Taki

The beauty of reading John Cheever is in getting to know so many damaged characters. Each story weaves a web of hope and folly, deceit and yearning. Many of the men in these stories take solace outside their marriages, but none for the same reasons and none of those reasons is sexual. Also, Cheever has a tendency to glorify youth through similar metaphors in these stories, though it comes across more as a genuine affinity for the young rather than lazy writing. These are tales of a forgotten American past, though their settings are as mundane and tried as many novice writers. Cheever's gifts are not in his creation of a world, but instead of a worldview. His is a world filled with confusion and good intentions.