The 20 short stories in this collection were chosen by series editor Furman in consultation with jurors Kevin Brockmeier, Francine Prose, and Colm ...
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reviews
Mar 20, 2011
Anne
rated it: 
The best of this volume is "A Disquisition on Tears", which haunts me still. The quiet horror of that story doesn't hit until the very end. Unforgettable.
A great feature of these collections is the "Writing/ The Authors On Their Work" section at the end. Here's where I turned to find out what inspired Stephanie Reents to write "Disquisition".
Harrowing as the story is, its origins come from an even darker place. A must read, if you haven't.
A great feature of these collections is the "Writing/ The Authors On Their Work" section at the end. Here's where I turned to find out what inspired Stephanie Reents to write "Disquisition".
Harrowing as the story is, its origins come from an even darker place. A must read, if you haven't.
May 12, 2007
Cassie
rated it: 
The Good, The Bad, The Meh
Yes Please: You Go When You Can No Longer Stay--Jackie Kay; The Pelvis Series--Neela Vaswani; The Dressmaker's Child--William Trevor; Unction--Karen Brown; Passion--Alice Munro; Wolves--Susan Fromberg Schaeffer (if I ignore the author statement, which I totally disagree with); Famine--Xu Xi
No Thank You: Old Boys, Old Girls; The Broad Estates of Death; Sault Ste. Marie; '80s Lilies; The Center of the World; The Plague of Doves; Letters in the Snow More...
Yes Please: You Go When You Can No Longer Stay--Jackie Kay; The Pelvis Series--Neela Vaswani; The Dressmaker's Child--William Trevor; Unction--Karen Brown; Passion--Alice Munro; Wolves--Susan Fromberg Schaeffer (if I ignore the author statement, which I totally disagree with); Famine--Xu Xi
No Thank You: Old Boys, Old Girls; The Broad Estates of Death; Sault Ste. Marie; '80s Lilies; The Center of the World; The Plague of Doves; Letters in the Snow More...
May 09, 2010
Erin
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Did not read the whole book. Just the story Conceived by David Morse because he is Jack's brother. His story was great. Maybe will go back and read the rest some other time.
Mar 31, 2009
Jessica
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Aside from a handful of great stories ("The Dressmaker's Child"-William Trevor; "Conceived"-David Lawrence Morse; "Plague of Doves"-Louise Erdrich; "Letters in the Snow"-Melanie Rae Thon; and "Window"-Deborah Eisenberg), this collection was drab and predictable. Perhaps 2006 was a bad year for stories, because I recall that BASS 2006 was bland as well.
Feb 11, 2011
Hannah Jane
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Nothing was fantastic here. I didn't make it quite all the way through a lot of them.
Jul 25, 2010
The Awdude
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This is the third O. Henry Prize collection I've read, and each one of them has been just as strong. The editor is a former professor of mine; though terrible at teaching, in my opinion, she is a brilliant reader nonetheless. You won't find much experimentation here, just good storytelling, and it also includes author comments and judge's comments, which I thought was a nice bonus. The 2006 edition includes stories by Louise Erdrich, William Trevor, Alice Munroe, Edward P. Jones, and Paula Fo
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Dec 05, 2007
Meg
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I chose this book because a woman from the U. of A. has a story in it. Stephanie Reents was on her way out of Tucson and into the Stegner Fellowship when I met her on my "looking it over" trip to Tucson in the spring of 2002. Now she has a short story in the O. Henry book. Pretty cool. "Disquisition on Tears" was originally published in Epoch, the Cornell mag, but beware, it has a headless women in it....very "Legend of Sleepy Hollow", oooooooohhhhhhhhh.
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Jan 30, 2008
Sarah
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I like the O. Henry Prize Stories collections because they are generally compilations of very good short stories from a variety of authors. The stories in the 2006 edition do not seem to be as a consistent high quality as the earlier collections have but I still found many of them thought provoking and enjoyable. My favorite was Louise Erdrich's A Plague of Doves, which is vignette on the intoxication of passionate love.
Feb 21, 2008
Danielle
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There were several stories in this book I really liked. "Wolves" was very interesting and made me think. I liked that the relationship between husband and wife after all these years wasn't totally cliche estrangement. It was like their enduring love kind of drove them apart...I don't know, it was interesting. I didn't love all of the stories in this book, but I liked most of them.
May 23, 2011
SmarterLilac
rated it:
Spectacular. My favorite so far of the 21st century O. Henry collections. This one has the distinction of containing an excellent story by Melanie Rae Thon, which is the last piece of fiction I read that made me cry. Cry like a little girl. Doubt I will be that moved again anytime soon.
May 18, 2007
Jake
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most of the stories in here were just ho-hum. the one about the people that live on the back of the giant fish was great. maybe it's just because i like weirder stories and all of these were pretty conventional.
Dec 26, 2007
Christian
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I love these O. Henry prize winners books. They have always been my favorite. If you love short stories, or have limited time to get engrossed in a book, these are for you!
Dec 11, 2007
Laura Jean
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A good sample of what short fiction is / has become. Has some gems, but overall, I would say that the stories generally sacrifice boldness for introspection.
Jun 19, 2007
beyondthepale70
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i am a lover of short stories and particularily love the story "mule killers"-lydia peele in this book. i can't wait until we see more from this southern writer.
Dec 17, 2009
Anna
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Consistently the best source for a variety of creative short fiction. The best story in this book is "Disquisition on Tears" by Stephanie Reents.
Dec 11, 2011
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