Author:Raymond Carver
With this, his first collection, Carver breathed new life into the short story. In the pared-down style that has since become his hallmark, Carver showed how humour and tragedy dwell in the hearts of ordinary people, and won a readership that grew with every subsequent brilliant collection of stories, poems and essays that appeared in the last eleven years of his life.
Carver is the king of short fiction. His writing hits you in the pit of your stomach, and haunts you with its disenchantment. It's almost visceral.
—— Natasha Lunn , RedCarver has made himself the natural successor to his true mentor, Chekhov
—— Financial TimesHe is alert to the unique, inconspicuous incident, when a life or a marriage may change course decisively
—— Sunday TelegraphCarver's stories celebrate some lasting aspects of the human condition, however minimal, conjuring up a quality of fellow feeling which gives the stories a compelling, dry-eyed poignancy, a melancholy but intensely moving authenticity
—— William Boyd , Daily TelegraphThere is nobody else like him. In some ways his pared-down style is an extreme development of the Hemingway style, but Carver writes about women and the ways men relate to them far more convincingly than Hemingway ever did
—— Frank KermodeCarver is a master of the clear, sharp, resonant detail
—— Daily Telegraph