Chef’s House and Preservation by Raymond Carver
Chef’s House and Preservation by Raymond Carver
Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:
Chef’s House
Edna has been separated from Wes.
But when he calls to invite her to join him in a new house, she accepts, even if she is involved with someone else.
Her partner is against the idea
- Don’t do this
- He is off the wagon- or was it on (?)
Wes has rented a house from another recovering alcoholic, Chef.
When I first saw the title of this account I thought it would be about a cook and something happens to his house.
Edna and Wes have a good time in Chef’s House.
They have a program that includes going to the movies on Tuesdays and staying sober.
One fine day, all this is over.
Chef comes to the house, with his big car- if I remember well- and says:
- I am sorry, but I will have to ask you to leave the house until the end of the month
- Why?
- My daughter has to move in with her baby
Then he explains that her husband went out with a boat and never returned…
When chef is gone, Wes is so upset that he starts talking very deprecatingly about the woman, who is called Linda:
- So I have to go away to let Fat Linda move in!!
- If I were her husband I would do the same
- Go away never to come back to Fat Linda and her baby…
Preservation
Another couple is faced with a problem in this tale.
Edna’s husband is fired.
This event starts a vicious circle, wherein the man is not willing to do almost anything anymore, procrastinating on the couch.
Indeed, positive psychology has studied the phenomena called “hedonic adaptation”.
- We adapt to almost anything, good or bad
- But there are important exceptions, like loud noise, the loss of someone close and being unemployed…these are very hard to adapt to and sometimes impossible
A friend tells Edna about her uncle:
- He lost his job when he was forty something and he did not move from the sofa for twenty years…
The husband is thirty one.
One day, Edna returns home only to find the refrigerator out of order, with all the food on the verge of being spoiled.
This is a major emergency, seeing as they have financial problems, with just one income in the house, the unemployment benefit does not amount to much.
A discussion ensues on the subject, with curses and the conclusion that a second hand fridge is needed.
They can buy one at auction and Edna remembers how her dad used to take her to auctions where he either bought or sold calves.
He wrote to her at one point to tell her how happy he was to buy a car for $ 200 and that he would have bought one for her, if she was there.
- He died in that car, after just a few weeks
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