Fine Just the Way It Is
Encyclopedia
Fine Just the Way It Is is a 2008
collection of short stories
by Annie Proulx.
"Old Folks' Home
" for old cowboys, ranchers and their womenfolk. Old cow-poke Ray Forkenbrock has skeletons in his closet he must talk about before he dies. The past is inescapable. Mid-way through relating his early life to his grand-daughter, Forkenbrock realizes that one of his fellow residents is the woman he first had sex with 71 years before; a day later that same woman falls to her death in the Grand Canyon
. Forkenbrock had discovered, at his father's funeral, that he was not his father's only son called Ray. He was in fact one of four: his father had four families, the children all named the same to avoid mistakes.
's personal assistant
, one Duane Fork, busies himself spreading dust and sulfurous smells for his boss's return from a Milan design fair. The Devil is piqued by an article in The Onion
reporting that a Tenth Circle of Hell had been added to accommodate Total Bastards.
they fancy to have the appearance of a child. It is tended and protected, and even fed bones and stray scraps of meat from their dinner-table. Even after the couples' passing, the shrub - now grown to the height of a fair-sized tree - is used to human attention, and meat. It consumes livestock, then soldiers, then a local medico, railroad men, surveyors, and most lately a botanist come to investigate its unusual height and luxuriance.
described the stories as "patchy collection, much less satisfying than Close Range.". The stories set in Hell have also been criticized as - while being witty and well-written - ill-fitted to a book of Wyoming stories.
2008 in literature
The year 2008 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 1 - In the 2008 New Year Honours, Hanif Kureishi , Jenny Uglow , Peter Vansittart and Debjani Chatterjee are all rewarded for "services to literature".*June 15 - Gore Vidal, asked in a New York Times...
collection of short stories
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by Annie Proulx.
Family Man
The story is set in a WyomingWyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
"Old Folks' Home
Nursing home
A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
" for old cowboys, ranchers and their womenfolk. Old cow-poke Ray Forkenbrock has skeletons in his closet he must talk about before he dies. The past is inescapable. Mid-way through relating his early life to his grand-daughter, Forkenbrock realizes that one of his fellow residents is the woman he first had sex with 71 years before; a day later that same woman falls to her death in the Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...
. Forkenbrock had discovered, at his father's funeral, that he was not his father's only son called Ray. He was in fact one of four: his father had four families, the children all named the same to avoid mistakes.
I've Always Loved This Place
SatanSatan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
's personal assistant
Personal assistant
A personal assistant or personal aide is someone who assists in daily business or personal tasks. It is common in design to have a PDA, or personal design assistant....
, one Duane Fork, busies himself spreading dust and sulfurous smells for his boss's return from a Milan design fair. The Devil is piqued by an article in The Onion
The Onion
The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...
reporting that a Tenth Circle of Hell had been added to accommodate Total Bastards.
Them Old Cowboy Songs
Rose and Archie are a young married couple —Archie is only 16 — setting out to make a life for themselves. At first, things are idyllic: they are very much in love. But then Archie gets laid off from the ranch where he has been working and heads to Cheyenne to find a job, leaving Rose behind in their cabin with a baby on the way. He has to hide that he is married because the tyrant he works for would fire him if he knew, since married men tend to want time off to go visit their wives. He tries to write a letter to Rose but doesn’t have the money for a stamp. Meanwhile, Rose is alone and miserable. There are complications with her pregnancy, and no way for her to get help. She finally buries the baby. Archie, after a fall in a bog, comes down with pneumonia and cannot work, so his boss fires him. Another hand tries to help Archie get home but they get caught in a blizzard and freeze to death. In the spring, a friend of Archie and Rose comes by and finds her mutilated body.The Sagebrush Kid
A childless Wyoming couple transfer their affections first to a piglet, then to a chicken, and finally to a sagebrushAtriplex canescens
Atriplex canescens, Chamiso, Chamiza, Four wing saltbush, Four-wing saltbush, and Fourwing saltbush, is a species of evergreen shrub in the Amaranthaceae family, which is native to the western and mid-western United States....
they fancy to have the appearance of a child. It is tended and protected, and even fed bones and stray scraps of meat from their dinner-table. Even after the couples' passing, the shrub - now grown to the height of a fair-sized tree - is used to human attention, and meat. It consumes livestock, then soldiers, then a local medico, railroad men, surveyors, and most lately a botanist come to investigate its unusual height and luxuriance.
Critical reception
Delia FalconerDelia Falconer
Delia Falconer is the author of a novel, The Service of Clouds and a novella, The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers. She has been described by Australian critic Peter Craven, in Best Australian Stories 1999, as “the young Australian writer who has arguably done most to put her signature on the literature...
described the stories as "patchy collection, much less satisfying than Close Range.". The stories set in Hell have also been criticized as - while being witty and well-written - ill-fitted to a book of Wyoming stories.
External links
- Amazon.com user reviews of "Fine Just the Way It Is" at Amazon.comAmazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
- barnesandnoble user reviews of "Fine Just the Way It Is" at Barnes & NobleBarnes & NobleBarnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
- Tenth Circle Added To Rapidly Growing Hell at theonion.comThe OnionThe Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...