i've read the story about 6 or 7 times now, i bought the 'Close Range' collection after seeing the movie and falling in love with it. It is discussed in a lot of detail on the "film and book" thread,
http://davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=143.0 Personally i found Proulx's writing style quite alienating at first - i don't think i would have liked the BBM short story as much had i not seen the film. in fact the rest of the stories in the collection leave me cold. (i did pick up a collection of her earlier stuff "Heart Songs" in a second hand book shop the other day, and have yet to have a look at that, so who knows what that may hold?)
Subsequent readings of the BBM short story have really enriched the movie for me and through the perceptive analyses of posters on these pages i have developed a real appreciation of the sparsity of the language and imagery - particulary that of Jack as a 'ministering angel'.
If you've not read it yet, do give it a go, it's a real eyeopener in terems of seeing how the medium of moving image can so faithfully recreate, re-imagine and realise the written word.
(and i've ordered the 'story to screenplay' from amazon in the US so am definitely looking forward to that arriving on my doorstep.