- Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (3 July 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099449897
- ISBN-13: 978-0099449898
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 326,121 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'The American Chekhov' Sunday Times
Book Description
'The American Chekhov' Sunday Times
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I started reading Carver having seen Altman's film Short Cuts, and mainly because of its very funny portrayal of ordinary white working class American lives. How so different to this same world as portrayed by Carver himself. I have never read such sparse and quiet a narrative often so absent of events but which speak so directly to you and with such caring insight into people and their problems. The events and problems are often not those which can be translated or put into words for the benefit of a non-reader - Carver weaves impressions and lingering emotions which relate the lives of his folk rather than spreading out bare their lives before you, although paradoxically this is in fact exactly what he does achieve by standing back and allowing characters to tell their own story.
I find Carver the most original and intuitive voice - the craft of short story writing is much the poorer for his death.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
...It is a conundrum that some of our greatest writers are so under-read if you like.
What you get with RAYMOND CARVER is a deep insight into human behaviour and emotion. His stories are often set around the mundane and frequently have no satisfactory resolution of the problems/situations that confront the main characters , but what a web this man spins. It is the sign of greaatness to do all of the above in such simple but effective language.
His style of writing is so different , that you may find like I did , that initially you are confused by the stories within this book. Persist. It took me about three stories until I skipped to THE STUDENT'S WIFE and then followed this by reading BICYCLES , MUSCLES, CIGARETTES .
SMACK!
They literally blew me away.
Buy this book and treasure the wisdom within I am not a re-reader of books but I found myself reading this again .
Rest in peace RAYMOND CARVER . You brought a devasting original voice into the short story form , and for that I salute you.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Anyone who knows anything, knows what Carver was (and is), what he can be, could be. This book is everything conveyed with next to nothing, it is more, so much more. If Carver were music he would be jazz.
Carver's genius lies in his powers of transportation. His ability to paint his subjects in the most transparent of washes, the faintest of brush-strokes and yet still manage to make you imagine them in their fullness and their complexity. Like the Chinese or Japanese masters of 'sumi-e' (ink painting), he lays down the simplest of lines, the simplest of narratives and the simplest language to convey to the viewer (the reader) just what was intended to be conveyed. There is no waste, no excess, no fat to be trimmed here, he stops short of giving too much and just shy of not giving you enough.
Carver arguably restored the relationship, the contract between the reader and an author. A contract whereby both parties agree to work for a common goal. The author agrees to give part of the story, if the reader agrees to use their imagination to fill in the blanks. And in agreeing to this contract, they agree to not just use their imagination in some passive, inert sense, but rather agree to draw on their store of experiences and knowledge to deepen one's assimilation to the characters and situations laid down on the page.
This short collection is memorable from start to finish and is highly recommended for anyone who likes great story-telling, who is interested in the human condition, or anyone who wants to encounter just what the short story can be.
Carver's genius lies in his powers of transportation. His ability to paint his subjects in the most transparent of washes, the faintest of brush-strokes and yet still manage to make you imagine them in their fullness and their complexity. Like the Chinese or Japanese masters of 'sumi-e' (ink painting), he lays down the simplest of lines, the simplest of narratives and the simplest language to convey to the viewer (the reader) just what was intended to be conveyed. There is no waste, no excess, no fat to be trimmed here, he stops short of giving too much and just shy of not giving you enough.
Carver arguably restored the relationship, the contract between the reader and an author. A contract whereby both parties agree to work for a common goal. The author agrees to give part of the story, if the reader agrees to use their imagination to fill in the blanks. And in agreeing to this contract, they agree to not just use their imagination in some passive, inert sense, but rather agree to draw on their store of experiences and knowledge to deepen one's assimilation to the characters and situations laid down on the page.
This short collection is memorable from start to finish and is highly recommended for anyone who likes great story-telling, who is interested in the human condition, or anyone who wants to encounter just what the short story can be.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Best Short Fiction
Raymond Carver was without a doubt one of the best short story writers of the 20th century, and this is one of his best collections. Read more
Published 15 months ago by The Book Witch
Excellent
The taut sentences of Carver's prose effectively contain and transmit the understated emotions and subtle conflicts that dominate everyday life.
Published on 9 May 2000
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
