Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?

This is Carver's first collection of short stories that went on to be followed by Elephant, Cathedral and more. They are as good as anything by this author I have read. Carver has a wonderful ability of conveying a whole life in a short number of pages. What he highlights effectively is how ordinary people feel the same emotions as those more commonly depicted as heroic or famous. Put another way, Carver injects humour and tragedy effortlessly into the mundane. Each word is used sparingly and the reader does not want the story to end. Best stories here were “Neighbors”, “They're Not Your Husband”, “What's in Alaska?”, “Put Yourself in My Shoes” and “Signals”.

By Raymond Carver