The Stories of John Cheever

I enjoy short stories. I think that they are a prelude into an author's vision and have used these stories as my entry into the works of Hemingway, Faulkner and now Cheever. An appreciation for a good short story appears to be a lost art. In the mid nineteen hundreds each week many literary magazines were published many with stories by some of the great authors of the time on a regular basis. I suspect that in today's marketplace short stories are considered not worth the effort, certainly the financial rewards are meager compared to the riches from a bestselling novel.

I occasionally will show a favorite story to a friend but more often than not after humoring me with a reading, if at all, they do not enjoy it as I did. What is the point of it or I do not understand will be the response. As a short story is often a glimpse of a moment in time in the life of a character and not often a beginning, middle and end our current entertainment culture has spoiled them.

As we now watch Mad Men every season and celebrate the New York driven culture of the mid sixties the stories of John Cheever become even more relevant again. When published in 1978 this collection of stories earned Cheever the Pulitzer Prize.

I read several books at a time and have over the last couple of months made it a practice to read one Cheever story each night before bed. It is hard to describe why these stories are so good. Often they are just lonely people in a busy world. A sense of loss and optimism haunts these people. Cheever has an ability to allow his characters to move from real to imagined storylines and occasionally it is a challenge to follow along.

This collection is full. I enjoyed each one. A few such as Christmas is a Sad Season for the Poor, The Swimmer, The World of Apples and Artemis the Honest Well Digger are reknown but these stories are wonderful.

This is a top ten collection of stories. Highest recommendation.