On my shelf since:
the husband gifted it to me after we saw the movie – 1994?
My copy’s origin story:
(Paperback 1993 1st Ed.) Ditto
Why not until now:
I never read books that the husband gives me – shhh, don’t tell him!
Review:
Where do I even begin? (Does anything good ever follow that opening?) This book was a lot! It was of its time, that’s for sure, and a time that thankfully at least some folks have tried to move on from. It is sexist, racist, classist, etc. in a special 80’s casual way. Many of us of a certain age remember those years so fondly that it’s somewhat shocking to be confronted with genuine ugly artifacts of it. OR, am I missing something, and was Carver a master of subtlety and guile unmatched in ours or any time? The people in these stories are all so deeply, deeply flawed. Who am I rooting for here? Any one? (Finished Sept 27, 2025)
Payoff (pages per stars):
154/3 = 51.333 (note to self: this metric is apparently biased towards short books)
Misc Ratings (Out of 5):
- Meeting expectations: Unrateable since I had no expectations of the book, and I barely remembered the movie.
- Shock and Awe: 4
- Questioning my own perceptions: 4
P.S. Here’s something weird: I went to Goodreads to post my review of this book and I found it there already. Apparently on November 29, 2014, I posted that I had finished reading it. Zero memory of having read this before, so I’m either a liar on Goodreads (lying so the husband thinks I’m reading his gifts?) or my memory is going (my kids would say the latter for sure). Hard to know which option reflects better on me.
P.P.S (Movie Review) Oof!
Off The Shelf 
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