EVERY STORY TELLS A PICTUREOgni scusa è buona per rileggere un racconto di Carver, sono corti, si leggono in poco tempo. E, non c’è niente da fare: ogni volta che mi immergo in un suo racconto (bastano poche parole, anche meno di un rigo, perché lui mi catapulti altrove), mi viene da chiedermi in quale altro modo si possa scrivere un racconto: c’è solo il suo modo, è perfetto, senza difetti. Poi, certo, magari quando prendo in mano quelli di Dubus, mi chiedo la stessa cosa.”Short Cuts [...]

And here it ise best collection of short stories I've ever read. Where has Carver been all my life? Why did no one slap me over the head with his work fifteen years ago? I mourn that it took me this long to discover him and now I must get my little claws on everything Carver asap.How the heck can a writer capture so much power into super-short stories. I'm talking ten page stories. How?! Each one is a stand alone masterpiece with so much authenticity and sense of reality and yet, they are all sm [...]

This has been one of the most rewarding, most enjoyable years I've had in more than two decades of being an insatiable reader. I've discovered new authors to idolize, fallen even harder for longstanding heroes, experienced the rabid glee of revisiting much-loved works and immersed myself in genres that I suddenly cannot live without. Unfortunately, the awe of January's introduction to the raw beauty of Raymond Carver (who has forever changed my interest in and opinion of short stories for the be [...]

Had to drive a bit and I just happened to see this as an audiobook edition of the collection from a master short story writer, one of the best ever, imo; he is sometimes referred to disparagingly as a "K-mart realist." In other words, a working class writer, writing about the down and out. Since I grew up working class, I have always liked the world out of which Carver writes. He's a minimalist in the tone of Edward Hopper. Or think of him as a working-class Hemingway; no adverbs, everything str [...]

You can use this book as an antidote to Donald Barthelme. And then if you get too minimal you can add a bit of Barthelme back into the mix. Like a cocktail. I can't imagine those two would get on in shortstorywriterheaven. I bet the Minimalists and the Pomos have vicious football matches every Sunday. Brute strength and singleness of purpose vs. fancy footwork and sneering.Note on Short Cuts by Robert Altman, a movie made out of Carver stories : surprisingly, nay, amazingly, it's great. In true [...]

Buổi tối, đọc nốt mấy truyện ngắn còn lại trong tập này tự nhiên thấy buồn buồn. Chính xác, cô đọng, nắm bắt tâm lý nhân vật môt cách cực kỳ bản năng và rất mực tàn nhẫn. Tình yêu, hôn nhân, cuộc đời, và những sự bất toàn. Hình như không có truyện ngắn nào trong cả tập truyện này là một câu chuyện hạnh phúc hay khiến người ta vui vẻ và tin tưởng vào hạnh phúc cả.Ơr Việt Nam [...]

Mi sembra sempre di entrare nelle vite degli altri senza aver chiesto il permesso ogni volta che leggo Carver. E' una sensazione strana, non si sa come ci si dovrebbe comportare, se chiedere scusa e sperare di essere invitati a rimanere oppure desiderare di essere scoperti ed intimati di andare via immediatamente. I suoi racconti sono fatti di momenti e spesso sono quelli che durano un battito di ciglia che tendono a rivoluzionare le cose. C'è sempre qualcosa di non detto, il mistero che trapel [...]

Raymond Carver'a ilk Fil ile başlamıştım. O kadar da sevmemiştim Fil'i. Bizim öykücülerimiz daha iyi, Behçet Çelik'i daha çok tercih ederim dediğimi hatırlıyorum. Ama biliyordum ki Amerikan öykücülüğünün temelleri sağlam: Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, Nathaniel Hawtforne. Benim gibi bir ölümlünün bu isimlere laf söylemesi pek taraftar bulmayacaktır. Bu sebepten de bu kitapla Carver'a yeni bir şans vermek istedim, hazır kitap elimdeyken. Bu kitap da, Fil gibi evli çi [...]

A recent discussion of “The Canon” here on prompts me to write this review of a writer who, like it or not Pynchon and McElroy fans, will probably enter the canon. “Will you please be quiet, please?” The line is Hemingway’s and, though it’s quoted by Carver in the text, is repurposed as title-story by editor/mentor Gordon Lish with, I can’t help feeling, a sly nod to all those “postmodernists” intent on outdoing Joyce or Melville. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, b [...]

Oohhh I like Carver. Nothing happens in this short stories, they're great. This collection is very good, there are some bumps along the road but that's to be expected in a collection of 22 stories. I'll definitely be reading more Carver.

“Tra i fumi dell’alcol, si chiese se c’erano altri uomini in grado di esaminare un avvenimento isolato della loro vita e cogliere in esso i minuscoli segnali della catastrofe che da quel momento in poi aveva cambiato il corso della loro vita.”Credo che la banale quotidianità colta da Carver vista più da vicino si spogli della sua semplicità. Quelle che si mettono in scena sono, per lo più, esistenze insoddisfatte e l’insoddisfazione è qualcosa che ha messo radici nel tempo, rimane [...]

I'm not sure whether I've given five stars to a collection of short stories before, but these were outstanding. Carver's penetrating depictions of the ordinary and extraordinary struggles of married life are refreshingly honest, gritty and disturbing. He finds simple moments that are filled with subtle implications, and he has this way of just walking away and leaving unsaid the most salient element of the story, forcing the reader to adopt the anguish of the characters, and denying any catharti [...]

i do not understand why i am never sick of raymond carver. somehow, i just plow through every story, even though most of the time it's clear it's going to end up like most carver stories do - with some bloody thread hanging there untied, hinting at something really awful. but out of all of his short story collections (minus, you know, the big one of all the stories), this one is my favorite, i think. maybe it's because it opens with a fat man from the circus in a diner. that's very possibly the [...]

Description: With this, his first collection, Carver breathed new life into the short story. In the pared-down style that has since become his hallmark, Carver showed how humour and tragedy dwell in the hearts of ordinary people, and won a readership that grew with every subsequent brilliant collection of stories, poems and essays that appeared in the last eleven years of his life.Had this onhold for so long that this visit is a complete reboot. Carver wrote as Hopper painted, maybe the connecti [...]

“He lies on his back for a time and pulls the hair on his stomach, considering.”What man has not done this? Whether part of God’s grand design or good old fashioned evolution Raymond Carver has revealed to the world the purpose of male stomach hair: an aid to male cognition. I wonder what women do?As well as being full of acute observations about male stomach hair and other aspects of human behavior these stories are full of the psychology of things unsaid or understandings not shared. As [...]

Thanks to Maya and Sofia for the BR. This is a tricky collection of stories. All are very subtle and simple. I loved it.

This is a collection of strange and disturbing short stories with weird titles, elusive meanings and rather abrupt endings. Raymond Carver has a unique way of offering us a glimpse into the inner lives of his characters. He uses their physical actions and bursts of short conversation but very little actual description of what the character is going through. It is all about the way the stories make you feel. Most of the stories involved a random happening in the life of an individual or a couple [...]

Due back to the library today, they only have one copy and it's a big library system with many branches, I once read that Carver is one of the authers whose's books are most stolen, maybe that is why they only have one. The librarian wouldn't give the address or even a name of the person who requested it. I can't fathom why, all I would do was contact whoever it was and say to them , "You read Carver and so do I, What's your most favorite one and hey let's get coffee, cause us readers have to st [...]

These stories are uniformly bleak, piercing vignettes into the disappointments and insecurities of working class people. The relentlessness of the raw pain on display here was very stark and at times very, very difficult to continue reading. That being said, these are some of the most beautifully written stories you are likely to come across, even if you need to take some time to recuperate in between finishing one and starting another.

Reading such stories about the everyday minutae of American life without the political or Hollywood hype sometimes makes me sad. It does make me compare my life which is far away from America and see what's the same and the differences. Basically though I see the universal realities, basic human needs remain the same, basic human insecurities remain the same, different culturals then jump in to add more difficulty, like different perceptions of how to live a good life, priorities etc. I like exp [...]

3.5 stars. Great stories with superb characterisation. I especially loved the dialogues—they were utterly brilliant! The reason why I could not give this wonderful collection a higher rating was because they were too many cliffhangers. Open-ended stories are lovely but when there are too many of them, it makes the reader feel impatient:

Some of the stories deserve a hundred stars and applause, and fireworks, and a little dread.

Su Carver e la sua scrittura sono stati scritti fiumi di parole, tutte condivisibili. E’ lo scrittore che ha impresso una svolta nelle short stories, caratterizzandole per i temi e per lo stile in modo inconfondibile, è il cesellatore di storie di ordinaria normalità, fatta di mariti stanchi, padri distratti, mogli bugiarde e insoddisfatte; insomma egli descrive un universo di “insana” normalità nel quale ognuno di noi per qualche verso si ritrova, che la scrittura di Carver immortala c [...]

This collection was my introduction to Raymond Carver, a writer who I’ve been eager to read for a long time since I found out he was writing buddy to one of my favourites of all time, John Cheever. The Stories of John Cheever is a prized possession in my bookcase. They are a revelation to me; despite their brevity, the poetic force and lyricism is sometimes more than I can find in a single novel. But enough about Cheever. Carver is quite a different proposition. To begin with, he mainly focuse [...]

Storie ad altissimo contenuto umano, stile elegante, esatto e ispirato, narrazione sintetica connotata da intensa pregnanza: queste sono alcune delle caratteristiche conosciute dei racconti di Carver, che si ritrovano immutate e potenti in questo volume. Che vi racconti due ragazzi alle prese con la trota più grande che si sia mai vista, i tormenti di un uomo che vuole abbandonare il cane dei suoi figli o vi descriva una gelosia che non si riesce a sopire, l'autore non rinuncia mai ad avvicinar [...]

What a sad, really heart-breaking collection of little stories; each one of them masterfully built. I remember back in the 80's, when I wasn't reading literature, how Carver was mocked by many in the media for his minimalist style -- yet not a hint about the emotional intelligence contained in his writings. Just wonderful.It's also a small personal triumph for me, as I'm learning finally how to read short story collections.Anyway, great stuff.

Perfectly lovely stories, just not my thing.

Were there other men, he wondered drunkenly, who could look at one event in their lives and perceive in it the tiny makings of the catastrophe that thereafter set their lives on a different course?We meet the characters in most of the stories at moments in their lives when something had suddenly caused them a major distress, and it seems everything will change - for good or bad - as a result. As the stories unfold, however, it becomes clear that they shouldn’t have been surprised they came to [...]

Từng nghe đồn rằng Raymond Carver là tác giả có ảnh hưởng lớn đến đại văn hào toàn hụt Nobel Haruki Murakami và hóa ra là thế thật khi Haruki đã ngợi khen truyện ngắn "So much water, so close to home" của Raymond Carver là “goes beyond simple realism.” Quàooooooooooo :]]]]]] Cá nhân mình thích tác giả Haruki cùng hầu hết các tác phẩm của ông, và hoàn toàn không thích cái phần nhỏ mà Haruki giống Ramond Carver. C [...]

non è facile arrivare in fondo ad un libro così: ad ogni racconto diventa talmente amaro e disperato che al termine DEVI fermarti un attimo per riprenderti. ogni racconto è incredibilmente verosimile, potrebbe essere la storia che qualcuno ti sta raccontando in un bar: la grandezza di carver per me è anche in questo, la sua capacità di essere tanto credibile quanto universale.