Raymond Carver: Collected Stories (Loa #195): Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? / What We Talk about When We Talk about Love / Cathedral / Stories ... / Other Stories (Library of America)

I have to say that I was a little underwhelmed when I opened my package from Amazon - this hardback book is smaller than my paperback edition of Where I'm Calling From. In fact, I was convinced that the book couldn't possibly hold all of the material that the descpription promised - but it does. The book is small because of the paper used: it's a thinner, lightweight paper that, as the book states, meets the permanence criteria of the American National Standards Institute. It's beautifully bound too - this is a book that will last. And as for the stories themselves, well... perfection! As far as I'm aware, every short story Carver wrote is collected here, including the original versions of those collected in What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (published separately this year as Beginners) - the difference between the versions is quite remarkable. So that's 91 stories in total. There are also four essays, a chronology (essentially a mini-biography), notes on each story, and a chronological bibliography. So you actually get several books in one fantastic package. I just can't recommend Carver's writing or this collection enough - if I had to choose one book to last me for the rest of my life, it would be this one.

I would rank Carver alongside Hemingway as a writer of 'modern' short fiction. Although his style seems to have been influenced by Hemingway, as were many of his contempories, Carver's writing is fuller, a touch more introspective, always with more behind the words than is contained within them. But there's poetry in there, too. Not just journalism. Few surprises and no twisting of the tail. His slices of lives do not need any.

This has two versions of the collection published as 'What we talk about when we talk about love,' which, by all accounts, Raymond Carver felt was over-edited. I like both; they're just different versions of the truth. That's what he was good at: the truth.

If you love short stories you must have this collection. No one does it better than Carver.A beautiful edition to be loved and enjoyed.

The book arrived quickly and in good order. This was a present for my Nephew and he loves it.

Have recently received my copy of the Library of America's edition of Carver's collected stories. Great binding and will replace the individual paperbacks. Just waiting now for them to publish a follow up book with his other collected writings (poems, essays, etc.).

my daughter was very happy with it.

What a staggering collection of stories, of incredible subtlety.

Me lo imaginaba más grande en especial cuando vi que rebasaba las 1000 páginas. Pero es de un tamaño medio. El empastado y las hojas se ven de buena calidad. No dudaría en obtener otro libre de la editorial.

The outer package was clean, but the cover of the book was a mess.

Great quality

Livro absolutamente brilhante. Coleção triunfal de um dos maiores contistas contemporâneos. Carver sabe como poucos captar a essência da experiência humana em um número limitado de palavras, superando Hemingway e Tchekhov.

Una raccolta magnifica con i migliori racconti di Carver. A great collectuion of beautifull short stories by the master of the short story Raymond Carver. Some are hialrious, many drammatic, others enigmatic. You end up wondering what does it mean, and if you think enough you realize it is all about human life!!!