“A man without hands came to the door to sell me a photograph of my house. Except for the chrome hooks, he was an ordinary-looking man of fifty or so.”
The lockdown really changed my reading habits and often I found I had a really short attention span. I had this fabulous idea to involve my mother with my reading and given the glacial pace with which she completes a novel, I thought.... let's dive into short stories. I'd picked up this book of Carver's stories on sale randomly and sent Mum a copy also so that we could compare notes.
It is perhaps a testament to our opposite personalities that we had very different experiences in reading these tales. I admired the passionate intensity that always seemed to go wrong, while she fixated on the violence and alcoholism.
Despite that, many of the tales had a visceral reaction for us both, which was interesting as we were coming at them from different angles. Surprisingly I really enjoyed our different points of view in our mini, virtual bookclub (albeit without the wine and cheese that a real life bookclub might incorporate).
If the title makes you think you're in for some kind of romantic interlude, I'd suggest you will be sorely disappointed. The sad tale of a mattress for sale, the gruesome story of what could happen when hitchhiking, are delivered with an almost cinematic quality, with images that may haunt your dreams (or nightmares). My only quibble (and why this isn't a 5/5 score) is that I feel some stories work far better than others.
4/5 short stories can still pack a punch.
No comments:
Post a Comment