Carver surely had mastered the art of writing; he could create page-turners out of stories where nothing big seems to happen, by just giving the reader a very realistic and at the same time absurd view of the characters' inner world. In this collection there are some stories that can be considered masterpieces, but there aren't any really bad written stuff. Still, his stories are not the most pleasant reading: divorces, alcoholism, broken families, financial problems, the vanity of life, are their main themes.