kakasparsha 's review for:

What We Talk about When We Talk about Love by Raymond Carver

4.0

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Turns short stories into an exercise in minimalist art. What's not to recommend? Lish's intervention notwithstanding, it would be utterly reductive to simply chalk everything up to his editorial prowess - for better, or worse. I'm personally used to short stories with more bulk, so this was also an exercise in readerly re-adjustment. Picked up on a whim, Carver did not arrive in my reading list via an MFA program; perhaps, that's for the best, as these insightful cuts into the American middle class prove to be fascinating in a world where the universal middle class seems to not exist in the ever-widening gap between the haves and have-nots. But they're also just that - grander profundity and ascribed meanings are just that; projections of illusions that may not be there. While I wouldn't go around proselytising the religion of Carver; I'd say, try this collection out for a nice little afternoon of leisurely reading.