Where I'm Calling From: New And Selected Stories - Publishers Weekly

bookBestsellersbookPW Best BookshomePublishers Weekly HomelockUse and Privacy Policies

bestsellers

best books

free newsletter

sign up nowBUY THIS BOOKWhere I'm Calling from: New and Selected Stories

Raymond Carver. Atlantic Monthly Press, $19.95 (393pp) ISBN 978-0-87113-216-1

The cool streamlined style of this modern master of the short story has spawned dozens of younger writers who seek to follow in Carver's footsteps. But where the Brat Pack frequently produces flat, unresonating fiction, Carver has the ability to render graceful prose from dreary, commonplace, scraping-the-bottom human misery. This collection consists of 30 stories selected from four previous volumes, and seven new tales. Appearing in order of original publication, they reflect Carver's developmentfrom 1963 to the present. We meet many of his characters just as something dear to them is slipping away. Jobs, cars, the affection of a spouse or child, the routine of lifeall can be lost. Even in the more upbeat stories, a narrator recalls a happy occasion that, in retrospect, marked a change for the worse, or a high point in a life since gone sour. In Carver's world, ashtrays overflow, wives are usually ex-, and drinkers are drunks. Seedy and dishonest characters are glimpsed in the process of once again doing the wrong thing. One of the new stories, ""The Errand,'' which is in part an account of Chekhov's death, is offered as a tip of the hat to the great short story writer. Even here, with more affecting and finished prose than ever before, Carver's rendering gives us all the intimacy of a medical chart. Aptly named, he is a carver of flesh from the bone. Paperback rights to Vintage. (May)DETAILSshareBUY THIS BOOKcloseDetails

Reviewed on: 04/25/1988

Genre: Fiction

Hardcover - 393 pages - 978-0-87113-235-2

• Amazon
• Apple Books
• Bookshop

• Share
• Post
• Copy Link
• Print

More By and About this Authorchevron_right

Book Reviews

• Where Water Comes Together with Other WaterWhere Water Comes Together with Other WaterRaymond CarverBest-known for his wonderful short stories (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, etc.), Carver works the same narrative magic in these poems. In everyday language he offers memories of his Continue reading »
• A New Path to the WaterfallA New Path to the WaterfallRaymond CarverCarver, who died in 1988, wrote these poems during his last g months. ``Many of them are luminous flashes, poised and tender meditations, while others read like cathartic, unresolved statements by a Continue reading »
• Call If You Need Me: The Uncollected Fiction and Other ProseCall If You Need Me: The Uncollected Fiction and Other ProseRaymond CarverFor fans of Carver, who died in 1988, the five newly discovered stories collected here are like a stash of diamonds stumbled upon in a long-abandoned mine. The writer's style is, as always, spare and Continue reading »
• A New Path to the Waterfall: PoemsA New Path to the Waterfall: PoemsRaymond CarverShort-story writer and poet Carver, who died of cancer in 1988, wrote these poems during his last few months. Many of them are luminous flashes, poised and tender meditations, while others read like Continue reading »
• No Heroics, Please: Uncollected WritingsNo Heroics, Please: Uncollected WritingsRaymond CarverThis ragtag collection features juvenilia (four short stories written during Carver's undergraduate years and a fifth composed shortly afterward), poetry from the author's small press books, the Continue reading »
• The Granta Book of the FamilyThe Granta Book of the FamilyRaymond Carver, Michael Ignatieff, Granta BooksTolstoy's observation that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way finds resonance in this collection of essays and stories about families, predominantly miserable ones, culled from the Continue reading »
• All of Us: The Collected PoemsAll of Us: The Collected PoemsRaymond CarverCarver published three major poetry collections during the five years prior to his death in 1988 at age 50. Edited by Univ. of Hartford professor William Stull, and introduced by Carver's widow, the Continue reading »

PW EDITORS’ PICKS FORTHE BEST NEW BOOKSSign UpPW EDITORS’ PICKS FOR THE BEST NEW BOOKSSign Up

Featured Fiction Reviews

LázárLázárNelio BiedermannAn aristocratic Hungarian family copes with cascading trauma over three generations and two world wars in the extraordinary English-language debut from Swiss writer Biedermann. Continue reading »Dear Monica LewinskyDear Monica LewinskyJulia LangbeinFor Jean Dornan, the protagonist of Langbein’s incandescent sophomore novel (after American Mermaid) whose life is still in shambles following a toxic relationship with her Continue reading »The Left and the LuckyThe Left and the LuckyWilly VlautinVlautin (The Horse) delivers a surprisingly uplifting tale of neighbors helping neighbors while eking out a living in Portland, Ore. Connie works nights as a stripper while Continue reading »TranscriptionTranscriptionBen LernerIn the beautiful and resonant latest from Lerner (The Topeka School), a middle-aged man constructs an elaborate farewell to his mentor. In the first of three sections, the Continue reading »chevron_right

title

prompt