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1.94k reviews for:
What We Talk about When We Talk about Love / Beginners (A Vintage Short)
Raymond Carver
3.83 AVERAGE
1.94k reviews for:
What We Talk about When We Talk about Love / Beginners (A Vintage Short)
Raymond Carver
3.83 AVERAGE
Well! This is a book that encapsulates that feeling you get being the last one to leave the cinema long after the credits have rolled. I don't know if I Loved it, because it's a book that seems to reject love - it's extremely depressing and has obviously not heard of the phrase 'happy ending' (or, potentially, 'ending') but at the same time the quickfire conversation and sparse prose makes it inherently human. I don't know. It's relatable, but in a way you wouldn't want it to be relatable. It's cheap gin and lonely nights. It's incomplete and leaves you dangling off the edge of a cliff but you're also glad to be dangling. It's weird! It's human.
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Technically good writing, but now I despise Raymond Carver. The misogynistic violence and booze soaking through every page made me physically sick. Carver's descriptions of women characters, the bizarre dialogue and behaviors he ascribes to them, the treatments of vengeful abuse and torture that he cuts them down with are more than just obscene or difficult to stomach -- they're pathetic. I wondered how much of this contempt for his characters was meant to expose or satirize male violence, substance abuse, or 20th Century American culture, but I came away with the unshakeable feeling that these stories are merely reflections of Carver's own perception of the world. They are as much the stories he told himself as he told others.
I’m probably too uncultured for this, some great quotes - stunning beautiful words then also sometimes I’m like what? What is that all about?
The stories I enjoyed were fantastic and haunting, whereas the ones I didn’t I was merely indifferent toward (especially the few that were only portraits of pathetic or repulsively cruel men), but the overall lingering effect of Carver’s characters and their peculiar plights is a disquieting loneliness. My favourites were “Why Don’t You Dance?”, “I Could See the Smallest Things,” “Sacks,” **”The Bath”**, “After the Denim,” and “The Third Thing That Killed My Father Off.”