BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN: Annie Proulx

Brokeback Mountain is a story of forbidden love in the Midwest of America from the 1960’s through to the 1980’s. At only 55 pages, this is an incredibly short novel, yet for me it had the same impact as a book of hundreds of pages. The sparseness of this work is reflective of the two main characters who grew up working hard and living on the land, who meld in with the ruggedness of the natural environment, and who are often short on words yet have a strong and enduring presence.

Even though the cover has a photo from the film adaptation with Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, once I got into the book, I left their images behind completely and entered the gritty world of the original story. I couldn’t help reflecting on how Hollywood so often fails the art world in watering down and sanitizing the the underbelly of society. This book is so full of smells and tastes and scars and the weathering of time, yet little of that is reflected in the film.

At the same time, to have such talented high profile actors playing these roles and such a widespread release was hugely impactful at the time, and a big boon to the Queer community. Not so long ago and still in many places today, gay men are often murdered, and sometimes these murders are even legally sanctioned. Living in British Columbia Canada (aka Turtle Island) I sometimes forget how far we still have to go globally as far as acceptance of all sexual orientations and gender identities goes. And even here, as one of the most accepting places in the world, we still have so much work to do.

I couldn’t put this book down and then it left me deeply saddened. And even though it was a quick read, it stuck with me for weeks afterwards. I highly highly recommend this book.