Will you please be quiet, please ? BR Maya, Nick & Sofia 6th Feb 2016

[Sofia]

I agree, it could have easily been called the book of the lost or misguided and I'm imagining the lady with the insectide running after the ants here as well.

[Maya]

haha :)

I finished all the stories. Will wait for you guys to catch up.

[Sofia]

Bicycles, Muscles and Cigarets

And fists, testosterone, fathers, sons.

All part of becoming a man I suppose, choosing what kind of man or woman you are going to be and trying to live by that.

[Nick]

Sofia wrote: "Bicycles, Muscles and Cigarets

And fists, testosterone, fathers, sons.

All part of becoming a man I suppose, choosing what kind of man or woman you are going to be and trying to live by that."

Exactly that!

[Sofia]

What is it?

Reaping what he sowed I guess. I liked the story, I did not like him. I wanted Toni to give him his just desserts.

[Maya]

Sofia wrote: "Bicycles, Muscles and Cigarets

And fists, testosterone, fathers, sons.

All part of becoming a man I suppose, choosing what kind of man or woman you are going to be and trying to live by that."

agreed!
He wanted his son to smell the skin on his hand still holding the smell of cigarettes to show him that nothing just goes away, everything that's done leaves a mark.

A good story that one.

[Maya]

Sofia wrote: "What is it?

Reaping what he sowed I guess. I liked the story, I did not like him. I wanted Toni to give him his just desserts."

I didn't like Toni. Why did she blame him for the bankruptcy? It seemed to me they both spent that money without thinking.

[Sofia]

There spending could be part of their self estimate, look at me i am able to live the good life, with brands, name dropping etc. Bankroptcy looses you face, no self esteem and then infighting among the ranks. I didn't like Toni either. Well deserved couple.

[Sofia]

Signals

He has so many problems with anger and it's management. Even if he manages to keep her, he will take it out on her. Playing the blame placing game is a sign of weakness.

[Sofia]

Will you please be quiet?
Poor Ralph , he thought that he had been a good boy, made the right choices, had the perfect life and still life bit him in the ass and what a bite. No longer perfect. What is he to do? Continue like the rest of us?

I keep thinking that Marian wanted his violent reaction "Go, go, go"
What do you think?

[Maya]

Yep, he was like a summary of all the characters in the stories before him. No turning back, nothing waiting in front.

Marian was hoping if he gets the anger out of him now it will be over for good. After all he spent 2 years not mentioned the cheating. But it was clearly eating at her too.

[Maya]

Sofia wrote: "Signals

He has so many problems with anger and it's management. Even if he manages to keep her, he will take it out on her. Playing the blame placing game is a sign of weakness."

aren't we people funny? these two went to a fancy restaurant (probably thinking they won't dare to make a scene there) to see if they can fix their relationship. I don't know if either of them cared that much.

[Maya]

Apparently there's a movie based on these stories:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108122/?...

I'm going to watch it.

[Nick]

All finished. Wonderful again! What did you guys think as a whole?

[Maya]

Just posted my review.
I thought it was a very good collection. Will definitely read more of his work.

And thanks for the chats, guys. Some stories were not easy to decipher, too many layers to dig under, and your thoughts helped me.

[Sofia]

Maya wrote: "Apparently there's a movie based on these stories:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108122/?...

I'm going to watch it."

I'll take a look - thanks Maya

[Sofia]

Nick wrote: "All finished. Wonderful again! What did you guys think as a whole?"

I liked reading this - I did not understand them all but that's OK, good reading anyway.

I liked that we had moments of everyday life, nothing grandiose and over the top.

Thanks for the company both of you - going over to see you review Maya :D

[Maya]

Sofia wrote: "Maya wrote: "Apparently there's a movie based on these stories:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108122/?...

I'm going to watch it."

I'll take a look - thanks Maya"

i watched maybe an hour of it last night. It's very interesting because i recognized most of the characters from the book but their stories are intertwined in the movie.

[Sofia]

Ok then I'll download :)

[Sofia]

At moments whilst reading these I kept remembering Haslett and sometimes Ostlund. Saenz was different, the American feel was different there, his were more marked with the border/cultural influence.

[Maya]

It's expected that we compare these collections because we've read them recently and how we felt is till fresh.

I think Will You Please was the most raw (rawest? which is the correct form?) of all these - the author showed it to us as it was. I noticed when we chatted that we found many of the characters unsimpathetic. For me Haslett was much more careing to his characters and Oslund always had a barrier around them.

I think maybe there are some similarities with Saenz's book in a way that both books give a side-eye to "the american dream".

[Sofia]

yes re the American Dream - we see the 'raw' realistic view of that in both Saenz and Carver

and I like seeing as is, Carver personal view probably is more 'uncaring' than Haslett. There is love in Haslett, Carver is more 'cynical' if that is the right word, his characters are more slimey. Is this the way the authors personally see the world coming out in their books. Like our own characters come out in how we react to books and what we say/post.

[Maya]

i think cynical applies here, yes. It was like he was saying: whatever comes as a result of this mess it's not going to be better anyway.

[Sofia]

Good morning Maya

I watched more than half way through Short Cuts last night then I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. It has so many threads that I wonder how the film is going to bring everything together at the end. I'll continue to watch later.

Gene (Al) is really an asshole here as well.

[Maya]

yeah, it's 3 hours long, i haven't seen it all too.
some of the characters must be from his other collection. for example the woman who works on the sex phone and her husband, the pool cleaner; the kid that is in coma.

i think the ending will have something to do with whatever that stuff was they were spraying with the helicopters. we'll see :)

[Sofia]

ah yes the insecticide bit, -that scene reminded me of Huey copters flying over Vietnam

the woman on the phone is something - imagine continously hearing that.