South Sea Tales vs What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: Which Should You Read?

Both live on shelves: American Short stories, Short Stories, Fiction

South Sea Tales Jack London · 1911 ★★★★☆ 3.8 157 pages · ≈ 2 h 54 m · Challenging

Despite the heavy clumsiness of her lines, the Aorai handled easily in the light breeze, and her captain ran her well in before he hove to just outside the suck of the surf. The atoll of Hikueru lay low on the water, a…

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Cover of What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Raymond Carver · 1981 ★★★★☆ 4.0 159 pages · ≈ 2 h 57 m · Moderate

In his second collection of stories, as in his first, Carver's characters are peripheral people--people without education, insight or prospects, people too unimaginative to even give up. Carver celebrates these men and…

Chinese language materials Manners and customs

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Side by side

The verdict

Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love has the widest readership — 81529 ratings behind its score.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love reaches further in scholarship and criticism — cited 108 times.

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How to choose

Want the crowd-tested pick? What We Talk About When We Talk About Love 81529 ratings vs 2682 for South Sea Tales New to the genre? What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Moderate vs Challenging for South Sea Tales Want the literary heavyweight? What We Talk About When We Talk About Love cited 108 times vs 5 for South Sea Tales

Scores by source

	South Sea Tales	What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Goodreads	3.8 (2682)	4.0 (81529)
Hardcover	2.0 (3)	4.0 (145)
Google Books	—	4.0 (1)
Apple Books	4.5 (104)	4.0 (77)
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Reception

	South Sea Tales	What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Ratings	2682	81529
Editions	70	33
Citations	5	108
Film adaptations	1	1
Want to read	2086	132609
Reading it now	344	4800
Written reviews	206	8028
Wikipedia attention	212	6054
Pages	157	159
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Questions readers ask

Which is rated higher: South Sea Tales or What We Talk About When We Talk About Love?

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love has the higher combined reader rating across sources (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love 4.0/5, South Sea Tales 3.8/5).

Which is shorter to read: South Sea Tales or What We Talk About When We Talk About Love?

South Sea Tales is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: South Sea Tales (157 pages, ≈ 2 h 54 m); What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (159 pages, ≈ 2 h 57 m).

Which is harder to read: South Sea Tales or What We Talk About When We Talk About Love?

Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — South Sea Tales: Challenging; What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: Moderate.