Witness the ever-changing history and identity of America in this collection of 40 stories collected from the first 100 years of this bestselling series.
For the centennial celebration of this annual series, The Best American Short Stories, master of the form Lorrie Moore selects forty stories from the more than two thousand that were published in previous editions. Series editor Heidi Pitlor … previous editions. Series editor Heidi Pitlor recounts behind-the-scenes anecdotes and examines, decade by decade, the trends captured over a hundred years. Together, the stories and commentary offer an extraordinary guided tour through a century of literature with what Moore calls “all its wildnesses of character and voice.”
These forty stories represent their eras but also stand the test of time. Here is Ernest Hemingway’s first published story and a classic by William Faulkner, who admitted in his biographical note that he began to write “as an aid to love-making.” Nancy Hale’s story describes far-reaching echoes of the Holocaust; Tillie Olsen’s story expresses the desperation of a single mother; James Baldwin depicts the bonds of brotherhood and music. Here is Raymond Carver’s “minimalism,” a term he disliked, and Grace Paley’s “secular Yiddishkeit.” Here are the varied styles of Donald Barthelme, Charles Baxter, and Jamaica Kincaid. From Junot Díaz to Mary Gaitskill, from ZZ Packer to Sherman Alexie, these writers and stories explore the different things it means to be American.more
Just as is normal with a collection like this, I enjoyed many of the stories, while a few were not my cup of tea – mainly because they were just too political – and we have enough politics elsewhere LOL! I especially enjoyed a story about an Indian couple who were adjusting to their new life and culture in America, but my favorite is definitely a story from 2012. That would be Nathan Englander’s “What We Talk about When We Talk about Anne Frank.” The Orthodox Jewish writer’s thought-provoking 2012 story is about a reunion of friends. They play a very moving game in which the Jewish contestants try to decide which of their non-Jewish family or friends would hide them, if there were another Holocaust. I found myself pondering and hoping that my Jewish friends would know that I would do so, but I know that it would be frightening for all. VERY thought-provoking!
Another of my favorites was Displacement, about Chinese refugees who resettled in America. As someone who has worked with refugees, I found it realistic. The author, who is Chinese, “tells it like it is” about what life was / is truly like under a Communist government. No rose-colored glasses here. Their family lost their home due to the government taking it for “the people.” Poignant for our own day, as some naively don’t see the dangers of the realities of Socialism. A few of the stories are a little juvenile, seeming to take glee in using vulgar language. As someone has said, that show a limited vocabulary. Crudeness is not a pre-requisite for authenticity.
My primary complaint is what one of the editors admitted, the lack of diversity in her own part of the process, because she didn’t see any reason to include stories by authors with a political beliefs unlike her own. That is a sad and somewhat frightening mindset, albeit not surprising. I miss the days when literature was TRULY LIBERAL in the sense of tolerance for ALL viewpoints. We all can learn from each other.
But overall, it is a good book that I can recommend.
Not all stories worked for me, but the few that did were marvelous!
There were a bunch of stories (there are 40 altogether), especially at the start of the collection, that were all emotion-laden angst and no narrative. I don’t like stories like that. I want to read a STORY. And so I was disappointed. But then came story after story that will live with me forever, either haunting me or feeling close (too uncomfortably close). As much as the earlier ones left no impression on me (and no memory), these later ones… Marvelous! So good that I’m giving the collection 5 stars. In particular, NATHAN ENGLANDER’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank” felt like someone was reading my mind. And BENJAMIN PERCY’s “Refresh, Refresh” struck a real note — it’s a story about the children of American veterans serving overseas. LAUREN GROFF’s “At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners” was extraordinarily visual. There are other gems in there. So all in all, good collection. Keep reading even if one story disappoints, there will be others that will stay with you forever.
So many wonderful stories from many well-known authors. Different stories from 100 years of American writing. Fascinating to see how styles and subjects changed. Over 700 pages to enjoy.
An excellent companion in times of pandemic The stories very much mirror the times of the 20th century and are classics.
I enjoyed these 40 short stories.
I enjoyed the short stories themselves. I did not enjoy having to filter through all of the editor’s comments about the short stories and the authors. There was way to much page turning to get to the actual short stories.