Stories of John Cheever [Mass Market Paperback]

John Cheever (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 12, 1985

Winner of the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
THE STORIES OF JOHN CHEEVER live in the community of emotions and dreams. The men and women are creatures of beauty, tragedy and restless privilege. And always they soar from the sadness of life to the older and more elegant realms of light, desire, memory, and love....
"Dazzling."
THE BOSTON GLOBE

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"These stories," writes Cheever in the preface to this Pulitzer Prize winning collection of stories, "seem at times to be stories of a long-lost world when the city of New York was still filled with a river light, when you heard the Benny Goodman quartets from a radio in the corner stationary store, and when almost everybody wore a hat. Here is the last of that generation of chain smokers who woke the world in the morning with their coughing, who used to get stoned at cocktail parties and perform obsolete dance steps like 'the Cleveland Chicken,' set sail for Europe on ships, who were truly nostalgic for love and happiness, and whose gods were as ancient as yours and mine, whoever you are."

Review

Profound and daring...some of the most wonderful stories any American has written...you emerge at the end as if from a display of heavenly fireworks - the mind ablaze with ideas, with fun, with pain, with admiration. Dazzling. -- Boston Globe

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 819 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st Ballantine Books ed edition (December 12, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345335678
• ISBN-13: 978-0345335678
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #100,694 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

81 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It has a cummulative effect, October 2, 1999

By 

Webb Haymaker "Social Worker" (Connecticut) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Stories of John Cheever (Hardcover)

I bought a used copy of this book and on the cover there is an upper middle class couple having drinks around a dining table in the drained swimming pool in their backyard. At first I didn't think much of it, but after reading the stories, I think it makes so much sense. There is always something slightly off about Cheever's stories, but it's hard to put your finger on what that is. It took me a little while to get into these stories, but after a while I came to love them. By the end of the book, the ending of the story, Another Story, knocked me breathless. The best ending to a short story I've ever read. I have also see how influential Cheever was on contemporary American short story writers, at least Tobias Wolff, Mary Robison and I think Lorrie Moore as well. This is the sort of book you want to savor , a couple stories a day. Cheever is a master of subtly shifting the mood of a piece. Out of the blue you'll suddenly realize you're in a different place from where you started.

60 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of 20th Century America's Best, October 21, 2003

By 

Rocco Dormarunno (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Stories of John Cheever (Paperback)

Most of my students scratch their heads and mutter "Who?" when I tell them they will be reading the selected stories of John Cheever. When I tell them that Cheever is a representative of upper crusty, mid-twentieth century, cosmopolitan American cities, the sighs and groans can be heard crosstown.
Then they read the stories: "Goodbye, My Brother", "The Swimmer", "The Enormous Radio"... And the discussions are as lively as any instructor could hope for.
And their excitement reminds me over and again of the thrill I had reading these stories for the first time. (I'm almost jealous of my students--I miss that first time pleasure.) These are stories perfect in their craftsmanship, memorable in their characters, and decidedly superior to anything of his time, and just about anything since. Pick up this collection and enjoy.

Rocco Dormarunno,
College of New Rochelle

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good American Short Story Book, January 24, 2005

By 

Laura Torrespico (Chicago, U.S.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Stories of John Cheever (Paperback)

This is one of the best short story American books I've read. Cheever narrates these stories about ordinary people in a simplistic and nervous fashion. Cheever subtlety describes his characters as pathetic in a sarcastic way but effectively manages to get his readers to like them. His stories are at times shady, moralistic, and mystical that keeps you practically glued to the pages of the book. My favorites are The Swimmer, and The Enormous Radio. Even though his topics touch on the lives of the so called "Wasps", I don't think you have to be one, but have the knowledge of how people that live in quiet desperation live in order to understand and enjoy Cheever's writings.