Call If You Need Me : The Uncollected Fiction and Other Prose (Vintage Contemporaries)

Rating:
Summary: New stories great; disappointing book for real Carver fans
Review: I am excited that there are "new" stories by Raymond Carver. "Call If You Need Me" and "Kindling" are among his best. The rest of the book is disappointing to me: I didn't realize that this would just be the new stories tacked on to NO HEROICS, PLEASE. Essentially, serious readers of Carver's work are being asked to buy the same book twice. "Call If You Need Me" can be found in this year's O. Henry anthology, and "Kindling" can be found in the current edition of Best American Short Stories. The other new stories, I guess, can be found in past issues of Esquire magazine. If the new stories were instead collected in some other way - say, in a slim volume alone, or with some unpublished work by other worthy writers, then I wouldn't be as disappointed. I was expecting a new book altogether -- not just new pages. Still, these stories need to be read. NO HEROICS, PLEASE is a book worth owning, too. If you don't already own it, then I recommend this title. Otherwise, find the new stories elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: I just re-read "Kindling" for the umpteenth time, and once again I had to take a deep breath of awe afterwards. I think it's my favorite Carver story. "What Would Like to See?" is good also. They're all good. Even his early work sings with that grand Carver simplicity. But "Kindling" is outstanding. If you buy this book solely for that you're getting much more than your money's worth.

Rating:
Summary: Carver for friends
Review: Try to rate a Carver short stories collection is like trying to rate your father actions. You just can't judge him, you only can stare at him. You can even try to understand him, but you don't really have to. There is something beautiful and small hidden in every adjective, every description, every end of a story. Raymond Carver's love for human actions is everywhere in his writing. He puts big attention in little details, uncovering the small moments in every relationationship. You and your wife. Your wife and her friends. Tons of couples having dinner with other couples. Every little thing is a whole world for Carver.

This book comes with four new stories recently discovered, a couple of great essays (the great "My father's life"), early stories, introductions, books reviews and a small uncomppleted fragment of a novel. Definitively, it's Carver for friends. If you are not familiar with his books, you should start with his most famous books, as "What we talk abgout when we talk about love", or his first collection of stories, "Will you please be quiet, please?". Any other case, you are welcome to enter this house.