Heart Songs and Other Stories

October 1, 1988
Set in fictional Chopping County in the Vermont backwoods, the 11 stories in this authoritative debut couple hunting and fishing lore with the meanness and misery of folk as trapped as the game they pursue. ``Bedrock,'' in which widowed old Perley is coerced into marriage with a young neighborhood slut and then cuckolded by her, captures setting and spirit explicitly. So, less directly, does the title story whose shiftless anti-hero, country-and-western singer Snipe, plods down a dirt road to fiddle with a family band in lieu of pursuing a paying joband falls hotly for the singer, Nell, who delivers a nasty surprise. Denser than these, and more visionary, ``The Wer-Trout'' tells of Rivers who, his wife dead, contains his loneliness with ancient Chinese poetry and the exquisite fashioning of trout flies. Appropriately related in clear, tightly honed prose, each of these stories ends with a visceral punch. Proulx is definitely a writer to watch.

March 20, 1995
The acclaimed debut short story collection from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Shipping News.

March 1, 1995
Downtrodden country folk in New England are at the heart and soul of this compilation of 11 short stories. The stories focus on rural activities (hunting or fishing) and sometimes delve into class differences between the poor townspeople and the rich outsiders. Although the subject matter may not appeal to every reader, the stories flow effortlessly and the prose is elegant. In "Heart Songs," Snipe pursues a calling in country music while recognizing in himself "a secret wish to step off into some abyss of bad taste and moral sloth." The author refers to another character as "thin as a folded dollar bill, her hand as narrow and cold as a trout." Proulx creates vivid characters with a clever turn of phrase or an illuminating analogy. This collection, initially published in 1988, includes two new short stories: "A Country Killing" and "Negatives." Recommended for most collections, though libraries with the 1988 edition may wish to pass.-Kimberly G. Allen, Network MCI Lib., Washington, D.C.