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The Stories of John Cheever
Title | The Stories of John Cheever |
Writer | |
Date | 2025-07-05 20:12:17 |
Type | |
Link | Listen Read |
Desciption
Here are sixty-one stories that chronicle the lives of what has been called "the greatest generation." From the early wonder and disillusionment of city life in "The Enormous Radio" to the surprising discoveries and common mysteries of suburbia in "The Housebreaker of Shady Hill" and "The Swimmer," Cheever tells us everything we need to know about "the pain and sweetness of life."Goodbye, my brother --The common day --The enormous radio --O city of broken dreams --The Hartleys --The Sutton Place story --The summer farmer --Torch song --The pot of gold --Clancy in the Tower of Babel --Christmas is a sad season for the poor --The season of divorce --The chaste Clarissa --The cure --The superintendent --The children --The sorrows of gin --O youth and beauty! --The day the pig fell into the well --The five-forty-eight --Just one more time --The housebreaker of Shady Hill --The bus to St. James's --The worm in the apple --The trouble of Marcie Flint --The bella lingua --The Wrysons --The country husband --The duchess --The scarlet moving van --Just tell me who it was --Brimmer --The golden age --The lowboy --The music teacher --A woman without a country --The death of Justina --Clementina --Boy in Rome --A miscellany of characters that will not appear --The chimera --The seaside houses --The angel of the bridge --The brigadier and the golf widow --A vision of the world --Reunion --An educated American woman --Metamorphoses --Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin --Montraldo --The ocean --Marito in città --The geometry of love --The swimmer --The world of apples --Another story --Percy --The fourth alarm --Artemis, the honest well digger --Three stories --The jewels of the Cabots.
Review
John Cheever is a brilliant raconteur – one of my most favourite. He excellently knows the stuff our lives are made of.Although this entire anthology is a gold mine, The Swimmer and The Day the Pig Fell into the Well seems to be my preferred nuggets.This is not an imitation, she thought, this is not the product of custom, this is the unique place, the unique air, where my children have spent the best of themselves. The realization that none of them had done well made her sink back in her chair. She squinted the tears out of her eyes. What had made the summer always an island, she thought; what had made it such a small island? What mistakes had they made? What had they done wrong? They had loved their neighbors, respected the force of modesty, held honor above gain. Then where had they lost their competence, their freedom, their greatness? Why should these good and gentle people who surrounded her seem like the figures in a tragedy?Unrealized dreams, unfulfilled hopes, unsuccessful plans and the rivers of sadness – they all are a part of our lives too.