Reviews

Cathedral by Raymond Carver

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Sometimes you find a writers work in life precisely at the time you need to. That's how I feel about Raymond Carver. Cathedral is a collection that has had a significant impact on me. Many of the stories have rattled around my brain for weeks after reading them. And one in particular--A Small, Good Thing--has jumped up to the top of my list of favorite short stories. Cathedral is a profound piece of work and is a must read.

adam_reads's review

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

5.0

The LA Times blurb sums it up: “Carver is a realist but there is, in some of his stories, a strangeness, the husk of a myth.” All were strong, captivating, quick bites of life.

tarrowood's review against another edition

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5.0

Carver is an artist at sketching a simple world, and then allowing his simple words and the simple objects to be given a beauty and magic that are on the verge of being incomprehensible — in a beautiful sense. This short story collection stunned and connected with me. I feel indebted to Carver’s art.

Top Stories:
Cathedral
The Bridle
A Small, Good Thing
Preservation

aarikdanielsen's review

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dark funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

moviesnob04's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

petty_anthropology's review

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

k3atr0g2608's review

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4.0

Raymond Carver is a new favorite short story writer. I liked how he was able to express real human emotion with small, bare sentences. That's a hard thing to do as a writer and he accomplishes it (in my opinion) better than Hemingway.

palmpages's review

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5.0

I personally took my time reading these short stories (every few days) just so I could savour Carver's brilliant words. My favourites were, "Feathers," "Fever," and "Cathedral." This collection of Carver's short stories addresses and explores common issues we tend to struggle with in our everyday lives: particularly love, loss, and alcoholism. I appreciated this short story collection and can hardly wait to delve into his other works.