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"So Much Water So Close To Home" – a short story written by American writer and poet Raymond Carver . It was published in the collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love in 1981, in the compilation Where I'm Calling From in 1988, and again in Collected Stories in 2009. The story is considered a study of the crisis in the marriage and how the dynamics of the relationship respond to a shocking event. The main themes depicted by Carver in this story are the emotional distance between the couple, isolation, and mistrust.

Plot overview
The story is told from the point of view of Claire, whose husband Stuart came home after a fishing trip with his friends. It turns out that the group of men found a body of a young girl, a victim of rape and murder. Stuart's insensitivity while telling his wife about this as well as the fact that the men waited three days until they reported their discovery to the police raises Claire's suspicions over Stuart's alleged involvement in the girl's death. Her belief overwhelms her attitude toward her husband – she begins to analyze his words, moves and gestures in search for the evidence for his guilt. Stuart realizes that and soon becomes angry at his wife for her lack of trust. The situation in the marriage gets very tense; the couple fails to communicate and loses the emotional closeness. Claire still remains deeply involved in a dead girl's case, so she decides to attend her funeral. There she hears that the actual killer has been found, but she does not seem to believe it. The story ends with Claire back home, persuaded by Stuart to have sex with him. She agrees, indifferently, only to please him, while hearing the sound of the tapping water, which reminds her of the dead girl.

The title
The title comes from Claire's thoughts while driving a car with Stuart: "So much water so close to home, why did he have to go miles away to fish?” It reflects Claire's broadening investigation on Stuart's mystery, during which she becomes irrational or even paranoid. Claire becomes so obsessed with the dead girl's case and her husband's possible connection to it that it entirely affected her perception of the world. Carver meant then to emphasize the narrator's mental state given the circumstances.

The story in popular culture

 * The story was adapted into the Australian drama film Jindabyne(2006), directed by Ray Lawrence.
 * Along with eight other short stories by Carver, „So Much Water So Close To Home” inspired a screenplay for Robert Altman's comedy-drama Short Cuts(1993).
 * The album by the same name was released by Australian rock band Paul Kelly and the Messengers in 1989. One of the tracks on this album, "Everything's Turning To White” is based on the story.

Further readings
1.http://www.as.uni-heidelberg.de/personen/Leypoldt/files/EssayDevelepmentContLit2002.pdf

2.http://jsse.revues.org/index497.html