Raymond Carver s genius was a genius of selection. In these twelve stories the right word, the quick phrase, the unexpected allusion open up a whole new world of meaning behind the people and objects he describes. His is a world of ordinary human beings going about the unexceptional business of their lives, but his images acquire a strange, transforming power of their own. Nowhere is this alchemy more striking than at the end of the title story, where the hand of a blind man guides the hand of a sighted man as together they draw the cathedral the blind man has never seen. Many have seen this story, as marking a significant stage in Carver s transition to the more confidently poetic style of his mature work and the whole collection demonstrates the artistry of a writer with the desire and skills to expand his range and ambitions.