Fine Just The Way It Is

October 27, 2008
Will Patten is a fine actor who fits voice and pace to the tone of each story in this collection. He is often a quiet, dreamy narrator, but when stories slowly navigate toward a terrible, heart-in-mouth tension—as Proulx’s so often do—he assumes a breathiness that significantly heightens the drama. As tale-teller, Patten has a slight Western accent; this sounds right, but also enables him to use a range of dialects as appropriate for each character. In a more straightforward manner, he narrates Proulx’s amusing (though less successful) tales of the Devil redesigning Hell. Proulx, best known for Shipping News
and Brokeback Mountain
, turns out prose as exquisite as ever in her wrenching tales of Wyoming, past and present. A Scribner hardcover (Reviews, May 26).

Proulx's astonishing collection of dark stories features hardscrabble lives lived in a sparse, barren West where one mistake can put you on the long, winding trail to disaster, even death. Will Patton's deep, sonorous tones create perfect voices for old cowboys like Ray Forkenbrock, who is living out his last days in a nursing home in "Family Man"; for the newlyweds in the devastating "Them Old Cowboy Songs"; and for Dakotah Lister in the memorable story "Tits Up in a Ditch." Patton's delivery is never rushed, and as Proulx fills her stories with quirky, well-developed characters, his voice lends dignity and passion to women and men alike. These breathtaking stories will shock and intrigue. S.C.A. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine