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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Urges, images and muted longings.,
This review is from: Short Cuts: Selected Stories (Paperback)
Carver explores the neurotic undercurrents of urban dwellers. His characters are typically immersed in the Everyday where the repetitive force of the mundane has them mired in the mechanics of living: House-sitting, birthday parties, beer buddy fishing trips, boredom, initiation of an affair, two pals cruising, looking for a thrill. From these commonplace events, Carver produces stories that are pristine, using language scrubbed clean of verbal theatrics-no show off words, no eccentric constructions - just prose as clean and as spare as Hemingway's and honed dialogue that is simple, but in the way that we say Mozart is simple. The story beneath the undercurrents is what makes Carver so addictive. He describes urges, images, and muted longings that you have always felt, but never could express in words-until now. Take the story "So Much Water So Close To Home." A group of men go on a beer-bash fishing trip. Early into their trip, they discover the body of a nude woman floating face down in the river. The beer buddies figure to keep fishing! Why ruin a good fishing trip? She's dead already, what harm? After all, they're going to notify the authorities, only later, so as not to interrupt having a good time. The beer-induced logic is funny as hell, but the story's neurotic undercurrent explores sloth, inaction and soulless indifference, characters whose actions can only be sanctified after the factors of humanity and decency have been removed from the equation. The wife of one of the beer buddies serves as the story's conscious. When she discovers that her husband drank and fished while a dead body floated downstream, she is appalled, alarmed. To her every accusation of "What kind of man are you to have done this?" Her husband's consistent answer is "She was ALREADY dead." The marital rift over this issue reflects the story's title "So Much Water So Close To Home." These are among the best short stories ever penned. If you enjoyed "The Killers," by Hemingway or any of John Cheever's short stories you will be rewarded by reading Carver.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Edge of my seat,
By
This review is from: Short Cuts: Selected Stories (Paperback)
I was truly on the edge of my seat during these stories. They are beautifully written. I plan on re-reading these stories for years to come.
4.0 out of 5 stars
worth reading, though I don't love every story,
By A Customer
This review is from: Short Cuts: Selected Stories (Paperback)
Though these stories together tend to leave one rather depressed, they are still worth reading for the glimpses of the characters' lives they offer. Furthermore, some, especially "A Small, Good Thing" are less depressing and, in my mind, actually very good.Don't assume you know these stories because you've seen the film of the same name directed by Robert Altman. He said himself (in the book's intro, actually) that he took liberties with them, and believe you me, he REALLY did. You may even appreciate the stories more after seeing the film. I did, but that might be just me. Do take a look at these stories regardless, though!
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