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Torch Song
Jack Lorey is a twenty-something transplant to New York City, formerly of Ohio, who is seeking a career in New York City. He encounters Joan Harris, who hails from the same Ohio town as Jack, at a social gathering. She has abandoned her hopes of becoming a professional model, and serves at a number of entry-level jobs to support herself. Joan's demeanor is that of a healthy, well-adjusted and tolerant woman who enjoys social life. Jack and Joan form a casual platonic relationship, each pursuing their own romantic interests.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
14 pages, Unknown Binding
First published October 4, 1947
30 people want to read
About the author
John Cheever
298 books1,076 followersJohn Cheever was an American novelist and short story writer, sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs" or "the Ovid of Ossining." His fiction is mostly set in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the suburbs of Westchester, New York, and old New England villages based on various South Shore towns around Quincy, Massachusetts, where he was born.
His main themes include the duality of human nature: sometimes dramatized as the disparity between a character's decorous social persona and inner corruption, and sometimes as a conflict between two characters (often brothers) who embody the salient aspects of both--light and dark, flesh and spirit. Many of his works also express a nostalgia for a vanishing way of life, characterized by abiding cultural traditions and a profound sense of community, as opposed to the alienating nomadism of modern suburbia.
His main themes include the duality of human nature: sometimes dramatized as the disparity between a character's decorous social persona and inner corruption, and sometimes as a conflict between two characters (often brothers) who embody the salient aspects of both--light and dark, flesh and spirit. Many of his works also express a nostalgia for a vanishing way of life, characterized by abiding cultural traditions and a profound sense of community, as opposed to the alienating nomadism of modern suburbia.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 11, 2025
The first two sentences of the story sound disturbing:
"After Jack Lorey had known Joan Harris in New York a few years, he began to think of her as The Widow. She always wore black, and he was always given the feeling, by a curious disorder in her apartment, the undertakers had just left."
Is Joan a kindhearted person who needs to be needed to such an extent that it's unhealthy, or is she the angel of death to men who are already destroying themselves? I like the ambiguous ending where we don't know if Jack is going to get his act together and change his lifestyle.
"Torch Song" is story #8 in the collection "The Stories of John Cheever."
"After Jack Lorey had known Joan Harris in New York a few years, he began to think of her as The Widow. She always wore black, and he was always given the feeling, by a curious disorder in her apartment, the undertakers had just left."
Is Joan a kindhearted person who needs to be needed to such an extent that it's unhealthy, or is she the angel of death to men who are already destroying themselves? I like the ambiguous ending where we don't know if Jack is going to get his act together and change his lifestyle.
"Torch Song" is story #8 in the collection "The Stories of John Cheever."
February 2, 2023
A torch song is "one of those forlorn and touching ballads" that had been sung "neither for him nor for her" but for their "older brothers and sisters".
Joan in one scene "seemed to be singing her wrongs" but mostly was uncomplaining; she was "innocently and incorrigibly convivial." Incorrigibly convivial!— that is the language that drew me into this story, admiring the combination of intimacy and distance, and gasped at the ending which had been telegraphed from the very first sentence. Along with the character Jack, the reader discovers what we already knew, something so obvious it escaped our attention.
The narrative here is wide open, with big gaps, i.e. "a year or two later..." The effect is dizzying, as we swoop in to an unbearably intimate scene that everyone ignores, and then float along with Jack's life for a season or two and hearing no news of Joan.
John Cheever is a major American writer whose star is either on the rise or is fading—one never knows how these things go. For some reason, I've not reviewed any Cheever here, probably because I've not read any lately. This short story is enough to make me curious for more.
Also, I'm deeply sorry there is no image for this book. I tried to find one. I failed.
Joan in one scene "seemed to be singing her wrongs" but mostly was uncomplaining; she was "innocently and incorrigibly convivial." Incorrigibly convivial!— that is the language that drew me into this story, admiring the combination of intimacy and distance, and gasped at the ending which had been telegraphed from the very first sentence. Along with the character Jack, the reader discovers what we already knew, something so obvious it escaped our attention.
The narrative here is wide open, with big gaps, i.e. "a year or two later..." The effect is dizzying, as we swoop in to an unbearably intimate scene that everyone ignores, and then float along with Jack's life for a season or two and hearing no news of Joan.
John Cheever is a major American writer whose star is either on the rise or is fading—one never knows how these things go. For some reason, I've not reviewed any Cheever here, probably because I've not read any lately. This short story is enough to make me curious for more.
Also, I'm deeply sorry there is no image for this book. I tried to find one. I failed.
November 17, 2025
Torch Song by John Cheever
Excellent
This is an excellent story about a friendship between a man- Jack and a woman- Joan.
This relationship has ups and downs, which is only natural, but the exceptional thing is that they stay in touch for so long.
They have not been very close, unless I am wrong in assessing this companionship that goes through marriages and other lovers.
Jack is married twice and has a child.
But Joan on the other hand has a series of lovers.
There is a count first, who comes from Switzerland if my memory is not failing me, and he is a drug addict.
Then we meet Hugh who has another addiction, this time to drink.
The series is continued with a nasty German named Franz.
Franz is arrogant, nationalistic and abusive, one would say like all the other men in the life of this strange woman.
At a party where Frank and his first wife are present, the German talks with his friends about the superiority of the German system.
Education is mentioned first and then the culture of Germany in general.
After that, we move on to lower interests and the violent man becomes very upset and then violent over…some chipped cup.
In the kitchen, from the sound of it Frantz hits and slaps his girlfriend.
After this odd incident where Joan tries uselessly to explain that a cup has arrived with a small denture, Joan calls Jack.
She is accused by some neighbors that she is immoral and then the landlord has her evicted with this stain on her reputation.
Jack is very nice and helps his friend get into another place, although the neighborhood is unpleasant and grim.
There is another encounter and Jack passes Joan ion his way, with the latter being yet again abused by a man she was hanging out with.
Jack marries again, but it does not last long.
There is a demonstration of Americans originating from countries invaded by the Nazis, who call for their adoptive country to join the war.
Jack is sent to the war.
Joan has a new friend, but by now we know the pattern.
She sells the jewelry inherited from her grandmother to help the British Pete start a new advertising business.
But as soon as he gets the money, he runs off with a woman that has a convertible car.
Now back from the front, Jack is for a while doing well.
But after a while he gets sick and is down on his luck.
He is left with no money; he has no job and has to borrow money from friends.
In this sorry state, there is only one person that comes to see him.
Joan found her friend and comes to help him.
However, the meeting offers some big surprises and an interesting, if awkward interpretation of Joan’s attitude in the tale.
Great story, but this is the usual astounding standard of John Cheever.
Excellent
This is an excellent story about a friendship between a man- Jack and a woman- Joan.
This relationship has ups and downs, which is only natural, but the exceptional thing is that they stay in touch for so long.
They have not been very close, unless I am wrong in assessing this companionship that goes through marriages and other lovers.
Jack is married twice and has a child.
But Joan on the other hand has a series of lovers.
There is a count first, who comes from Switzerland if my memory is not failing me, and he is a drug addict.
Then we meet Hugh who has another addiction, this time to drink.
The series is continued with a nasty German named Franz.
Franz is arrogant, nationalistic and abusive, one would say like all the other men in the life of this strange woman.
At a party where Frank and his first wife are present, the German talks with his friends about the superiority of the German system.
Education is mentioned first and then the culture of Germany in general.
After that, we move on to lower interests and the violent man becomes very upset and then violent over…some chipped cup.
In the kitchen, from the sound of it Frantz hits and slaps his girlfriend.
After this odd incident where Joan tries uselessly to explain that a cup has arrived with a small denture, Joan calls Jack.
She is accused by some neighbors that she is immoral and then the landlord has her evicted with this stain on her reputation.
Jack is very nice and helps his friend get into another place, although the neighborhood is unpleasant and grim.
There is another encounter and Jack passes Joan ion his way, with the latter being yet again abused by a man she was hanging out with.
Jack marries again, but it does not last long.
There is a demonstration of Americans originating from countries invaded by the Nazis, who call for their adoptive country to join the war.
Jack is sent to the war.
Joan has a new friend, but by now we know the pattern.
She sells the jewelry inherited from her grandmother to help the British Pete start a new advertising business.
But as soon as he gets the money, he runs off with a woman that has a convertible car.
Now back from the front, Jack is for a while doing well.
But after a while he gets sick and is down on his luck.
He is left with no money; he has no job and has to borrow money from friends.
In this sorry state, there is only one person that comes to see him.
Joan found her friend and comes to help him.
However, the meeting offers some big surprises and an interesting, if awkward interpretation of Joan’s attitude in the tale.
Great story, but this is the usual astounding standard of John Cheever.
October 29, 2021
I am reading from a collection of John Cheever's short stories and have been reviewing each after I finish the story. "Torch Song" is my favorite so far and not until the very end did I understand Jack's feelings about Joan. This story had a slight horror to it as it progressed but the outstanding horror at the end came to full light.
Story in short-Jack and Joan come from the same town in Ohio and come to live in NYC, meeting each other at varies times.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
Jack meets Joan and has drinks until 3 am many times until they go their different ways, but every time they meet she looks serene and healthy, squalor and troubles never faze her and always wearing black like a widow. Her boyfriends are always troubled and she is by to help them, with her quite ways. Jack has been to her place witnessing Joan's distressed men and was happy to escape. I was thinking that she was just very friendly wanting to help these poor souls. Jack gets married and has a baby, things look good for him but then after 3 years, they divorce. War calls him to action, he marries and then again divorces, he has two alimonies, getting older but still he feels that he will be okay, for the future is bright, he has money in the bank. Then finally he hits bottom, no money and in squalor, not wanting any of his friends to see him, yet Joan finds him. All through the story the romantic in me thought maybe these two would find happiness. I was thinking as Jack's life had become far from perfect, really seeming no happier than Joan's but then I see John's behavior to a man down on his luck and made me think like Jack did, did Joan help those men in their demise? She gloated over the men that died, either by taking poison or missing in action, the ones that survived death, she did not want to mentioned. When she actively looked for Jack, she continued to talk of his distress being okay and kept handing him drink, while she looked fatter and healthier then ever. He tells her to go away for she likes to see death and the demise of others growing healthier from the bad luck of others. She finally goes away but tells him, she be back that evening, afraid of meeting her again and full of live not ready to give up, he packs all he has giving no signs of being there and leaves, not to see her again, until he is back in health, for when she sees him in good straights, she will no longer wish to see him, unless to show off her poor souls. Several times in the story, while he was doing well, he offered to go out together by themselves, not with a poor soul and she refused.
“She was then a big, handsome girl with a wonderful voice, and her face, her whole presence, always seemed infused with a gentle and healthy pleasure at her surroundings, whatever they were. She was innocently and incorrigibly convivial, and would get out of bed and dress at three in the morning if someone called her and asked her to come out for a drink, as Jack often did. In the fall, she got some kind of freshman executive job in a department store. They saw less and less of each other and then for quite a while stopped seeing each other altogether. Jack was living with a girl he had met at a party, and it never occurred to him to wonder what had become of Joan.”
“Sometime the next winter, Jack moved from the Village to an apartment in the East Thirties. He was crossing Park Avenue one cold morning on his way to the office when he noticed, in the crowd, a woman he had met a few times at Joan’s apartment. He spoke to her and asked about his friend. “Haven’t you heard?” she said. She pulled a long face. “Perhaps I’d better tell you. Perhaps you can help.”
“The count had a program called “The Song of the Fiords,” or something like that, and he sang Swedish folk songs. Everyone suspected him of being a fake, but that didn’t bother Joan. He had met her at a party and, sensing a soft touch, had moved in with her the following night. About a week later, he complained of pains in his back and said he must have some morphine. Then he needed morphine all the time. If he didn’t get morphine, he was abusive and violent. Joan began to deal with those doctors and druggists who peddle dope, and when they wouldn’t supply her, she went down to the bottom of the city. Her friends were afraid she would be found some morning stuffed in a drain. She got pregnant. She had an abortion. The count left her and moved to a flea bag near Times Square, but she was so impressed by then with his helplessness, so afraid that he would die without her, that she followed him there and shared his room and continued to buy his narcotics.”
“Late in the summer, Joan telephoned Jack at his office and asked if he wouldn’t bring his wife to see her; she named an evening the following week. He felt guilty about not having called her, and accepted the invitation. This made his wife angry. She was an ambitious girl who liked a social life that offered rewards, and she went unwillingly to Joan’s Village apartment with him.”
“WHEN JACK’S SON was less than two years old, his wife flew with the baby to Nevada to get a divorce. Jack gave her the apartment and all its furnishings and took a room in a hotel near Grand Central. His wife got her decree in due course, and the story was in the newspapers. Jack had a telephone call from Joan a few days later.”
“I’m awfully sorry to hear about your divorce, Jack,” she said. “She seemed like such a nice girl. But that wasn’t what I called you about. I want your help, and I wondered if you could come down to my place tonight around six. It’s something I don’t want to talk about over the phone.”
“I’m being evicted, Jack,” she said. “I’m being evicted because I’m an immoral woman. The couple who have the apartment downstairs—they’re charming people, I’ve always thought—have told the real-estate agent that I’m a drunk and a prostitute and all kinds of things. Isn’t that fantastic? This real-estate agent has always been so nice to me that I didn’t think he’d believe them, but he’s canceled my lease, and if I make any trouble, he’s threatened to take the matter up with the store, and I don’t want to lose my job. This nice real-estate agent won’t even talk with me any more. When I go over to the office, the receptionist leers at me as if I were some kind of dreadful woman. Of course, there have been a lot of men here and we sometimes are noisy, but I can’t be expected to go to bed at ten every night.”
“they think there’s a man up here after midnight, they call me on the telephone and say all kinds of disgusting things. Of course, I can put my furniture into storage and go to a hotel, I guess. I guess a hotel will take a woman with my kind of reputation, but I thought perhaps you might know of an apartment. I thought—” It angered Jack to think of this big, splendid girl’s being persecuted by her neighbors, and he said he would do what he could.”
“she still has the constitution of a virtuous and healthy woman. Did you hear about the last one? She sold her jewelry to put him into some kind of business, and as soon as he got the money, he left her for another girl, who had a car—a convertible.”
“Since living costs had doubled and since he was paying alimony to two wives, he had to draw on his savings. He took another job, which promised more money, but it didn’t last long and he found himself out of work. This didn’t bother him at all. He still had money in the bank, and anyhow it was easy to borrow from friends. His indifference was the consequence not of lassitude or despair but rather of an excess of hope. He had the feeling that he had only recently come to New York from Ohio.”
“The fever kept him drowsy most of the time, but he roused himself occasionally and went out to a cafeteria for a meal. He felt sure that none of his friends knew where he was, and he was glad of this. He hadn’t counted on Joan. Late one morning, he heard her speaking in the hall with his landlady.”
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you, Jack,” she said. She spoke softly. “When I found out that you were in a place like this I thought you must be broke or sick. I stopped at the bank and got some money, in case you’re broke. I’ve brought you some Scotch. I thought a little drink wouldn’t do you any harm. Want a little drink?”
“She poured more Scotch into his glass and handed it to him. She lighted a cigarette and put it between his lips. The intimacy of this gesture, which made it seem not only as if he were deathly ill but as if he were her lover, troubled him. “As soon as I’m better,” he said, “I’ll take a room at a good hotel. I’ll call you then. It was nice of you to come.”
“She turned and, taking one of his hands, linked her fingers in his. “He’s dead, isn’t he?” Jack said. “That Englishman’s dead.” He pushed her off the bed, and got up himself. “Get out,” he said. “You’re sick, darling,” she said. “I can’t leave you alone here.” “Get out,” he said again, and when she didn’t move, he shouted, “What kind of an obscenity are you that you can smell sickness and death the way you do?” “You poor darling.”
“Does it make you feel young to watch the dying?” he shouted. “Is that the lewdness that keeps you young? Is that why you dress like a crow? Oh, I know there’s nothing I can say that will hurt you. I know there’s nothing filthy or corrupt or depraved or brutish or base that the others haven’t tried, but this time you’re wrong. I’m not ready. My life isn’t ending. My life’s beginning. There are wonderful years ahead of me.”
Story in short-Jack and Joan come from the same town in Ohio and come to live in NYC, meeting each other at varies times.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
Jack meets Joan and has drinks until 3 am many times until they go their different ways, but every time they meet she looks serene and healthy, squalor and troubles never faze her and always wearing black like a widow. Her boyfriends are always troubled and she is by to help them, with her quite ways. Jack has been to her place witnessing Joan's distressed men and was happy to escape. I was thinking that she was just very friendly wanting to help these poor souls. Jack gets married and has a baby, things look good for him but then after 3 years, they divorce. War calls him to action, he marries and then again divorces, he has two alimonies, getting older but still he feels that he will be okay, for the future is bright, he has money in the bank. Then finally he hits bottom, no money and in squalor, not wanting any of his friends to see him, yet Joan finds him. All through the story the romantic in me thought maybe these two would find happiness. I was thinking as Jack's life had become far from perfect, really seeming no happier than Joan's but then I see John's behavior to a man down on his luck and made me think like Jack did, did Joan help those men in their demise? She gloated over the men that died, either by taking poison or missing in action, the ones that survived death, she did not want to mentioned. When she actively looked for Jack, she continued to talk of his distress being okay and kept handing him drink, while she looked fatter and healthier then ever. He tells her to go away for she likes to see death and the demise of others growing healthier from the bad luck of others. She finally goes away but tells him, she be back that evening, afraid of meeting her again and full of live not ready to give up, he packs all he has giving no signs of being there and leaves, not to see her again, until he is back in health, for when she sees him in good straights, she will no longer wish to see him, unless to show off her poor souls. Several times in the story, while he was doing well, he offered to go out together by themselves, not with a poor soul and she refused.
“She was then a big, handsome girl with a wonderful voice, and her face, her whole presence, always seemed infused with a gentle and healthy pleasure at her surroundings, whatever they were. She was innocently and incorrigibly convivial, and would get out of bed and dress at three in the morning if someone called her and asked her to come out for a drink, as Jack often did. In the fall, she got some kind of freshman executive job in a department store. They saw less and less of each other and then for quite a while stopped seeing each other altogether. Jack was living with a girl he had met at a party, and it never occurred to him to wonder what had become of Joan.”
“Sometime the next winter, Jack moved from the Village to an apartment in the East Thirties. He was crossing Park Avenue one cold morning on his way to the office when he noticed, in the crowd, a woman he had met a few times at Joan’s apartment. He spoke to her and asked about his friend. “Haven’t you heard?” she said. She pulled a long face. “Perhaps I’d better tell you. Perhaps you can help.”
“The count had a program called “The Song of the Fiords,” or something like that, and he sang Swedish folk songs. Everyone suspected him of being a fake, but that didn’t bother Joan. He had met her at a party and, sensing a soft touch, had moved in with her the following night. About a week later, he complained of pains in his back and said he must have some morphine. Then he needed morphine all the time. If he didn’t get morphine, he was abusive and violent. Joan began to deal with those doctors and druggists who peddle dope, and when they wouldn’t supply her, she went down to the bottom of the city. Her friends were afraid she would be found some morning stuffed in a drain. She got pregnant. She had an abortion. The count left her and moved to a flea bag near Times Square, but she was so impressed by then with his helplessness, so afraid that he would die without her, that she followed him there and shared his room and continued to buy his narcotics.”
“Late in the summer, Joan telephoned Jack at his office and asked if he wouldn’t bring his wife to see her; she named an evening the following week. He felt guilty about not having called her, and accepted the invitation. This made his wife angry. She was an ambitious girl who liked a social life that offered rewards, and she went unwillingly to Joan’s Village apartment with him.”
“WHEN JACK’S SON was less than two years old, his wife flew with the baby to Nevada to get a divorce. Jack gave her the apartment and all its furnishings and took a room in a hotel near Grand Central. His wife got her decree in due course, and the story was in the newspapers. Jack had a telephone call from Joan a few days later.”
“I’m awfully sorry to hear about your divorce, Jack,” she said. “She seemed like such a nice girl. But that wasn’t what I called you about. I want your help, and I wondered if you could come down to my place tonight around six. It’s something I don’t want to talk about over the phone.”
“I’m being evicted, Jack,” she said. “I’m being evicted because I’m an immoral woman. The couple who have the apartment downstairs—they’re charming people, I’ve always thought—have told the real-estate agent that I’m a drunk and a prostitute and all kinds of things. Isn’t that fantastic? This real-estate agent has always been so nice to me that I didn’t think he’d believe them, but he’s canceled my lease, and if I make any trouble, he’s threatened to take the matter up with the store, and I don’t want to lose my job. This nice real-estate agent won’t even talk with me any more. When I go over to the office, the receptionist leers at me as if I were some kind of dreadful woman. Of course, there have been a lot of men here and we sometimes are noisy, but I can’t be expected to go to bed at ten every night.”
“they think there’s a man up here after midnight, they call me on the telephone and say all kinds of disgusting things. Of course, I can put my furniture into storage and go to a hotel, I guess. I guess a hotel will take a woman with my kind of reputation, but I thought perhaps you might know of an apartment. I thought—” It angered Jack to think of this big, splendid girl’s being persecuted by her neighbors, and he said he would do what he could.”
“she still has the constitution of a virtuous and healthy woman. Did you hear about the last one? She sold her jewelry to put him into some kind of business, and as soon as he got the money, he left her for another girl, who had a car—a convertible.”
“Since living costs had doubled and since he was paying alimony to two wives, he had to draw on his savings. He took another job, which promised more money, but it didn’t last long and he found himself out of work. This didn’t bother him at all. He still had money in the bank, and anyhow it was easy to borrow from friends. His indifference was the consequence not of lassitude or despair but rather of an excess of hope. He had the feeling that he had only recently come to New York from Ohio.”
“The fever kept him drowsy most of the time, but he roused himself occasionally and went out to a cafeteria for a meal. He felt sure that none of his friends knew where he was, and he was glad of this. He hadn’t counted on Joan. Late one morning, he heard her speaking in the hall with his landlady.”
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you, Jack,” she said. She spoke softly. “When I found out that you were in a place like this I thought you must be broke or sick. I stopped at the bank and got some money, in case you’re broke. I’ve brought you some Scotch. I thought a little drink wouldn’t do you any harm. Want a little drink?”
“She poured more Scotch into his glass and handed it to him. She lighted a cigarette and put it between his lips. The intimacy of this gesture, which made it seem not only as if he were deathly ill but as if he were her lover, troubled him. “As soon as I’m better,” he said, “I’ll take a room at a good hotel. I’ll call you then. It was nice of you to come.”
“She turned and, taking one of his hands, linked her fingers in his. “He’s dead, isn’t he?” Jack said. “That Englishman’s dead.” He pushed her off the bed, and got up himself. “Get out,” he said. “You’re sick, darling,” she said. “I can’t leave you alone here.” “Get out,” he said again, and when she didn’t move, he shouted, “What kind of an obscenity are you that you can smell sickness and death the way you do?” “You poor darling.”
“Does it make you feel young to watch the dying?” he shouted. “Is that the lewdness that keeps you young? Is that why you dress like a crow? Oh, I know there’s nothing I can say that will hurt you. I know there’s nothing filthy or corrupt or depraved or brutish or base that the others haven’t tried, but this time you’re wrong. I’m not ready. My life isn’t ending. My life’s beginning. There are wonderful years ahead of me.”
May 28, 2019
Es la historia de la amistad entre Jack y Joan a lo largo de 30 años; años en los que se ven de vez en cuando casi siempre en fiestas, bebiendo como cosacos y de alguna forma, aunque nunca fueron pareja, entre los divorcios de Jack y los amantes de Joan, comparten esa búsqueda del uno al otro durante esas décadas. Un relato seco y ambiguo, al más puro estilo Cheever. (Canción de Amor No Correspondido, en castellano)
March 8, 2025
Jack Lorey meets Joan Harris in New York and they develop a friendship that lasts for years, with their lives crossing from time to time. It becomes clear to Jack that she is drawn towards the worst kinds of men from drunks to sadists to complete losers in what seems some kind of unconscious act of repetition. Cheever runs with the story right up to its thought provoking conclusion. Another simple but totally effective tale from a master of the short story.
January 12, 2019
Wow! This is definitely a story that will make you stop and think about relationships. Joan only seems to be with men who wanted or needed something from her. None of them are healthly relationships. Her friendship with Jack takes a twist at the end when we see her visit him when he is sick. It's like she wants to be involved in the middle of his pain and suffering. She gets Kicks off of it. She definitely has some mental issues.
June 4, 2023
Great short story with a horror twist. Trigger warnings: abortion, abuse, alcoholism. All occur off page.
October 31, 2023
best story in the cheever collection i'm reading so far.
February 20, 2025
This is one of Cheever's twilight zone stories. It takes a twist you are not expecting and unprepared for but could have seen coming, if you were smart enough.
(#8 - The Complete Short Stories of John Cheever)
(#8 - The Complete Short Stories of John Cheever)
April 2, 2025
As with many John Cheever stories, there's no cut and dry ending. Joan may or may not be a harbinger of death. She might just be a woman who fell into a series of abusive relationships that have taken their toll. The final interpretation is left up to the reader.
https://pussreboots.com/blog/2025/com...
Privileged City Labyrinth 000099
https://pussreboots.com/blog/2025/com...
Privileged City Labyrinth 000099
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 20, 2023
made the mistake of reading this at night thinking it was a love story
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