The Stories of John Cheever, which won the National Book Critics Circle award in 1978 and the Pulitzer in 1979, is a chronological collection that spans Cheever’s short story career, from pre-WWII up to 1973. To read this collection – just shy of 700 pages – is to live in Cheever’s head, tracking his artistic and personal development in a way that a single novel or volume of stories doesn’t allow.
These are not happy stories. The earlier pieces are particularly bleak and raw. While the later stories are deeper and more nuanced, they are still pretty dark. Precious few have cheerful resolutions. The best Cheever’s characters seem to achieve is contentment despite imperfect circumstances.
Cheever’s is a world of commuter trains and cocktail parties, where everyone wears hats, has a cook, drinks martinis at lunch, summers, sails, and commits adultery. Not everyone is rich; in fact, money problems are a continuing theme. But the trappings, however tarnished, of a mid-century, Northeast corridor, upper crust way of life hang on all the stories. And that is Cheever at his best. He can bring us so deep into that world that it feels like living it.
Wow, another great review (came over from Pulitzer Project). It sounds quite dark and depressing, which I don't usually like to read, but I may be able to handle a few of those because it does sound like they are wonderfully written. Which are your favorites?
ReplyDeleteThe story called "The Enormous Radio" is one of his best known and also one of the most enjoyable ones in the collection. In it, a yound married couple gets a radio that allows them to hear everything going on in their neighbors' apartments. It turns out that things aren't so wonderful in their apartment after all . . . .
ReplyDeleteJust listened to the audio for some of these stories. So good! I'm looking forward to reading the others.
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