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

[Sofia]

FAT
NEIGHBORS
THE IDEA
THEY’RE NOT YOUR HUSBAND
ARE YOU A DOCTOR?
THE FATHER
NOBODY SAID ANYTHING
SIXTY ACRES
WHAT’S IN ALASKA?
NIGHT SCHOOL
COLLECTORS
WHAT DO YOU DO IN SAN FRANCISCO?
THE STUDENT’S WIFE
PUT YOURSELF IN MY SHOES
JERRY AND MOLLY AND SAM
WHY, HONEY?
THE DUCKS
HOW ABOUT THIS?
BICYCLES, MUSCLES, CIGARETS
WHAT IS IT?
SIGNALS
WILL YOU PLEASE BE QUIET, PLEASE?

[Sofia]

[Nick]

Staking my claim so I don't lose the thread.

[Maya]

So many stories for such a short book!
Looking forward to the BR, guys :)

[Sofia]

190 pages division by 22 stories- average of 8.6 pages - This is the Number Me talking :D

[Maya]

The girl with the numbers :D

[Nick]

How many stories do we read per day?

[Sofia]

Good morning Nick -(well it's morning for you :D)
Good evening Maya


With short stories I had rather not gobble them up as they then to merge together for me that way.

I suggest 6 today, 8 Sat, 8 Sun or we can take them over a longer period if you do not mind spilling over next week, I'm open to suggestions.

[Maya]

I'm ok with 6/8/8.
But let's chat again later tonight (lunch time for Nick) in case they are too heavy and require more breaks.

[Nick]

Sounds good to me. I will not start reading until I get home from work, but that should give me an idea of how far you two got.

[Maya]

Ok, we have a plan then :)

I'm going in totally blind in this. Except for Nick's 5 stars and the words humor and tragedy in the blurb I have no idea what I'm getting into :)

[Sofia]

ok then, going to take a break a get the first one in soon, then some more work and another break :D

I don't think I read the blurb and if I did I've totally forgotten it :D

2 blind mice and a Pied Piper then :P

[Maya]

I'm home already, it's 6:45 p.m. here.
I spent most of my day in the Fire Department and ... I didn't see any sexy firemen to improve my mood. *pout*

[Sofia]

they are a figment of authors imagination Maya :P

At least were yours grubby and growly?

[Maya]

Nope, not even that. Just a bunch of bored guys (one of them was watching golf on his phone!) in uniforms who were telling us they won't approve our design :/

[Sofia]

they have to feel important :( Hope that you can conform and get approval.

[Sofia]

FAT
(view spoiler)[I don't know what to make of this story. Why is she so drawn, fascinated almost? The only glimpse I get is when she imagines that she has a barrier of fat keeping her away from Rudy.

Why does the fat man use the royal we? Numbers in bulk? (hide spoiler)]

[Maya]

Sofia wrote: "they have to feel important :( Hope that you can conform and get approval."

exactly! Going back there on Monday after the designers make some revisions and we shall see ...

[Maya]

FAT

The girl telling the story - I liked her, her sympathy for the big man was obvious, I got the feeling she was an outsider too.

I think she felt fat in bed with Rudy because he was judgmental and inconsiderate and maybe he treated her the same way as he talked about the big man. And the change she felt coming – I thought she meant she was going to leave Rudy.

[Maya]

Maybe it was just his quirk to talk about himself in plural?

[Sofia]

Certainly a WE quirk :)

I don't know if she is fat or not. The last bit where she is imaging herself fat is more to distance herself from Rudy. Do you think she'll leave him? Probably.

[Maya]

no, I didn't mean she was fat. I just assumed Rudy was judgmental towards her because of the way he spoke of the man in the restaurant. And because of that she knew he wasn't her person.

Or maybe what happened in the restaurant made her see she just didn't like Rudy.

[Sofia]

Ah yes continuous eye opening until she tells him, "that's enough, bye bye."

[Maya]

NEIGHBOURS

That one was funny and sad at the same time.
(view spoiler)[Was the first sentence of the story true?
"Bill and Arlene Miller were a happy couple."

I think yes, but because they thought their neighbors had a better life than theirs they started to doubt it. Wondering what the everyday sex meant? Was Bill exited because he imagined himself to be someone else or was he compensating for something.
Interesting. (hide spoiler)]

[Maya]

Ooh, I'm liking this more and more. Very layered, each story can be interpreted in many ways.

THE IDEA
(view spoiler)[hah, talk about suppressing sexual desire! And neither of them was very subtle in it but both were ignorant of what the other felt. Or maybe pretending they were? (hide spoiler)]

[Sofia]

NEIGHBORS
(view spoiler)[omg :D
My first neighbour fetish. I sure am going to look at my neighbours differently after this one.

Living through the lives that others are living instead of our own lives. I know we do that with books and tv but thinking about it like this is a bit scary and sad.

Happy couple yes I'd say as long as they allow themselves yo be so. At first I thought it was only Bill but no his wife too, so they are well matched :)

Compensating for what Maya?

(hide spoiler)]

[Maya]

Sofia wrote: "NEIGHBORS
Compensating for what Maya? "

(view spoiler)[it was probably the adrenaline, but I thought maybe he felt guilty for keeping a secret from her and compensated with a lot of sex. (hide spoiler)]

[Maya]

Ok, I'm starting to see the thread that links the stories: giving unnecessary importance to what someone else says or thinks. Because of insecurities or because it's something the characters of the stories have never though of before. Either way it's scary to see how easily they are influenced.

THEY’RE NOT YOUR HUSBAND
(view spoiler)[Ugh, Earl and his hypocrisy.

"Don’t you pay any attention to them. Tell them to mind their own business." when he's the one paying attention.

And so sad to diminish his wife because of a comment of a stranger. And how easily she submitted ... when it's clear in the end she knew exactly what he was doing and why. (hide spoiler)]

[Maya]

ARE YOU A DOCTOR?

(view spoiler)[loneliness, the beating of the heart after the simplest connection with another human being ... (hide spoiler)]

[Maya]

THE FATHER - this one is 2 pages long!
(view spoiler)[not sure I understood why the father was so sad. Was it because he didn't have a father or because the baby boy looked like him? Or because the baby didn't look like him?
He's sitting in the other room, not joining the happiness of the others so I'm assuming something was not right? (hide spoiler)]

[Maya]

The first six stories - done.
I'm stopping here, guys. I could read more but I better let them settle for a bit.

[Sofia]

THE IDEA
(view spoiler)[this was great just like the Neighbors before.

I think what she can't accept is how the 'watching' made her feel. She cannot accept that about herself, so she gets angry at her neighbours instead of accepting herself. The very idea of that is deemed trash like the ants invading her pristine world.

Just have a bowl of cornflakes instead right Maya :D
(hide spoiler)]

[Sofia]

THEY ARE NOT YOUR HUSBAND

(view spoiler)[ oh i want to smack Earl so hard. Putting worth and priority on what other guys say and judging and controlling his wife by that grrrrrrrrr.

I know we unconsciously do that, we compare to some degree. I just want to whittle that degree to the barest minimum.

Really showed Earl's lack of confidence and also Doreen's shame in him. even when hshe did what she wanted, he did nit appreciatecher. He needed to somebody aelse to acknowledge her before he could so.

I hope she continues to grow, up yours Earl. (hide spoiler)]

[Maya]

Sofia wrote: "THE IDEA"
(view spoiler)[oh, I think she was sexually frustrated by the game her neighbors played. She just had no clue these were her true feelings so she was cleaning obsessively then. Shame, I guess?

And the late snacks too, yes :D (hide spoiler)]

[Maya]

Sofia wrote: "THEY ARE NOT YOUR HUSBAND"

(view spoiler)[yep, his problem was that HE was the husband of the woman that's being made fun of. He couldn't care less about how she felt. (hide spoiler)]

[Sofia]

ARE YOU A DOCTOR?
(view spoiler)[
Strange one.
Is that all it takes to hook up? Truth be told Arnold deeply craved Clara's attention. Makes me wonder if she needed it in the same way. Like two ships in the dark. I don't know how she got his number, maybe a random call.

I noticed his loneliness too Maya, sad.
(hide spoiler)]

[Maya]

Sofia wrote: "ARE YOU A DOCTOR?"

I thought of that too. That she was dialing random numbers looking for a man who she could convince to come by her house.

[Sofia]

THE FATHER

Puzzled by this one. Don't know Maya.

[Sofia]

I like the writing, how Carver catches common people in 'insignificant' moments which are in fact significant showing us facets of them, of us.

[Sofia]

Maya wrote: "Sofia wrote: "THE IDEA"
Shame, I gu..."

Think so too. As Jimmy would say, living a lie.

[Sofia]

Maya wrote: "Sofia wrote: "THEY ARE NOT YOUR HUSBAND"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[And the thing is i think his wife turned him on as she was. That scene when he told her he had to loose weight and he looked at her and he saw him and took her nightdress off. (hide spoiler)]

He does say very much with a few words doesn't he?

[Maya]

Sofia wrote: "I like the writing, how Carver catches common people in 'insignificant' moments which are in fact significant showing us facets of them, of us."

yeah, and there's this fine nuance in the stories that always makes me wonder if the insignificant thing that unravels the characters is something they've thought of subconsciously but didn't care/were afraid to admit or if the novelty of what happened is what's startling them.

[Sofia]

Yes i was wondering that, like something simmering slowly away until something brings it to a boil.

[Maya]

Sofia wrote: "THE FATHER

Puzzled by this one. Don't know Maya."

obviously something upset him a lot. I just couldn't figure out if it was the comments about who the baby looks like or something else related to having the child/the family.

[Nick]

Fat-

This one just depressed the hell out of me. I think the whole concept of eating as an attempt to fill emotional emptiness is the point with this one. The fat man's insecurities (his refusal to remove his coat) and the waitress's longings (looking into the sugar bowl) are very illustrative in this story.
I agree, Maya, that she is leaving Rudy. I think she's longing for something she can't articulate. I love that Carver does not articulate it for her.

[Nick]

NEIGHBORS-

Loved this one. The whole idea of stepping into someone else's life, however briefly, is a universal desire, I think. The renewed interest in sex really drives the point home.

[Nick]

THE IDEA -

These two need to f***!

[Nick]

THEY ARE NOT YOUR HUSBAND -

Fuck you, Earl.

Well, I guess what is happening here is a man has lost control of his life. He's no longer of value because of his lack of employment. He's trying to reassert some control by physically and emotionally controlling Doreen.
Is Doreen complicit in this? I don't know. I hope not.

[Nick]

ARE YOU A DOCTOR?

I think I'm too dumb for this one. I just don't get it. Maybe it's brilliant. I have no idea.

[Nick]

THE FATHER -

Depressing again. The loneliness of being in a crowd.