Neighbors"Neighbors is a short story written by Raymond Carver in 1988. It is taken from the short story collection "Short cuts". The short story is briefly about the married couple Bill and Arlene Miller, who lives across the street from married couple Harriet and Jim Stone, Bill and Arlene constantly see each other in the light of the Stones' happy life. Bill is an accountant and Arlene is a secretary, while Jim is a salesman for a machine parts company. The story has the Stones going on a business trip combined with a family trip. Bill and Arlene have to take care of the Stones' apartment, feed the cat, Kitty, and water their plants. that we don't normally see in people – that is, the side that manifests when we are alone with ourselves and the curiosity of the mind The story takes place over 3 days. We have an objective third party storyteller and the whole story is written in the past with some dialogue here and there. It's chronological and we don't experience any flashbacks or flashforwards. The language is not advanced, the sentences are not really long and there are no complicated words. This is probably due to the fact that the story takes place in everyday life, in an everyday living environment and also in a completely normal situation (it must be said that it is normal to feed the cat and water the plants , when the neighbors are far away). In summary, this is not a demanding text in terms of length or difficulty. We don't know where the story takes place or when it takes place. We don't even know how old our main characters are. Is this even necessary? Raymond Carver tackles themes like alcoholism, poverty, divorce and unhappiness in his stories...... middle of paper...... and then the real world. I really like his stories. This is probably because I tend to like Raymond Carver's stories which I find very fascinating and thought-provoking. I don't know how much I like the ending of the story. I would have liked it to give a better ending to Bill and Arlene but at the same time it is this absurd situation and the touch of irony which gives the final touch. The story also has the grotesqueness that Carver is known for and he really ends the story where the climax is: it is here that the couple is hanging over the cliff in a situation where everything seems bad for them. It's up to the fantasy to decide how this happens for the couple. Carver's short stories can have so many aspects due to the minimalism he uses during his stories that the only limit is our own fantasy and the few guidelines given to us in the stories..