Fires: Essays, Poems, Stories

I love Carver's style. It's so simple, but so effective.

Beautiful collection of Carver's work. While the short stories are not his best ('Fires' includes some earlier versions of some stories plus a couple of previously unpublished ones), the poems are truly amazing and the same goes for the essays. So, if you want to discover Carver as a writer of short-stores, I would recommend another book, but to get to know his less...more

Beautiful collection of Carver's work. While the short stories are not his best ('Fires' includes some earlier versions of some stories plus a couple of previously unpublished ones), the poems are truly amazing and the same goes for the essays. So, if you want to discover Carver as a writer of short-stores, I would recommend another book, but to get to know his less appreciated side of being a poet, this book is perfect. Four stars.   hide

There are three different parts of this book so, of course, I am going to have to address them separately. The first part is essays, which are amazing. He has such great points on writing and his inspiration. They were truly entertaining to read. The second part are his poems. Although I did not like some of them, over-all they are amazing. He is a blue-collar poet at heart, which helps...more

There are three different parts of this book so, of course, I am going to have to address them separately. The first part is essays, which are amazing. He has such great points on writing and his inspiration. They were truly entertaining to read. The second part are his poems. Although I did not like some of them, over-all they are amazing. He is a blue-collar poet at heart, which helps give his poems an extremely natural and true feeling. The third part is his short stories. If you have had the misfortune of not reading a short story by Raymond Carver, I am sorry. Truly sorry. They are amazing. "So much water so close to home" still has me thinking. They are all beautifully structured and amazingly executed. I liked every single story. Therefore, this book gets five stars.   hide