What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: Stories
by Raymond Carver
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Short stories and minimalism go hand and hand like, well, something I’m sure.
Oddly enough, when I was just about to start reading this book I happened to be at the dentist mulling around his waiting room for a teeth cleaning. And glancing at the December 24 & 31 2007 Winter Fiction issue of The New Yorker, I ran across an article in their Life and Letters section entitled Rough Crossing, The cutting of Raymond Carver.
A little taken back by the sheer coincidence of fate. I began r...more
Oddly enough, when I was just about to start reading this book I happened to be at the dentist mulling around his waiting room for a teeth cleaning. And glancing at the December 24 & 31 2007 Winter Fiction issue of The New Yorker, I ran across an article in their Life and Letters section entitled Rough Crossing, The cutting of Raymond Carver.
A little taken back by the sheer coincidence of fate. I began r...more
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
Anybody who has ever tried beer and has a touch of melancholy.
I picked-up this book at Novel Idea when I started getting serious about writing a few years back. I just finished reading it for a second time and, though it sounds cliche, Raymond Carver is a true master of the short story. At turns dead-pan and poignant, at others hilarious and chilling, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," has sort of been my creative writing teacher over the years. What's interesting to me is how my favorites in the collection have changed this time ar...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
People who like poetry and deep fiction.
This book has rattled some deep things inside of me. It was for me the type of book that makes me wish I was a writer.
It is desolate and sparse, yet it seems that nearly every character is a hero by virtue of the fact that they seem to continue.
My favorite story was "the bath." About a boy who gets hit by a car on his birthday and falls into a coma. And this, here was my favorite part:
"The father gazed at his son, the small chest inflating and deflating under the c...more
It is desolate and sparse, yet it seems that nearly every character is a hero by virtue of the fact that they seem to continue.
My favorite story was "the bath." About a boy who gets hit by a car on his birthday and falls into a coma. And this, here was my favorite part:
"The father gazed at his son, the small chest inflating and deflating under the c...more
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Read in January, 2001
Raymond Carver taught me that you don't need to use flowery prose to paint a vivid picture. This collection of short stories is a perfect introduction to his spare, biting style.
My boyfriend introduced me to Carver when we started dating in 2001, which is particularly apt, as (a) Pat really wasn't much of a reader then, and (b) Pat's a man. I think Carver's work holds special appeal for both non-readers and men. He writes in a conversational style - especially if you tend to converse with wor...more
My boyfriend introduced me to Carver when we started dating in 2001, which is particularly apt, as (a) Pat really wasn't much of a reader then, and (b) Pat's a man. I think Carver's work holds special appeal for both non-readers and men. He writes in a conversational style - especially if you tend to converse with wor...more
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Read in November, 2007
Over the span of three years in reading this book it was a 4.5., and after I read "Beginners" I instantly gave it a five. I feel that anyone who has been through tough relationship times and/or horrible break-ups can easily relate to this book. And feel less alone in their relationship struggles as well - it kind of keeps the theme up that no relationship is perfect without dedication and work, and even then, it's still not likely to be perfect.
His characters are very strong - th...more
His characters are very strong - th...more
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Read in January, 2007
Carver is one of the more prolific short story writers and poets of the 20th century detailing every day American life and relationships in the most simplistic, delicate, and beautiful way that only he can. Less is definitely more here. Minimalism highlighting his entire career, as well as alcoholism and romantic strife, Carver's work is often intense, to the point, and surrounds the quiet turmoil that stirs the human condition. His careful observance of everyday people is what makes him most be...more
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Our Chekov, Carver relies on his detail and an ability to convey mood to take what are often common people and situations and make the reader see his character's lonliness, desperation and disgust. He's clean and straightforward, I'll spare all the obvious influences but I clearly think he can do no wrong. This collection is solid front to back. If you enjoy him I'd highly reccomend Altman's "Shortcuts" based on his writings. Altman brings his chosen stories together in a way that kind...more
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Read in January, 2008
I read a few of these short stories a few years back. Now that I have a copy of this collection of short stories, I remember how much I liked the two I originally read. I enjoy how spare Carver's writing is and the way I continue to think and wonder about his characters. I read recently that some of his critics say that the characters Carver portrays are too stupid, poor, and/or dull for a reader to believe that they can be aware of the larger questions of life that Carver has them struggle w...more
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Carver is such a huge pleasure. Absolutely no pretense and no forced style. I love how real and visually stimulating every story is. It's all so scary and full of tension but completely natural and non-manipulating. Still, it is like a masochistic exercise to read him, like if I was smarter and braver, I could figure out what has happened and what is going to happen to these characters next, like will he really take the baby from her - is this a deliberate reference to the Caucasian Chalk Circle...more
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I wanted to love this book. I did, really. I just couldn't. It was stark, bleak, and pessimistic, true, which wouldn't necessarily have killed it for me if I thought he had genuinely interesting things to say. As it was, he had some intriguing story lines, so he got a three, but the insight/exceptional creativity/brilliant command of language that I was hoping for never really materialized.
People whose literary opinion I respect absolutely loved this book; maybe you're one of them. Fran...more
People whose literary opinion I respect absolutely loved this book; maybe you're one of them. Fran...more
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If you love this collection of short stories, then there is little I can say about it (or should say about it - babbling on and on about Carver, of all writers, seems wrong).
So instead of a review, I'll give a suggested reading - if you haven't, find the story "What We Talk About When We Talk About Donuts." Its in a collection of New Yorker humour pieces, but I can't remember the author off-hand, google isn't helping, and I'm too lazy to walk across the room and look at the coll...more
So instead of a review, I'll give a suggested reading - if you haven't, find the story "What We Talk About When We Talk About Donuts." Its in a collection of New Yorker humour pieces, but I can't remember the author off-hand, google isn't helping, and I'm too lazy to walk across the room and look at the coll...more
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recommends it for:
it's hard to say...
As I recall, reading this book is like chain smoking in a cinder block walled room (with a burn-marked reddish-orange carpet) and dropping your butts into a half empty beer can resting on a round chipped wood laminate table. Reading this book is like going to the movie-version of an NA meeting in a church basement. It's all gritty, full of one quarter hope and three quarters deep, devastating tragedy. That sounds totally awful, but really you just have to be in the right mood.
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Read in January, 1992
Carver is one of the master's of the short story - often immitated, but never quite surpased. Some of his fiction was turned into a Robert Altman film - "Shortcuts". Great fiction in here. Carver is also a successful poet - married to Tess Gallagher and from the northern Calfornia areas (Arcata and Humbolt county). I've placed copies of his works for display in the library in which I work and the books check out quite frequently. Worth a look for anyone interested in later 20th Ce...more
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Read in January, 1990
I love short stories, Dubus, Munro, O'Connor, Oates are among my favorite as is Carver. There is something so special about him. I just reread my copy of What we Talk About this past week (I meant to only read one story, in fact started with Gazebo, but then found myself reading the entire thing one afternoon). I always turn to either O'Connor or Carver to jump start my reading when I find that I just can't get going or have read a couple of stinkers in a row. Carver is always an easy recommend....more
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Read in January, 1998
Raymond Carver is such an interesting storyteller. Right up there with Flannery O'Connor in his disturbing combinations of tenderness and violence, with the ability to pack real surprise into relatively short pages. "After the Denim" made me teary in this book, feeling for the characters even though they have nothing to do with me. This was another book that was stolen when I worked in the junior high schools, but I hope that whoever stole it enjoyed it as much as me.
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Read in January, 2004
recommends it for:
Most People
Carver is amazing, it's suprising no one has found a very successful way of translating his work to the screen yet (sorry -- God bless Robert Altman but Short Cuts wasn't v. well received, and Jindalbyne has been reveiwed poorly, though I've yet to see it, but will out of a sheer love of Laura Linney), b/c although spare it has always struck me as cinematic. I read this book first, and have since read all the Carver I can get my hands on, excludeing the poetry...
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I can't decide if this book is super depressing or super inspiring. I think the title pretty much sums it up. The stories in this book really do a good job of addressing modern, realistic love which, being as how we live in modern times, is what we talk about when we talk about love. Plus, every time I see this title I get that Old 97s song stuck in my head. You know, that one where the chorus says "this is what we talk about when we talk about love."
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I saw Raymond Carver read when I was in high school. He was this unassuming bumbling kind of guy in a red checked flannel shirt. His voice was not the typical "writer voice" people put on for readings.
Thank god.
After just a few seconds, it became apparent that this common voice wasn't common at all, taking on a life of its own, and taking you with it.
I love Carver, love his stories, and am sad he is no longer with us.
Thank god.
After just a few seconds, it became apparent that this common voice wasn't common at all, taking on a life of its own, and taking you with it.
I love Carver, love his stories, and am sad he is no longer with us.
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Read in January, 1990
recommends it for:
the well adjusted
DO NOT READ THIS BOOK IF YOU ARE DEPRESSED! Everyone who is a singer or writer from small town OR or WA has a death wish! K.Cobain, E. Smith....R. Carver... It's something in the water there.
Nonetheless, it is one of my favorites but I try not to read any Carver too often without having a few spare days to recuperate after my deep depression followed by a complete nervous breakdown.
Treat yourself to it though, at least once.
Nonetheless, it is one of my favorites but I try not to read any Carver too often without having a few spare days to recuperate after my deep depression followed by a complete nervous breakdown.
Treat yourself to it though, at least once.
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Carver is genius. Unrelenting, sartorial genius. He has the uncanny knack for cutting through the human experience with a landscape of language so sparing it should be barren... but instead is honest and deeply fertile and more often than not, kind.
Granted, nostalgia is king here, but the first time I read Carver I was a wee lass of 15 and my brain grew another lobe overnight.
Granted, nostalgia is king here, but the first time I read Carver I was a wee lass of 15 and my brain grew another lobe overnight.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 4.39 (2499 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 4.39 (2423 ratings) number of reviews: 165popular shelves
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quote
"Mel thought real love was nothing less than spiritual love. He'd said he'd spent five years in a seminary before quitting to go to medical school. He said he still looked back on those years in the seminary as the most important years of his life."
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