption. And for the record, the plat she drew for the book is orented toward the east. You can find the place easy enough on Google Earth on the North Platt, NW  of Saratoga, Wyoming.

As a Realtor, one of the things that gets under my skin is the pickiness of people who have to have things "just so", it grates upon my status of being the first generation of my family to have indoor plumbing. I want to shake these people and tell them that just a few miles from here there are people living in cardboard boxes who would be grateful to live in that ugly took shed. The more I read my heart went out to the James Gang, they sound like the are on permanent retainer to come and rescue her when she is trapped.

And then she diverges into great Annie Dillard-esque prose about the natives who have lived there, the bird chapter at the end I got caught up in to my surprise. She truly enjoys the place she created, where none was before and for apparently a good reason. 

I found myself looking for things I recognized. She never once mentioned Brokeback, I doubt she does much. She did mention That Old Act In The Hole and Accordion Crimes and maybe The Shipping News. What I did find is the time line, laid out against the expierence we have had that she created. When I saw her at Davidson College in 2006, she was having the insulation installed. When we had just returned from Alberta in 2007, the day that Mouk reported the first snowfall in August, she and a friend were watching the mice pop out of the sprinkler system.

And as with all things Proulx, the more you scratch, the more you will find. Like these photos from the website of the architect, Harry Teague:



More photos are available here:

http://www.harryteaguearchitects.com/birdcloud.htm#

I was looking at those when I was part of the way through and was like "There is the deck and the chinking and the table from Newfoundland!"

So in a way, Bird Cloud answers some very defiantly sexless hunger to get a peek inside of the mind and world of the woman who created Jack and Ennis. She is as complex as any of the rest of us, just loaded up with money and ready to leave her footprint on as much of the world as possible.

People with bad teeth can still dance.
"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline louisev

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 16,107
  • "My guns and amo!! Over my cold dead hands!!"
    • Fiction by Louise Van Hine
Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #62 on: February 28, 2011, 03:11:57 pm »
so Truman, what's your aesthetic opinion of the Bird Cloud Industrial Sheet Metal Fabrication 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 Shakesthecoffecan

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *******
  • Posts: 9,566
  • Those were the days, Alberta 2007.
Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #63 on: February 28, 2011, 03:16:52 pm »
so Truman, what's your aesthetic opinion of the Bird Cloud Industrial Sheet Metal Fabrication plant?

I think it is aesthetically pleasing in the short run but hard to maintain in the long run.
"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline Jeff Wrangler

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,165
  • "He somebody you cowboy'd with?"
Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #64 on: February 28, 2011, 03:38:01 pm »
I think it is aesthetically pleasing in the short run but hard to maintain in the long run.

I think it looks like a hardware store.
"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 louisev

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 16,107
  • "My guns and amo!! Over my cold dead hands!!"
    • Fiction by Louise Van Hine
Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #65 on: February 28, 2011, 03:45:55 pm »
I think it looks like a hardware store.

Considering that every other ranch on sale in Wyoming is actually picturesque, the only thing Bird Cloud Ranch has got going for it is the view, I wonder if it has any chance of selling?
“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

  • Town Administration
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,962
  • well, I won't
Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #66 on: February 28, 2011, 04:07:08 pm »
I wonder if the work of her architect, Harry Teague, is in demand.  The description of the roofline echoing the curve of the cliff sounded cool.  Not sure about the execution of that. 

It's quite possible that the house looks better from the inside looking out. 

Offline Jeff Wrangler

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,165
  • "He somebody you cowboy'd with?"
Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #67 on: February 28, 2011, 04:20:10 pm »
It's quite possible that the house looks better from the inside looking out. 

That thought crossed my mind, too. I was thinking of the window that was placed specifically to view a tree that then died.

But I still think it looks like a hardware store.
"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 Shakesthecoffecan

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *******
  • Posts: 9,566
  • Those were the days, Alberta 2007.
Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #68 on: February 28, 2011, 04:55:50 pm »
Considering that every other ranch on sale in Wyoming is actually picturesque, the only thing Bird Cloud Ranch has got going for it is the view, I wonder if it has any chance of selling?

Well that is a good question, considering she herself has publicly stated she cannot got out of the property during the winter, it is like shooting oneself in the foot.
"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline southendmd

  • Town Administration
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,962
  • well, I won't
Re: Annie Proulx's memoir.
« Reply #69 on: February 28, 2011, 04:58:11 pm »
Well that is a good question, considering she herself has publicly stated she cannot got out of the property during the winter, it is like shooting oneself in the foot.

Either someone out there might be looking for a little $3.7M Wyoming summer cottage, or she expects no one will read her book!