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by: Raymond Carver
List Price: $13.95Amazon.com's Price: $11.16 You Save: $2.79 (20%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780679723691
ISBN: 0679723692
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 240
Publication Date: June 18, 1989
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: June 18, 1989
Sales Rank: 11124
Studio: Vintage
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
'A dozen stories that overflow with the danger, excitement, mystery and possibility of life...Carver is a writer of astonishing compassion and honesty...his eye set only on describing and revealing the world as he sees it. His eye is so clear, it almost breaks your heart.'--Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World
'Cathedral contains astonishing achievements, which bespeaks a writer expanding his range of intentions.'--The Boston Globe
'A few of Mr. Carver's stories can already be counted among the masterpieces of American fiction...Cathedral shows a gifted writer struggling for a larger scope of reference, a finer touch of nuance.' --Irving Howe, front page, The New York Times Book Review
'Clear, hard language so right that we shiver at the knowledge we gain from it.' --Thomas Williams, Chicago Tribune Book World
'Carver is more than a realist; there is, in some of his stories, a strangeness, the husk of a myth.' --Los Angeles Times
Stories included:
'Feathers'
'Chef's House'
'Preservation'
'The Compartment'
'A Small, Good Thing'
'Vitamins'
'Careful'
'Where I'm Calling From'
'The Train'
'Fever'
'The Bridle'
'Cathedral'
Amazon.com Review:
It was morning in America when Raymond Carver's Cathedral came out in 1983, but the characters in this dry collection of short stories from the forgotten corners of land of opportunity didn't receive much sunlight. Nothing much happens to the subjects of Carver's fiction, which is precisely why they are so harrowing: nothingness is a daunting presence to overcome. And rarely do they prevail, but the loneliness and quiet struggle the characters endure provide fertile ground for literary triumph, particularly in the hands of Carver, who was perhaps in his best form with this effort.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Solid
In a sense the book can be divided into thirds- four great tales, four solid-good tales, and four tales that needed work. In short, this is very reflective of RC as a writer. He is not the total snooze his worst detractors describe nor is he an unrivaled Modern Master as his boosters claim. He is, however, a good writer overall. What he might have achieved had he not pickled his brain with alcohol, nor died young, is unknown. He could have wasted his talents, or pushed them to greater heights. ... Read More
Rating:  - A Small, Good Thing
If What We Talk About When We Talk About Love was a collection full of characters in the middle of losing it all, then Cathedral is a collection full of characters trying to get it all back, trying to salvage relationships of all types: marital ("Chef's House"), paternal ("The Compartment"), and edible ("Preservation"). Though, how hard the characters in the stories are trying is questionable, and the characters themselves might not even know. Somehow, Carver works that sort of angle wonderfully. ... Read More
Rating: - A Classic Collection
Even Carver's least successful stories tap something essential and true that many writers spend a lifetime trying to reach once or twice. Stories in this collection like "A Small, Good Thing" and "Cathedral" are among the very best in literature. They are the ultimate in showing rather than telling, tapping emotion in unexpected ways just by showing us the way people live their lives. Sometimes they are faced with life-changing events, but more often they are just making their way from morning ... Read More
Rating: - A hope-filled turn for a great American writer
I read some of the stories in Cathedral during my undergraduate years, and upon my recent re-reading of the entire short story collection, I realize now how little I understood Raymond Carver's work back then. I have since read nearly all of Carver's stories, which, collectively, have come to represent a revival of the short story during the 1980s. Arguably, the short story has since fallen away again, but looking back at Carver gives me hope for the genre, that new work can still be done.
... Read More
Rating:  - Not what I expected.
Despite the reviews, I don't connect with this book. It had nothing memorable. Sorry, it's going to get donated to the local library.
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