I discovered Raymond Carver in a literature class I had last year. We read one of his short stories titled "Cathedral." I loved the story and immediately went to the library to check out more of his work. Within a few weeks I had read all of his short story collections. Unfortunately, this is not too large a number because Carver died in 1988 at the age of 50.
Carver has been called a modern Ernest Hemingway and I think this is a fair comparison. Like Hemingway, Carver uses simple, realistic language to paint pictures and show his character's deepest feelings and thoughts. This, in my opinion, is one of the hardest things to do in writing. Thus, I admire Carver's talent for being so provocative in so few words.
His stories focus mainly on common people, especially suburbanites. He tends to like to uncover the private lives of those that appear normal, revealing unexpected passions and desires. Through all of it, Carver maintains a love for those he writes about.
Sometimes when I finish his stories I need to stop and think if I understood it all. They have a tendency to end abruptly and sometimes, somewhat mysteriously. He leaves it up to the reader to fill in the details that are lacking in the words he puts on the page.
This particular collection, like all his others, is pretty solid. One standout is the story "Why, Honey?," which is one of the creepiest stories I've ever read. It's not your traditional scary story by any means, nor do I know if it was even intended to be scary. You may just have to read it to see what I mean.
There are a lot of other good stories in here both funny and serious.
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