19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
assortment of harsh, condensed, short stories, July 30, 2003
There is something very satisfying about short stories, especially if you are short of time; here you still manage to feel some sort of "accomplishment" at having read a "piece of life" embodied in a story. Raymond Carver's short stories are a special treat in this regard. I first came by Raymond Carver's name while watching the movie "Short cuts". This is why I was so intrigued to read this book, his first collection of short stories.
"Will you please be quiet, please?" is an assortment of harsh, condensed, short stories. The stories are brief and "to the point". Carver captures the human experience at a certain important moment in time. This moment can seem trivial to an outside observer, but this is a flash of revelation, a private understanding that comes after a seemingly regular event. This is a moment of small change, recognition --- something will not remain as it was before.
The story "Fat" can be a good example for Carver's style. "Fat" opens the book and is one of my favorite stories in this collection. This is an account of a rather trivial, every day encounter of a waitress with a fat client. However, this encounter manages to shake something inside her and force her to feel something of his "Fat experience". Somehow this makes her think about relationships and people and brings her to a certain realization as to her personal interactions.
Carver does not glorify human beings. His description is not tender and he does not write with mercy. This is true regarding instants of ugliness and on the other hand - quick moments of great love and compassion - just as during one day you can have mixed feelings and a great moment of love can come from nowhere and just pass by, sometimes even unnoticed. Somehow Carver manages to grasp the stream of thoughts, feelings and events that led to the after come feeling.
Carver's descriptions give us glimpses of life - ordinary, as it happens in real. No drama around it. Carver talks about father son relationship, husband and wife or two lovers. Most of his stories deal with difficult moments, and center around simple, ordinary people, struggling to make a life to themselves - Like Al, the main character in "Jerry and Molly and Sam". Al feels his life is falling apart. His work is not secure any more, he has an affair and is a little terrified by it, he just rented a new apartment... and on top of it there's this new dog his sister in law brought the kids. As an attempt to put some order in his personal chaos Al decides he has to get rid of the dog - an act that puts him into an emotional turmoil of facing his inner self.
These stories are "short cuts" of life, which can be ugly and beautiful but is never dull.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My Favourite Book, February 9, 2000
Raymond Carver is my all-time favourite writer. I was hooked on his writings since the first time I read his book, which is this one. When I first finished reading this book some years ago, it changed my view in English literature altogether. What struck me was the stark honesty and reality in his writings. Never had I come across a writer who was as honest as Carver. He tells his stories the way life really is, without trying to twist, sensationalise or glamourise it. He tells stories about people like us. In fact, his stories are about us and the people around us.
Don't be fooled by the length of his short stories, his shortest pieces like 'Neighbors' and 'Fat' are among his best (though I can't really point out any that is not his best anyway) because it tells so much in so little words.
Another startling thing about Carver's stories is that it can relate to people everywhere in the world though he writes about Americans.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the books I love, November 24, 2001
I first bought and read this collection while an undergrad
at the University of Oklahoma. Mr. Carver wasn't then such a
recognized master of the short story. Most striking was how pain-
ful the stories were to read, and this was without the life experience one has gained since the late 1970's.
Raymomd Carver already wrote the stories I was aspiring to; there
was nothing left but to obtain his wonderful story collections, and re-read them every five years or so. The stories become more harrowing the older one gets. I just can't be objective about this collection in particular, as it's been such a touchstone for me.
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