- Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
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Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? 
Author(s) Raymond Carver Country United States Language English Genre(s) Short stories Publisher McGraw-Hill Publication date February 22, 1976 Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback) ISBN 0070101930 OCLC Number 1551448 Dewey Decimal 813/.5/4 LC Classification PZ4.C3336 Wi PS3553.A7894 Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?, published in 1976, was the first short-story collection by American writer Raymond Carver. This minimalist collection revolves around themes of segregation and disenchantment in American families.
Stories
“Fat”
A waitress serves a fat man and is moved by the experience.
“Neighbors”
A couple house-sitting for neighbors are gradually taking over their neighbors’ lives. They begin to enjoy the feeling of voyeurism and begin to hope: One says, “Maybe they won’t come back.”
“The Idea”
A couple spies on a man who spies on his own wife from his garden.
“They’re Not your Husband”
Details an out of work salesman´s response to the realization that his wife is perceived as fat by other men.
“Are you a Doctor?”
A woman calls a man by accident, it’s a wrong number. She begs him to meet her and he does.
“The Father”
A mother and grandfather and daughter discuss the new baby’s features. “But who does Daddy look like?”
“Nobody Said Anything”
A boy tries to impress his parents, who are always fighting, by catching a big fish.
“Sixty Acres”
A Native American accosts two young kids shooting ducks on his land. He lets them go. He decides to lease some of his land.
“What’s in Alaska?”
Two couples get stoned on marijuana one evening.
“Night School”
A man is out of work and living with his parents. He meets two women in a bar and tells them. “I’d say you’re kind of old for that.”
“Collectors”
A vacuum salesman demonstrator shows up at the house of an unemployed man. He pointlessly goes through his sales patter.
“What do you do in San Francisco?”
The Postman Henry Robertson relates a story of a couple and their three children who move to his rural ,working class town.He chronicles how the family are different from the work based ethic driven town members because of their arty lifestyle.He also chronicles the breakdown in the relationship between the married couple which mirrors his own failed marriage over 20 years before.He relates how a letter ended his own and the Marston's marriage.It also shows his distrust of Mrs Marston and his bias against the woman in the story even though he only sees snippets of their relationship he blames the lack of work ethic and Mrs Marston's reluctance for her husband to get any work as responsible for what happened.His bias may be in part due to the way his wife told him it was over in a letter sent to him while he was serving overseas 'It was work ,day and night ,work that gave me oblivion when I was in your shoes and there was a war on where I was ...' (A World of Difference An Anthology of Short Stories ed.Prescott.L,(2008) He also sees work as a way to forget his troubles and to help forget his wife and children. A short story using a clipped style until only the essential remains
“The Student’s Wife”
A night of insomnia.
“Put yourself in my Shoes”
Coming back from an office party, a couple are interrogated and insulted in a strange meeting with their landlord and his wife.
“Jerry and Molly and Sam”
A man is driven crazy by the family dog and decides to get rid of it by dumping it on the edge of town. He soon changes his mind.
“The Ducks”
At work the foreman suddenly dies, so everyone is sent home. At home one man fails to use the opportunity to have sex with his wife.
“How About This?”
A couple come to look at her father’s deserted place in the country. Maybe they will move there.
“Bicycles, muscles, Cigarettes”
A man quits smoking. He calls round to the house of a friend of his son where a dispute is in progress over a missing bike. He and the accused boy’s father have a fight.
“Are These Actual Miles?”
An unemployed man’s wife goes out to sell their car and doesn’t return until dawn.
“Signals”
A couple in a flashy restaurant seem to be trying to find out if they still have a future together. “I don’t mind admitting I’m just a lowbrow.”
“Will you please be quiet please?”
The story of Ralph and Marian, two students who marry and become teachers. Ralph becomes obsessed with the idea that Marian was unfaithful to him once in the past. Ralph gets drunk and feels his whole life changing once he finds out the truth.
External links
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