The Enormous Radio by John Cheever

 

The Enormous Radio by John Cheever

 

Falconer is an amazing book, by John Cheever. I was so enthusiastic about it that I determined to try and read it again and now that I came across short stories by John Cheever I will read them.

I have started with The Enormous Radio.

“Jim and Irene are average. They have average income and…respectability; they have two children and live on the 12th floor of an apartment house.

They went to the theater an average of…10.3 times a year.” Humor is in your face from the start.

The two heroes of the short story differ from the rest in their interest for serious music, which they listen to on an old radio. When the old radio stopped in the middle of a quartet, Jim bought a new one. In the first place, it seemed the new instrument is better, but odd noises affected her listening of a Mozart quintet.

The radio was ugly; the title reveals an enormous size. All kinds of noises interfere with the pleasure of listening to music: elevator, phones and other. Another time there are bells in the background.

In the middle of a recording, Irene hears a man and then a woman’s voice. When told about it, Jim says it must have been a play.

Changing the channels, we get some more humor from a woman who speaks with a pretentious, English accent.

The amount of money paid for the radio seems “enormous” like the purchase itself, I was wondering if in today’s money that wouldn’t be about $ 4,000. It goes to prove the importance of the radio in those days.

There is an argument between the spouses, because Irene thinks at one point that the “radio can listen to them”.  Jim is “sick and tired…and says who cares if anybody hears…””

After the dispute, a voice on the radio says: “a disaster in Tokyo killed 29 people…”

 

Even if in this short story we do not have the tension, the atmosphere of The Falconer, included on the TIME best 100 books list, The Enormous Radio, in its simplicity and sensitive approach made me enjoy it nearly as much as the superb Falconer.

I look forward to reading other short stories of Cheever, who I think had a complicated life story himself.

Comentarii

Trimiteți un comentariu

Postări populare de pe acest blog

Epistolary edited by Gabriel Liiceanu http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/11/50-minutes-with-plesu-and-liiceanu-10.html - 10 out of 10

  Epistolary edited by Gabriel Liiceanu http://realini.blogspot.com/2021/11/50-minutes-with-plesu-and-liiceanu-10.html 10 out of 10     This wonderful book contains letters exchanged between the brightest minds we have in this realm – there is the exception of Eugen Simion, the late president of the Academy here, a rather horrid attack on luminaries that were so much wiser than this fellow, who came to lead a forum that should be only for the crème de la crème, yet, his presence at the top in fact reveals the ‘values’ that have reached what should be the chamber of the nec plus ultra – and as such, much of what is being debated is quite inaccessible   Ergo, the spoiler alert, warning, disclaimer, and maybe the way out of accusations of spam – one of the notes I have posted on Goodreads, Cleo From 5 to 7 http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/07/cleo-from-5-to-7-aka-cleo-de-5-7-by.html has been deleted, because it was considered spam, while the one who is the #...
Citiți mai multe

The Killer by Luc Jacamon 10 out of 10

  The Killer by Luc Jacamon 10 out of 10     Reading about killers, or watching the stupendous The Killer, with fabulous Michael Fassbinder in the leading role may seem like the wrong idea, in a world that has some nasty wars taking place in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Myanmar, and the danger is that they might be expanding, as it is, Iran is attacking the USA, through its proxies Hezbollah, Houthis in Yemen (they have launched missiles) and militias in Iraq and Syria   It all depends on how good the author is, what the adaptation looks like, cast, director, you could have a magnum opus that is a crime story, such as Crime and Punishment http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/06/crime-and-punishment-by-fyodor.html by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - an algorithm has recently looked at various relevant compilations and established the 50 Greatest Novels and the story of Raskolnikov is on it, together with other astounding works, Marcel Proust is at number one The Killer starts...
Citiți mai multe

The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom by Tobias Smollett – included on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read List http://poemeglume.blogspot.com/2023/04/1000-novels-everyone-must-read.html - 7 out of 10

  The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom by Tobias Smollett – included on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read List http://poemeglume.blogspot.com/2023/04/1000-novels-everyone-must-read.html 7 out of 10     The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom was first published in 1753, which might mean that it is not for the tastes of readers from our times, not even middle aged ones, like yours truly (who is actually sixty in a couple of months, but like to adopt the ‘the sixties are the new forties’ slogan) who has abandoned this   Hence, the spoiler alert, warning, disclaimer to avoid being (again) censored for spam – though I did not get the inclusion in that category, a reading of the definition could help, but this being my note, until it is obliterated by the Goodreads staff, and then it will still be available at the new blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/ I say that spam is used for the unrequested messages we receive, meant to make us buy things ...
Citiți mai multe