aj_x416 's review for:

Heart Songs and Other Stories by Annie Proulx

3.0

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The stories are, by and large, well-written and sufficiently interesting to prevent dozing off. But overall, as a body of literature, for me this wasn't compelling. Most centred on impoverished rural NE Americans (in the 1960s or '70s, or maybe '80s - not sure). These people hunt and fish and grow stuff, but mostly hunt. And they're not very articulate or talkative, and the stories rely mostly on the small grudges they carry. Urban dwellers dallying in rural life tend to make appearances in foreground or background mostly as fodder - they know nothing about rural life and believe money solves all problems; I found those characters serving as tropes as opposed to flesh-and-blood.

Unfortunately, I suspect I won't remember any of these stories by next month.