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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
This book contains the nine stories and one poem on which Robert Altman has based his film Short Cuts.
About the Author
Raymond Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, in 1938 and grew up in Yakima, Washington State. His father was a sawmill worker and his mother was a waitress and clerk. He married early and for years writing had to come second to earning a living for his young family, although he did manage to attend John Gardner's creative writing course at Chico State College. During this period he worked as a hospital porter, a textbook editor, a dictionary salesman, a petrol station attendant and a delivery man. These experiences and his own increasingly desperate domestic circumstances were frequently the subject of his poetry and fiction. Although he published a number of small-press books of poetry and one chapbook of fiction in the 1960s and early 1970s, it was not until the appearance of the story collection Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? In 1976 that his work began to change: he gave up alcohol, which has contributed to the collapse of his marriage, and in the same year met the poet Tess Gallagher with whom he shared the last eleven years of his life. He began to write again and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1979 and the prestigious Mildred and Harold Strauss Living Award in 1983. During this prolific period he wrote four collections of stories ( What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Cathedral, Fires andElephant) and three collections of poetry Where Water Comes Together with Other Water and Ultramarine, which was published in Britain as In a Marine Light. Also published posthumously were his Uncollected Writings, No Heroics, Please. In the last year of his life he chose and revised for the press his Selected Stories, Where I'm Calling from, and was honoured by induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He died in August 1988.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
If you love Raymond Carver, or have yet to read any of his stories, this is a great book for you. These are selected stories by Carver, which inspired the movie "Short Cuts." Though I did enjoy the movie, reading the actual stories is ten times more satisfying.
Carver is a genius when it comes to the crafting of a short story. He's showed me that you don't need to have the most complex plot or the happiest ending in short stories. You don't even need a solid resolution. Carver creates some of the most memorable characters and is a pro when it comes to dialogue. These characters are faced with conflicts that can happen to anyone and anywhere. Some conflicts are small while others are major and life-changing. How these characters react to the situations thrown upon them are much like the way we could see ourselves dealing with them. That's why the stories work. They're very convincing and realistic.
I really enjoyed these stories. I liked the fact that some of these stories really caught me off guard. "Tell the Women We're Going," has to have one of the most horrifying and disturbing endings I have ever read in a story. I also liked the fact that these characters seem so real. It's like these are people you have known for all of your life. He writes the way people actually talk, and that is a great talent.
My favourite stories are, "They're Not Your Husband" "Neighbors," "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?" "A Small, Good Thing," "Tell the Women We're Going," and "So Much Water so Close to Home." These are very realistic stories that paint a picture of everyday life.
Raymond Carver was a brilliant writer. We need more like him. If you like Carver or you have yet to read any of his work, check out this book and read some of the stories. It doesn't have a lot, but the ones that are in here are very well done. A book I will read over and over again.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Carver manages to create a sense of magic out of the ordinary. He sifts through the rough scraps of throw-away reality that make up l.a. or indeed any large city and he weaves them into a beautiful delicate whole.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Raymond Carver was unequivocally one of the top five non-fiction writers of the c.20th. Add to this honour, that he was also the undisputed world heavyweight champion of the short story, and only then can one begins to understand the pedigree of the artist. An artist who at times painted such a thin wash over his canvass that it was still possible to see the very fabric underneath. If one were to complain that there was insufficient colour painted on his canvass, then the correct response would be to say that the reader was not fulfilling their side of the contract. A contract which Carver single-handedly re-established; that is the unwritten contact between the author and the reader which states the author provides only half of the data and the reader uses their imagination to provide the remainder. If you want Carver to spoon-feed you, you will undoubtedly walk away hungry.
Regarding the specifics of this text, it should be made clear to any potential purchaser, that all of the stories contained herein were originally published elsewhere and are contained in other collections, so more than likely you don't need to purchase this collection. In addition, I would like to point out that this text is really just a marketing spin-off from Robert Altman's 1993 'Short Cuts', which is loosely based on the nine short this anthology contains. Therein lies the reasons why I only awarded it the five stars, as this wasn't made clear on the Amazon page.
Having stated the above, I might still have purchased this collection because it contains so interesting additions and editions I have yet to come across. New works I have yet to read were:
i) Vitamins
ii) Lemonade
Both of which were excellent, especially 'Lemonade'. In addition to these two, there is also an 'alternative take' of 'A Small Good Thing', which contains not only a new ending and a fatter body, but also shows Carver in a very different mode. Firstly the re-structured tale could actually be described as 'up-beat', an adjective we seldom see used in connection with his work. Secondly and perhaps more significantly, it also contains closure - something we seldom see in Carver's work (that is closure in the 'traditional' sense).
In addition to the above gems I also liked the fact that volume has a numbered text, something which means that it could be used for a reading class or seminar. Unfortunately however, I bought the 'Reclaim' version (red cover) which is a German edition and has the key vocabulary translated into German, along with the notes and biography. Again, this was not made clear on the Amazon page.
To summarise, collectors of Carver's work will appreciate this volume, likewise new arrivals and students should also get something from this too. If you see nothing, or this collection fails to please you, then I guess you need to re-examine, what you read and why your read what you do.
Regarding the specifics of this text, it should be made clear to any potential purchaser, that all of the stories contained herein were originally published elsewhere and are contained in other collections, so more than likely you don't need to purchase this collection. In addition, I would like to point out that this text is really just a marketing spin-off from Robert Altman's 1993 'Short Cuts', which is loosely based on the nine short this anthology contains. Therein lies the reasons why I only awarded it the five stars, as this wasn't made clear on the Amazon page.
Having stated the above, I might still have purchased this collection because it contains so interesting additions and editions I have yet to come across. New works I have yet to read were:
i) Vitamins
ii) Lemonade
Both of which were excellent, especially 'Lemonade'. In addition to these two, there is also an 'alternative take' of 'A Small Good Thing', which contains not only a new ending and a fatter body, but also shows Carver in a very different mode. Firstly the re-structured tale could actually be described as 'up-beat', an adjective we seldom see used in connection with his work. Secondly and perhaps more significantly, it also contains closure - something we seldom see in Carver's work (that is closure in the 'traditional' sense).
In addition to the above gems I also liked the fact that volume has a numbered text, something which means that it could be used for a reading class or seminar. Unfortunately however, I bought the 'Reclaim' version (red cover) which is a German edition and has the key vocabulary translated into German, along with the notes and biography. Again, this was not made clear on the Amazon page.
To summarise, collectors of Carver's work will appreciate this volume, likewise new arrivals and students should also get something from this too. If you see nothing, or this collection fails to please you, then I guess you need to re-examine, what you read and why your read what you do.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Harrowing truths about humanity will leave you suicidal ...
We are currently studying this book in AS English Literature and Language, so it was not by choice that I picked it up. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Olivia
Emporers new clothes?
I read this as it was recommended highly to me and if you like stories about ordinary people where nothing happens then this one is for you. Unsatisfying
Published 17 months ago by Harri
I really tried to like this
I am doing Short Cuts for my A level. I really tried to like the story but i can't. They are so boring. Read more
Published on 11 Nov 2004 by Mr. P. W. Stirups
American Beauty!
Why are these Americans so damned good at writing quality short stories? I loved this book so much, I ran out and bought some of Carver's non-fiction too! Read more
Published on 9 Dec 2001
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