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The Best American Short Stories 2005 (The Best American Short Stories)
by
Michael Chabon ,
Katrina Kenison (Goodreads Author)
The Best American Series First, Best, and Best-SellingThe Best American series has been the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction since 1915. Each volume's series editor selects notable works from hundreds of periodicals. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the very best twenty or so pieces to publish....more
Paperback, 432 pages
Published
October 5th 2005
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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I think I finally have to admit to being a fan of the short-story. I'm about half-way through this volume now, and like previous years, this one is filled with excellent writing. ... so why do I like the short story? maybe because sometimes I don't want to commit to entering into a long-term relationship with a book. ... I think, also, there is something about the short story that feeds the voyeur in me. ... In the same way I love walking around neighborhoods at night when you can see into peo...more
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I really like short stories, how a writer can boil down such angst in less than 20 pages, and I can try new subjects or styles without getting too time-invested. Some of Joyce Carol Oates books I can give or take, but I love her short story in here!
(copied review) Chabon reaches out toward genre fiction—after all, he writes, a story's delights "all boil down to entertainment, and its suave henchman, pleasure"—but he doesn't go so far as to alienate fans of more traditiona...more
(copied review) Chabon reaches out toward genre fiction—after all, he writes, a story's delights "all boil down to entertainment, and its suave henchman, pleasure"—but he doesn't go so far as to alienate fans of more traditiona...more
Plenty of good stories in this one. I especially liked "Until Gwen" by Dennis Lehane, "Silence" by Alice Munro, "Death Defier" by Tom Bissell, "The Girls" by Joy Williams, "Old Boys, Old Girls" by Edward P. Jones, and "Bohemians" by George Saunders.
Of note in "Death Defier" is the analysis by the main character of the two kinds of people in the world: Chaos People and Order People. "No judgment; it was a purel...more
Of note in "Death Defier" is the analysis by the main character of the two kinds of people in the world: Chaos People and Order People. "No judgment; it was a purel...more
Please read "Stone Animals" by Kelly Link and let's talk about that story. I'll start - it's a spiralling positive feedback loop of crazy.
Other than that, the 2005 edition has a great collection of short stories. After "Stone Animals", I enjoyed "Death Defier" by Tom Bissell; this story echoes the interior of one person who has subjected himself repeatedly to the dangers of war. Read this story for the last few compelling pages - my imagination easily t...more
Other than that, the 2005 edition has a great collection of short stories. After "Stone Animals", I enjoyed "Death Defier" by Tom Bissell; this story echoes the interior of one person who has subjected himself repeatedly to the dangers of war. Read this story for the last few compelling pages - my imagination easily t...more
Noteworthy/memorable:
The Smile on Happy Chang's Face is just a great story about how you can never really know the motivations for other people's actions (and maybe not even your own). It's about other things too, but this idea is explored well, and I like the title for how it fits into this theme. The story also has a great ending.
Stone Animals by Kelly Link held me spellbound from beginning to end. I had never read anything like it before, and when I was done I could...more
The Smile on Happy Chang's Face is just a great story about how you can never really know the motivations for other people's actions (and maybe not even your own). It's about other things too, but this idea is explored well, and I like the title for how it fits into this theme. The story also has a great ending.
Stone Animals by Kelly Link held me spellbound from beginning to end. I had never read anything like it before, and when I was done I could...more
This was one solid collection of stories - as the title promised. To state the obvious, out of the many stories in this book I did not love every single one of them. But I can't recall any that I did not like in the 3 years it took me to get through these. That's right, it took 3 years thanks to my overwhelming desire to have a work of longer fiction going at all times.
The most notable stories for me were:
"Stone Animals" by Kelly Link - I could not rave enoug...more
The most notable stories for me were:
"Stone Animals" by Kelly Link - I could not rave enoug...more
It is tough to review a collection of short stories--of course I liked some stories more than others. But I love this series (they publish one every year) because short fiction is one of my favorite genres and there are always at least a few in each collection that really stay with me. This edition contains one of my favorites--"Until Gwen" by Dennis Lehane. It's definitely rated R, though!
I really like reading short stories and the 2 books of these that I have read, I really like. I like Michael Chabon's picks for the most part. (each year a guest author picks 20 of the best short stories of the year). I really liked The Smile on Happy Chang's Face by Tom Perrotta, Eight Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon, The First Four Measures by Nathaniel Bellows, Anda's Game by Cory Doctorow, Natasha by David Bezmozgis, and Justice Shiva Ram Murthy by Rishi Reddi.
A fairly good collection, most good, some so-so, a couple that I did not care for. I thought with Michael Chabon editing the selections might be a little more eclectic, but the collection was mostly mainstream. The highlights for me were the stories by Dennis Lehane, J. Robert Lennon, Tom Bissell, Joyce Carol Oates, Tim Pratt and Edward P. Jones.
I had a harder time getting into this collection than I did the previous one I read from another year. I am wondering if a lot of the styles of the stories depends on the editor. When I started, I didn't like any of them until about 2/3rds of the way through. I was wondering if it was possible to read an entire book of short stories and not really like any of them? Luckily, that did not happen. I kept plugging along on these stories, and by the time I reached the end, there were several I liked....more
This collection is only really notable because it contains my favorite short story ever, Stone Animals by Kelly Link. Pure awesomeness. "It turns out her marriage was the same color she had just painted the foyer. Velveteen Fade." I used to think that the ending was no good, but that was just because I didn't want the story to be over.
This is one of my favorite years of the series. I love Chabon's intro, that entertainment value was a main factor is the stories he chose. I believe literature should be entertaining, and that if it fails to, it's not going to last and become a "classic." It was nice to have a Pulitzer Prize winner (more eloquently) state that case.
I liked Michael Chabon as editor because he was not afraid to pick genre stories like Cory Doctorow's, or to check tiny magazines to find treasures like "Happy Chang" by Tom Perrotta. I liked the Kelly Link story but I wish she would write better sentences. Hers are so flat and she uses passive verbs too often.
Some unforgettable stories, some merely good, some more forgettable, but worth the read for the best of the best: "Until Gwen", by Dennis Lehane, one of those rare 2nd person stories that drags your eyes along as slaves; "Death Defier", by Tom Bissell, set in Afghanistan during the current war; and others.
A collection of excellent short stories. Some funny, some poignant, some haunting.
Short story compilations like this are perfect for periods in which you don't know when you'll be able to pick up the book next (which is a situation I often find myself in as a first year med student).
Short story compilations like this are perfect for periods in which you don't know when you'll be able to pick up the book next (which is a situation I often find myself in as a first year med student).
I wasn't a huge fan of a lot of these stories, but I absolutely adored Dennis Lehane's "Until Gwen" and Tom Perotta's "The Smile on Happy Chang's Face". So much so that 5 years later I'm still thinking about both of them.
Lots of hits and misses here. I was glad to see a couple of entries from previous short story collections that I have read, including Kelly Link's "Stone Animals" and Alice Munro's "Silence." The one story that really haunted me is Dennis Lehane's "Until Gwen." It's about a father and son who are criminals. The son has just got out of jail, and his dad is on a hunt to find the diamond they stole before he got caught. It has one of those endings that gives you t...more
Either 2005 was a PHENOMENAL year for the short story, or Michael Chabon and I have near identical taste. I'd like to think it's a little of both. Either way, for the first time ever I thoroughly enjoyed each and every story in a volume of The Best American Short Stories series.
I like the intro by Chabon. He's fighting the good fight, even if he gets a bit shrill about it.
"Until Gwen" and "Stone Animals" are both fine stories.
"Until Gwen" and "Stone Animals" are both fine stories.
A real mix, funny, tragic, poignant: some excellent, some hard for me personally to relate to. Worth the read.
My favorites: Dennis Lehane's "Until Gwen" and Tom Perrotta's "The Smile on Happy Chang's Face." This book rocks.
Was not my favorite group of work. There were a few stand outs. While trying to figure out the essay that I'm required to write on one or two of the stories in this book, I realized there were more stories that I liked than I first recalled. I think it might be even, the stories I liked and disliked in this collection. There were a couple that played with magical realism that I found well-written. Alice Munro's story was one of my favorites. I liked the sense of mystery in a couple of the pieces...more
Jessica Scofield
is currently reading it
Never really got in to the short story form, until now. I've discovered Alice Munro, she's an amazing writer!
Yikes. Aside from the Munro and the Tom Perrotta story, I don't agree with Chabon at all.
I've read several years and liked them all. You get all different kinds of short stories.
A few really good stories. "Until Gwen" was probably the best.
The best collection of short stories I've ever read. I think I own one of the other years, 2008 perhaps. This collection was outstanding. I enjoyed being able to jump around a bit from story to story, and skip over ones that didn't interest me. It's sold wicked cheap on amazon, definitely pick up a copy if you like short stories.
Not worth the paper.
really liked it. of course, some stories better than others, but overall a great reading experience. some of the stories are little works of genius and art.
my faves were probably (in no particular order) The Smile on Happy Chang's Face; Until Gwen; Eight Pieces for the Left Hand; Death Defier; The Cousins; Hart and Boot; Natasha.
i am still thinking about Stone Animals...
my faves were probably (in no particular order) The Smile on Happy Chang's Face; Until Gwen; Eight Pieces for the Left Hand; Death Defier; The Cousins; Hart and Boot; Natasha.
i am still thinking about Stone Animals...
I like reading short story anthologies because I can tear through them faster than novels, and if I want, I can only read the stories that hold my interest after a paragraph or two. I did read this whole book, skipping around in the beginning, but finally buckling down and making sure that I covered every story.
My favorite stories included here are "Natasha" and "Hart and Boot."
My favorite stories included here are "Natasha" and "Hart and Boot."
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Michael Chabon is the bestselling author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, which won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
He lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife, the novelist Ayelet Waldman, and their children.
More about Michael Chabon...
He lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife, the novelist Ayelet Waldman, and their children.
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