Book Review: Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? By Raymond CArver

I finished Will You Please Be Quiet, Please on Saturday morning, March 20th, 2021.

It took me less than a week to finish it. If I’m being as honest as I possibly can be, after reading it, I can’t say I’ll ever pick up a Raymond Carver book ever again. I am a fan of short stories and after hearing David Sedaris recommend Raymond Carver on the Armchair Expert podcast, I decided to check him out. What I found were short stories that were difficult to follow along to and lacked substance. Thinking back on the book, I can’t think of a single story that sticks out to me. I have a hard time understanding why so many people hold Carver in such high regard. The most positive thing that I can say about him is that he writes with a brevity that I appreciate. Other than that, it’s difficult for me to come up with much positive to say about his writing. I don’t think it’s bad, per se. Nothing about it stuck out to me, though.

I will probably pick up another one of his books at some point in time. I feel like I owe it to one of the pioneers of short story writing to give him a shot at redemption but, for the moment, I won’t be reading any more Carver.