#615 They’re Not Your Husband- Raymond Carver

#615 They’re Not Your Husband- Raymond Carver

This one should be retitled: How to be an awful husband. Earl is out of work and his wife has to take a job working at an all night diner. One night while visiting her to try to get a free meal, he hears two men make fun of his wife’s looks. Instead of defending his wife or try to make her feel good, he tells her she needs to lose weight.

Amazingly she does what he says and doesn’t seem all that put off by him calling her a “slob.” After starving herself, she does lose weight (as well as the energy to do much more than work and support him), he goes back to the diner hoping to hear some guys say nice things about the way his wife looks.

All this rigmarole at the diner does little but make himself look like a jackass, the  only things he seems to be good at.

Rating: 7-5-5-5 Total- 22