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Summary: John Cheever is a virtuoso of the short story form
Review: I can't think of another American short story writer who has pushed the bounderies of the form as much as Cheever. He is a true virtuoso and this book, the collected stories, is a necessary companion for any serious writer.
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Summary: Welcome to Cheever Country
Review: I don't imagine that John Cheever is much read these days by English Lit. types. These brilliant stories of love and loss among the genteel, drunken, and declasse WASP gentry are about as far as it is possible to get from the noisy concerns of the PoMo/multicultural/gender studies/Lit Crit. crowd. Which is only one of the reasons why the truly literate will still be reading Cheever's stories when Foucault, Derrida, De Man, Lacan and the rest of the French sophists are footnotes in future works about curious intellectual fads (yes, yes, I know: De Man was Belgian). You see, art always triumphs over kitsch; it may take an unconscionably long time in some cases, but in the end, art wins. And Cheever was nothing if not an artist, as the many small masterpieces contained in this collection amply demonstrate: "Goodbye, My Brother," "The Lowboy," "The Housebreaker of Shady Hill," "The Swimmer," "The Five-Forty-Eight," "The Cure," "The Sorrows of Gin," and so on, and on. The mood in these stories is predominantly one of melancholy and regret: regret that love, no matter how fierce and strong, will never last a lifetime; regret for the many small acts of cruelty that failed love and dashed dreams will force good men to commit; regret for what might have been, but was not, for what was and need not have been. But the melancholy and regret is tempered with a muted joy, inspired by the understanding that the same spiritual and moral isolation that prevents any man from ever fully connecting with another person also makes him autonomous and free. The obvious comparison is with Chekov; but such comparisons are seldom very helpful, and in this case would only serve to obscure the essential fact that Cheever was one of the finest artists this country has produced.But you don't have take my word for it. Here is a small test that will conclusively demonstrate Cheever's greatness, and in doing so will also demonstrate the power of art over schmaltz. ....So, prospective reader, do yourself a favor and buy this book. Keep it by your bedside and pick it up often. If you do that, you'll find that Cheever Country is one of the finest fictional worlds to visit.
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Summary: wonderful
Review: I generally read novels rather than short stories....but then I picked up this book and fell in love. I now understand why Cheever is considered one of the best American writers of the short story. He is able to put more character development and observation into a ten page story than many authors accomplish in two hundred pages. Truly a master of observations of a certain strata of suburban existence.
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Summary: The best American short story writer
Review: I loved every one of John Cheever's stories and in fact, I go back every now and then to re-read them. Each story is perfectly crafted with characters that pull you in right at the beginning and plots that rise to a climax and ebb with precision. What I find compelling about these stories is that they are about everyday life in cities like New York. No weird characters in exotic locations served up by attractive, young, hip boho writers (preferred these days by "literary critics"). John Cheever's stories are about people like you and me who find themselves in the most painful, intolerable situations.
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Summary: This book is my bible
Review: I must agree with the last few entries here. There is absolutely no way seven dollars can better be spent. This book is my bible. This book is like Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak. A literary collection such as this will never be outdone.
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Summary: A "must-read" for any bibliophile
Review: I once told a friend that if I were ever shipwrecked on a desert island, this is the book I would want to have as my companion. She sent my book, with that comment to Mr. Cheever, and I received a nice letter back with the autographed book. It will remain one of my dearest treasures. Read these stories! They range from poignant, to funny, to absurd . . .("Mene, mene, . . . ").
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Summary: One of the best writers of short stories ever
Review: I recently made a lengthy automobile trip through a boring section of the country, and I spent much of the drive listening to these stories. Of the sixty-odd pieces in this collection, almost all of them first published in _The New Yorker_, I'd previously read maybe one-third, especially the more famous and heavily anthologized ones like "The Swimmer." But my favorites are those in which Cheever experimented with style and content, like "The Enormous Radio" and "The Country Husband" and "The Wrysons" and "Goodbye My Brother." Cheever invented the "New York story" in which the characters are ordinary people living generally ordinary lives, but by whom the reader becomes fascinated. And the last paragraph always seems to tie up the narrative in a neat surgical knot. Amazingly good stuff.
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Summary: expositions of life in the mundane
Review: I used to avoid Cheever the way I avoided Updike. They're just WASPS writing about there minor drinking problems in Connecticut. I bought "The World of Apples" but never read it. Then one day I saw the story "Montraldo" in an airline magazine and read it and it changed everything. Not just my perceptions of Cheever, but everything I thought about literature, writing, short stories and life. These stories are the kind, that if you read them carefully, expose the humanity in everyone, the desperate possibilites of humanity. These stories are the stories we need to survive life. They are not about WASPS in New England. They are about the human spirit in the modern world, they are about the necessity of the self. Cheever, when all is said and done is a better short story writer than Carver, Beattie and just about anyone but Donald Bartheleme.
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Summary: A Very Special Book
Review: I've been reading the stories from this collection for over fifteen years and I've always found something heartbreaking, sobering, and redeeming about the people and places in Cheever's world. And I'm not even close to being a WASP. John Cheever's art is truly universal and I hope that two, three hundred years from now, his work will continue to be read and cherished.
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Summary: One of the all-time greats
Review: John Cheever is one of the greatest writers ever to come out of this or any other country. He's incredibly unsung and my suspicions are that in twenty years we'll be singing his praises the way we do Fitzgerald and Hemingway. Few stories in this collection will disappoint, my favorites being "The Enormous Radio" and "The Swimmer." Still, read them for yourself and judge. Would also recommend Jackson McCrae's "The Bark of the Dogwood" for another excellent read.
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