Matt
Variable, like most collections of short stories, especially when most of them traverse much the same territory (key themes: masculinity, and the costs thereof; Wyoming, bad weather capital of the world; ranching, not a good business model; the importance of work health and safety compliance etc). Brokeback Mountain is the obvious standout, but don't sleep on A Lonely Coast as an excellent example of how a well crafted short story can pack more of a punch than most full length novels can manage. Those names though, there's only so many deranged cowboy names you can read before it starts to feel like a literary affectation that's only serving to take you out of the story...
Variable, like most collections of short stories, especially when most of them traverse much the same territory (key themes: masculinity, and the costs thereof; Wyoming, bad weather capital of the world; ranching, not a good business model; the importance of work health and safety compliance etc). Brokeback Mountain is the obvious standout, but don't sleep on A Lonely Coast as an excellent example of how a well crafted short story can pack more of a punch than most full length novels can manage. Those names though, there's only so many deranged cowboy names you can read before it starts to feel like a literary affectation that's only serving to take you out of the story...