BEGINNERS

Listeners may be familiar with Dietz's recording of Carver's story collection WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT LOVE, and Carver fans will probably be aware of the controversy over Gordon Lish's editing (some would say wholesale revision) of the stories in that volume. This audiobook includes all the same stories, in the same order, but in the versions (and with the titles) that Carver sent to Lish. The differences are clear--most of the stories are much longer, for one thing--but the tone is much the same. Carver's stories carry their emotion in the subtext, but Dietz seems to be looking for drama, which undercuts the author's usually flat minimalist tone. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2017]