Synopses & Reviews
With this, his first collection of stories, Raymond Carver breathed new life into the American short story. Carver shows us the humor and tragedy that dwell in the hearts of ordinary people; his stories are the classics of our time.
Review
"There is nobody else like him. In some ways his pared-down style is an extreme development of the Hemingway style, but Carver writes about women and the ways men relate to them far more convincingly than Hemingway ever did" Frank Kermode
Review
"Carver's stories celebrate some lasting aspects of the human condition, however minimal, conjuring up a quality of fellow feeling which gives the stories a compelling, dry-eyed poignancy, a melancholy but intensely moving authenticity" William Boyd, Daily Telegraph
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"He is alert to the unique, inconspicuous incident, when a life or a marriage may change course decisively" Sunday Telegraph
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"Carver has made himself the natural successor to his true mentor, Chekhov" Financial Times
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"....A deftly executed first collection by a young West Coast writer and a genuine tribute to that other citizen — the semi-literate wash-out, the hod-carrier, the Levittown homeowner — who lives a million light-years away from the American Dream." Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
Raymond Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, in 1938. His first collection of stories, Will You Please Be Quiet, Please (a National Book Award nominee in 1977), was followed by What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Cathedral (nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1984), and Where I'm Calling From in 1988, when he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He died in August of that year, shortly after completing the poems of A New Path to the Waterfall.