Well, I managed Alice's first story, followed by Bradbury's "The Dwarf, and about to finish Carey's "Do You Love Me?"

Yes, I KNOW there's a sequence to be followed!

I took the books to bed after a draining weekend and read/fell asleep/woke/read/fell asleep etc and couldn't remember the order I was supposed to be reading in.

Walker Cowboy
The Dwarf
Do You Love Me?

They could hardly be more different if I had chosen hem consciously to "compare and contrast".

IMO they ALL have weaknesses (yes, even a Nobel Prize Winner) and which will "stay with" longest would make an interesting debate.

If you Google my articles "The Disease of Competence" and "Not Enough Hints For Mrs GoLightly" you will understand what I think is wrong with (a) The Competition Scene and (b) Much of Short-Story publishing.

Let me put it this way. Alice Munro's story would not make the last 100 in Bridport. Carey's might, but the easier (and slightly melodramatic, and overcooked) The Dwarf, artistically inferior to both, would almost certainly make the Bridport Anthology and probably pick up a prize.

More on that later.