- Paperback: 227 pages
- Publisher: Vintage (Aug 12 1984)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0394712811
- ISBN-13: 978-0394712819
- Product Dimensions: 15.2 x 1.3 x 22.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 204 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
It was morning in America when Raymond Carver's Cathedral came out in 1983, but the characters in this dry collection of short stories from the forgotten corners of land of opportunity didn't receive much sunlight. Nothing much happens to the subjects of Carver's fiction, which is precisely why they are so harrowing: nothingness is a daunting presence to overcome. And rarely do they prevail, but the loneliness and quiet struggle the characters endure provide fertile ground for literary triumph, particularly in the hands of Carver, who was perhaps in his best form with this effort.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Review
'All the stories in Cathedral are different; some funny, some hauntingly sad. Each has its own individual and curious power' Daily Telegraph
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Blah...So What??,
By gonn1000 (Portugal) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cathedral (Paperback)
This collection of short stories is mildly interesting and compelling at parts, but as a whole it merely provides a bland and unsurprising read. There`s really nothing special or remarkable here, since Carver presents slices of life about lonely, depressed and lost american souls who haven`t much of a life. Some moments are intriguing (the short story "Cathedral", for instance, about a couple and a blind man), yet the overall result fails to rise above average, dull and bleak material. Certainly overrated, this book recieved more praise than it truly deserves.A letdown.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pure Gravy.,
By Ryan Williams (Lichfield, Staffordshire.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cathedral (Paperback)
Not long ago, it was considered rebellious to express a preference for Carver's third major-press collection of stories. 'What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,' surely, was his greatest achievement, if his least typical. If you listen to a certain breed of reader talk, it becomes clear that this is the collection that sums up Carver for them - Carver is a 'minimalist', 'gloomy', etc. etc. One, surely, needn't read any further. Such people are mistaken. Cathedral for me is Carver's best collection because it is the most closelly modelled on its creator's personality. It is fair. It is clear-eyed. It is bleak, often. Yet it is also hopeful, and steeped in a great generosity. And this is what bathes this collection in its unique glow. The collection contains three of Carver's very best: 'Cathedral', 'A Small, Good Thing', and 'Where I'm Calling From'. The second story, I find, acts as a kind of allegory for the growth and change of Carver's art. Compare ASGT, the restored version (not rewritten, RESTORED) with its earlier incarnation 'The Bath', from WWTAWWTAL. I fail to see how anyone would believe the latter to be the better story. In ASGT see Carver's art expanding, becoming more expansive, open, and generous. It was indeed a small good thing that Carver broke out from underneath the jackboot of Gordon Lish to produce such work, changing editors to do so. As that Carver's life became more settled in the period that he wrote the stories. A lesser writer might well have been content to merely duplicate the previous book and reap the reward. Not Carver. Cathedral is the quintessential Carver, and is a watershed in his oeuvre and of the American short story. It should be your first port of call.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Glorious Cathedral,
By
This review is from: Cathedral (Paperback)
It is a cruel, un-poetic injustice, that Raymond Carver's life was tragically cut short just when his stories began to take on glimmers of hope that were nowhere to be seen in his earlier collections. When this book first came out, I was eager to read new stories from my favorite "minimalist" (isn't there a better word these days than "minimalist"?) writer. Instead, I was reading stories about compassion, good-natured friendships, and even salvation and forgiveness. Sure there were still the choppy sentences, quick observations, and weighty silences. But it was different. Many of the stories, not all, ended with an unusual (for Carver) sense of closure, even understanding. As so many reviewers have noted, the title story is just glorious. The narrator, a sarcastic and distant husband, finds human contact in the strangest circumstance. And when he does, he simply states, "It was like nothing else in my life up to now." Simple, but it leaves a serious lump in my throat each time I read it.
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