Call If You Need Me: The Uncollected
Fiction and Other Prose by Raymond
Carver
Carver For Friends
This varied collection of fiction and prose from the late, great Raymond
Carver comes, once again, with an introduction by his widow, Tess
Gallagher. The posthumous Carver industry, as overseen by Gallagher,
rivals only that of Sylvia Plath for its thoroughness. Perhaps its no
coincidence: both were singular, contagiously influential writers who died
too early. But Plath died famously miserable, while Carver died famously
happy, having conquered alcohol, loneliness, and obscurity--having
conquered, indeed, everything but his own disobedient cancerous cells.
Call If You Need Me includes works previously collected, as well as some
that have never been seen before. Five new stories, discovered by
Gallagher among Carvers papers, are themselves worth the price of
admission. Particularly haunting is Kindling, a tale of a man who rents a
room in a house for a few nights in the hopes of writing a letter to his wife.
Hed just spent twenty-eight days at a drying-out facility, we read. But

during this period his wife took it into her head to go down the road with
another drunk, a friend of theirs. The main elements here: a river, a couple
in the other room, an unfinished letter waiting on the desk. All this is
vintage Carver, as well wrought and engrossing as the Cathedral stories.
Following the new fiction are sections devoted to book reviews,
introductions, and early stories. Each presents Carver in a different pose,
a different voice. Its interesting and illuminating to compare his casual,
often catty discussions of contemporary literature with his deeply felt
autobiographical essays. Despite the mysterious purity of his writing, hes
more than capable of engaging in literary feuds and pissing matches. Not
to be missed, however, is the wrenching autobiographical piece My
Fathers Life, which previously appeared in Fires. Also named Raymond,
Carvers father struggled with alcohol, failure, and mental illness just as his
son did--and just as his son did, he wanted to come out the other side and
see his life clearly. This is an essay about how people blur into their
parents, echo them even as they leave them behind. Trying to reckon with
his fathers passing, Carver also reckons with his own life: his constant
struggle to keep his eyes open, to write something good or maybe true, to
write something that would outlast him. --Emily White
Personal Review: Call If You Need Me: The Uncollected Fiction
and Other Prose by Raymond Carver
Try to rate a Carver short stories collection is like trying to rate your father
actions. You just can't judge him, you only can stare at him. You can even
try to understand him, but you don't really have to. There is something
beautiful and small hidden in every adjective, every description, every end
of a story. Raymond Carver's love for human actions is everywhere in his
writing. He puts big attention in little details, uncovering the small moments
in every relationationship. You and your wife. Your wife and her friends.
Tons of couples having dinner with other couples. Every little thing is a
whole world for Carver. This book comes with four new stories recently
discovered, a couple of great essays (the great "My father's life"), early
stories, introductions, books reviews and a small uncomppleted fragment
of a novel. Definitively, it's Carver for friends. If you are not familiar with his
books, you should start with his most famous books, as "What we talk
abgout when we talk about love", or his first collection of stories, "Will you
please be quiet, please?". Any other case, you are welcome to enter this
house.
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