A review by _abii__
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver

slow-paced

1.0

The worst two things a book can be is being boring or being nonsensical. This book accomplishes being both. 

What we talk about when we talk about love is a collection of short stories about mundane lives and how human beings interact with one another. It’s a great concept to pull you in and unfortunately it undeveloped. 

The stories reach nowhere, they present a problem, the characters have a fight about it most of the time, but instead of reaching a conclusion it just ends … and there was no character development, the circumstances didn’t change and the issues remain unresolved. So I ask myself: why does this book exist? I can’t find an answer. 

For such a short book with such short stories the book absolutely dragged, it was so boring. And the writing wasn’t the problem, because I did enjoy its simple approach, it’s probably the best thing about the book. It makes sense, when talking about mundane things, the writing matches the pace and the content. My problem was that the plot of the stories were boring, the issues with the characters were boring. The resolve (or lack there of) was boring, the stories blended into one another with no distinct voice. Yes we get it men suck, women are the victims, it’s not love if it’s abuse, give me something more because I’m bored now. 

In the end of the book the author has a character justify abuse, “it was love in its own way”, and I’m not sure how to feel about it. I thought it was unnecessary especially because it led nowhere (as with everything with this book) so I’m just confused of what its purpose was. 

When I compare this book to other short stories collections I’ve read it just leaves so much to be desired. This could’ve been so good and it just … wasn’t.