false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168653470m/35964.jpg 35964 4 A great story gets its hooks into you right from the start; you know you're in the hands of a good writer when the very first sentence transports you wholly into another world. "Mother preferred Zulu servants." "It must be, Ruth thought, that she was going to die in the spring." "Who would have thought that a war of such proportions would bother to turn in its fury against the fools of Chelm?"<p> The 21 fictions featured in <I>The Best American Short Stories 1999</I> have very little in common--but whether they're about ranchers or commuters, romantic seekers or New Age pilgrims, what they do share is a sense of <I>urgency</I>. In each of them, there's a kind of voice that announces its need to be heard. "I'm not a bad guy," pleads the narrator of "The Sun, the Moon, the Stars," and even though he cheats on his girlfriend, by the end of Junot Díaz's story you might be tempted to agree anyway. (Especially considering the charming way he turns Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener into a verb--as in, "A lot of the time she Bartlebys me, says, 'No, I'd rather not.'") "Real Estate," by that master of bittersweet comedy Lorrie Moore, starts by repeating "Ha! Ha! Ha!" for two solid pages but becomes a rueful take on marriage, house-hunting, and even death: "The body, hauling sadnesses, pursued the soul, hobbled after. The body was like a sweet dim dog trotting lamely toward the gate as you tried slowly to drive off, out the long driveway. <I>Take me, take me too</I>, barked the dog." <p> Other standouts in this collection include Alice Munro's "Save the Reaper," a kind of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" where no one is killed <I>or</I> saved; Rick Bass's haunting evocation of winter in the north country, "The Hermit's Story"; and Tim Gautreax's "The Piano Tuner," about a manic-depressive Creole princess playing cocktail piano in a motel lounge. (This is one tale that truly does end with a bang, not a whimper.) Taken together, they are ample evidence that the American short story is alive, well, and eminently able to--in the words of guest editor Amy Tan--"help us live interesting lives." <I>--Chloe Byrne</I> 1343823 29 10 1999 The Best American Short Stories 1999 (The Best American Series) total:204|5:50|4:93|3:54|2:6|1:1| 204 797 314 17 4 1 true false Fri May 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue May 06 16:28:55 -0700 2008 Fri May 16 00:23:16 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Sat Mar 15 16:06:11 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 15 16:21:10 -0700 2008
The Hermit's Story is one of those "man's relationship with nature" stories that manages to maintain a convincing tone of wonder and suspense throughout the story.

The Sun, The Moon, The Stars is one of my favorite stories and my first introducti...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 29 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 29 10:44:23 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 29 10:48:21 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Dec 27 22:15:07 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 27 22:16:30 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 08:55:59 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 08:56:31 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Thu Feb 12 15:31:39 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 12 15:32:11 -0800 2009 2 0 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 29 00:43:43 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 29 00:51:50 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sat May 17 11:01:21 -0700 2008 Sat May 17 11:03:57 -0700 2008
Hermit's Story Rick Bass
the Sun, the moon, the stars Junot Díaz
Piano tuner Tim Gautreaux
Uncharted heart Melissa Hardy
The 5:22 George Harrar
Islands A. Hemon
Best girlfriend you never had Pam Houston
In the kindergarten Ha Jin ...more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Jun 24 23:02:56 -0700 2007 Sun Jun 24 23:04:20 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Wed Oct 01 14:10:00 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 01 14:22:10 -0700 2008
I've mainly read it because I've never seen an American short story, i thought that American writers are just like their civilization, every thing is big and huge, so they write novels NOT short stories BUT i was totally wrong

]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jul 28 12:13:15 -0700 2008 Tue Feb 24 20:59:24 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Mon Jan 07 18:13:29 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 08 16:14:21 -0800 2008 2 0 false false Mon May 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 07 12:31:40 -0800 2009 Tue May 26 04:29:36 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Oct 08 10:21:32 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 08 10:21:55 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Tue Jun 10 18:47:03 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 10 18:47:54 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Sat Oct 25 19:26:56 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 25 19:27:40 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Thu Jun 14 20:33:24 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 14 20:34:07 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Tue Nov 24 16:29:23 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 24 16:29:23 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Thu Nov 19 20:42:15 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 20:42:15 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Nov 14 20:01:25 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 15 21:36:56 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=35964