The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories
by Tobias Wolff
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 265)
Read in September, 2008
The stories in this collection are inspiring. Wolff collected works from the best writers of our time. Stories like Joyce Carol Oates' "Where are you going? Where have you been?" and Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried," while more wildly read and better know, fit in superbly with Andre Dubus' "Fat Girl," Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl" and Edward P. Jones' "The First Day." I was particularly happy to read Susan Power's "Moonwalk," a stor...more
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I bought this book when I was 14, and I read it from beginning to end a couple of times in a row. Before then I hadn't been to interested in short stories, but afterwards, they were all I would read. This book houses some of my all-time favorite short stories: Cathedral, The Fat Girl, Rock Springs, others whose names I can't remember right now. Also, it introduced me to Tobias Wolff, who I still love. I could still read it cover to cover.
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
short-story readers
Overall, I enjoyed the collection. Of course, I reread the classic stories: "Girl," "Cathedral," "The Things They Carried." And encountered several new favorites.
However, I encountered a higher percentage of stories I didn't like than I usually find in an anthology. Not that the majority of the stories fell into the unlikable category——just more than usual.
Perhaps I'm just becoming picky. Perhaps not.
However, I encountered a higher percentage of stories I didn't like than I usually find in an anthology. Not that the majority of the stories fell into the unlikable category——just more than usual.
Perhaps I'm just becoming picky. Perhaps not.
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Read in January, 2008
A great collection, and I'm a man who knows collections. This has many of the greats that I think are essential in any collection as well as some others I hadn't ever seen before. The first story, which I can't remember the name of, really hit me, as did a magnificent and horrifying piece near the middle called "Wickedness." Scribner anthology is still my favorite, but this is a close second.
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Read in June, 2005
recommends it for:
fiction lovers
This book will make you love short stories. I won't say every page was amazing, and in fact there were two or three stories in here I didn't think were all that great. But the other twenty or so were great. Some were amazing. So seeing as this book is roughly 95% great, I'm giving it 5 stars. This is fiction that sticks to your ribs, not in your teeth.
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So far, this is a great read. I found "River of Names" by Allison, "The Darling" by Bradfield, "Chopin In Winter" by Dybek, and "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Oates to be the most to my liking. Short stories are quickly becoming some of my favorite work. It's a wonderful area of writing, and these are some GREAT examples of it.
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this is one of the best and most comprehensive collection of american short stories. i LOVE it, and i re-read it at least once a year. i taught it to my 102 students at UT, and they also enjoyed the stories. river of names by dorothy allison is in here; it's a top favorite of mine. so chilling, so haunting; it stays with me.
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This is one of the best story anthologies I've ever read. Some of my all-time favorite short stories, such as "The Fat Girl" by Andre Dubus, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates, "Train" by Joy Williams, "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver and "Men Under Water" by Ralph Lombreglia, are in this book.
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The first story, "River of Names," by Dorothy Allison ripped my friggen head off. Brutally good. Another favorite was, "Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta," by Kate Braverman. A few stories are already heavily anthologized (Oates, Tan, Carver) but overall this was a spectacular anthology with only a few misses.
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Read in June, 2008
Highlights: "All The Way In Flagstaff, Arizona" by Richard Bausch;
"Rock Springs" by Richard Ford;
"Testimony Of Pilot" by Barry Hannah;
"Emergency" by Denis Johnson;
"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates;
"Cody's Story" by Robert Olmstead;
"Helping" by Robert Stone
"Rock Springs" by Richard Ford;
"Testimony Of Pilot" by Barry Hannah;
"Emergency" by Denis Johnson;
"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates;
"Cody's Story" by Robert Olmstead;
"Helping" by Robert Stone
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HMMMM...I can't say that I enjoy short stories as much as novels. But I have to read these for class so....So far I don't find them as memorable as the introduction says they are. Most of the stories are graphic and disturbing.
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Solid selection. All cut from realist epiphanic cloth. Guess I shouldn't have expected anything else, given that Tobias Wolff is the editor. The gems: "The Fat Girl" by Andre Dubus, "Murderers" by Leonard Michaels.
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You can't go wrong with an anthology containing stories by Raymond Carver, Denis Johnson and Jayne Anne Phillips. My favorites included Andre Dubus's The Fat Girl and Dorothy Allison's, The River of Names.
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So, I didn't read the whole thing, but you've got to admire a book filled with stories arranged alphabetically by author's name that you can read straight through and never be let down.
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Certainly, Tobias Wolff DO know how to pick short stories.
In this volume, I found one of "The Ten Best Short Stories I've Ever Read" i.e: "All the Way in Flagstaff, Arizona" by Richard Bausch.
In this volume, I found one of "The Ten Best Short Stories I've Ever Read" i.e: "All the Way in Flagstaff, Arizona" by Richard Bausch.
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What a gem of a collection! I probably would not have read this without the recommendation of the short story group because short stories usually frustrate me, but these were so worth it.
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recommends it for:
people who ride the subway
Some better than others, as any anthology is, this is a great compendium of stories. Good tidbits for train time, whether on the way to work or the slow ride to sleepy, in my case. :D
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Was my "textbook" in fiction writing... and a fabulous one at that...
Some absolute gems in here...
Worth reading if you need some short story inspiration
Some absolute gems in here...
Worth reading if you need some short story inspiration
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Read in January, 2002
We used this book for a short story writing class I took in college, and this is how I first came to appreciate the genre. Great sampling of notable authors.
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Monotone; lack of aesthetic diversity; taught this book in advanced fiction writing and had to supplement heavily with course pack.
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