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“Why, Honey?” really starts getting into prime Carver territory. Real off-putting stuff

“The Ducks”/“How About This?” - Two quiet stories about love, filled with subtext and both flowing beautifully from one moment to the next. I’ll never cease to be amazed at how so much can happen while nothing is happening. There is so much to read into, such devastation and tension.

“Why, Honey?” - Having just seen a production of Bug, this story hit hard. Loved the suspenseful and again supernatural nature that Carver sometimes brings into his stories. Paranoia, illusion, all coming together over his classic family drama-type setting.

“Jerry and Molly and Sam” - So cool to see a story about the Sacramento area, and loved this portrait of a family. These simple scenes communicated and painted such rich pictures.

Decided to restart this, so I reread the eight stories I had read before I put it down a couple of years ago.

“Put Yourself in My Shoes” - Reminded me a lot of the family dinner scene from “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”. I love how characters in Carver’s stories fall into their roles almost in a trance. All of these characters, except for Myers, had this role that they played and each fell into it in this uncanny way. Loved the meta aspect of storytelling as a them as well.

“The Student’s Wife” - When people don’t realize they can save themselves, they turn to God.

“What Do You Do in San Francisco?” - Cool to hear about SF and Arcata in one of these stories. This reminded me almost of a Ray Bradbury story, I think just with the tone and barren setting. Loved the pace and quiet nature of this one.