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23rd out of 37 books
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The Best American Short Stories 2009 (The Best American Short Stories)
by
Alice Sebold ,
Heidi Pitlor
Edited by critically acclaimed, best-selling author Alice Sebold, the stories in this year's collection serve as a provacative literary "antenna for what is going on in the world" (Chicago Tribune). The collection boasts great variety from "famous to first-timers, sifted from major magazines and little reviews, grand and little worlds" (St. Louis Post-D...more
Paperback, 368 pages
Published
October 8th 2009
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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Strongest BASS in quite a while! I was absolutely knocked out by Steve De Jarnatt's amazing "Rubiaux Rising," which could make a short story reader out of any skeptic. Other standouts for me: stories by Richard Powers, Annie Proulx, Ethan Rutherford and Joseph Epstein. Wow, genius! Two stories on modern China (by Greenfeld and Li) also fascinated me.
Hey! Somebody consult the legal department! There are no Alice Munro stories here. She lands three on the extended list, but i...more
Hey! Somebody consult the legal department! There are no Alice Munro stories here. She lands three on the extended list, but i...more
"The Best American Short Stories" is, as they proudly like to point out on the cover, "best, first and best selling" collection of short stories published in the US over the preceding year. The second of these claims is of course entirely subjective, but there is no doubt that this series is one of the most respected and widely used anthologies of contemporary American short fiction. These anthologies give a snapshot of current trends in fiction writing, and are, for better o...more
I'm a glutton for punishment with this book series, which I think is in no wise a reflection of its title, or if it is the state of American fiction is only mildly interesting from year to year. Nevertheless, I probably won't stop reading the series. As for this volume, the first story is "The Idiot President," which is also the name of the play a troupe of Peruvian actors perform throughout Peru in the story. The second story "Yurt" is sort of about the semi-private love liv...more
So not my thing, and maybe I'm in a ridiculously picky mood, but I wasn't impressed by anything I read in here. I got kind of excited as I moved toward the end of the collection and spotted stories by Jill McCorkle and Annie Proulx. I was also impressed by Alex Rose's writing in his story, "Ostracon" from Ploughshares, but none of the stories grabbed me the way stories from other collections have.
As I read through this collection, I started wondering, Have I been corrupted ...more
As I read through this collection, I started wondering, Have I been corrupted ...more
It's taken me a while to decide how to rate this book because I wasn't sure whether to rate the compilation choices (that is, Alice Sebold's preferences), rate the compilation holistically (try to somehow synthesize my various reactions), or rate the compilation based on my favorites. I've chosen the latter option, and taken off a star for the stories I didn't care for. There are many 5-star worthy stories in this year's edition, and I most highly recommend Rebecca Makkai's "The Briefcase,"...more
As with every year, an underwhelming anthology save for a few gems (I continue to feel as if there is just way too much stories out there for too many journals/mags; I'm of the school of writing less, but writing better). Maybe I'm just bitter because my picks didn't make the cut, but whatever. Highly recommend the Makkai piece, which was just wonderfully wrought. "The Anniversary Trip" manages so much with so little; reminds me just how soft subtle stories can really work. "Sagit...more
I'll preface this with two things. One, all of the stories in this collection were extremely well-written. Language, grammar, story consistency, character development - there's a reason that these are the best of the year. Two, I love literary fiction. The more it makes you think, the better.
That said, some of these stories I loved, and some I hated. Some moved me, and some I'll never think of again. I realize that the stories are subject to the opinion of the editor, but I would...more
That said, some of these stories I loved, and some I hated. Some moved me, and some I'll never think of again. I realize that the stories are subject to the opinion of the editor, but I would...more
The 3 stories in this collection that stayed with me were "Yurt" by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum (The New Yorker), "The Farms", by Eleanor Henderson (Agni), and "Sagittarius" by Greg Hrbek. I didn't think much of Alice Sebold's introduction, though.
"Yurt" surprised me. At first it seemed kind of over-exaggerated. The subject was school teachers, and the voice was school-teachery. It didn't sound like The New Yorker at all. But somewhere in the mi...more
"Yurt" surprised me. At first it seemed kind of over-exaggerated. The subject was school teachers, and the voice was school-teachery. It didn't sound like The New Yorker at all. But somewhere in the mi...more
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As with all the 'Best American' anthologies, the enjoyment you're likely to take away varies from story to story, but most of the stories are above-average to great. The 2009 edition is no different, with a lot of really nice work, and only one dud (in my opinion).
The one misfire was Steve de Jarnatt's Rubiaux Rising, which was just a bit beat-you-over-the-head for my taste. War veteran stories can work. Hurricane Katrina stories can work. But when your story is about a war veter...more
The one misfire was Steve de Jarnatt's Rubiaux Rising, which was just a bit beat-you-over-the-head for my taste. War veteran stories can work. Hurricane Katrina stories can work. But when your story is about a war veter...more
Generally, this year's stories dealt with tragedy, injustice, and reaching brick walls. Each story seemed to hinge on a difficult decision, urging the main characters to test their moral limits. Many of the stories verged on missing a conclusion - though, that is the era we're in. Many stories, many lives are lead without resolution - this is a time of clif-hangers and uncertainty. This collection reflected that well. While my rating of this book is rather neutral (mostly due to several bland or...more
I was teetering between two stars ("it was ok") and three stars ("I liked it") on this one, and in the end went with three stars because you know what, I did like it. As much as I've complained about this series in recent years, this was a stronger entry than they've had in a while. Which quite frankly I found surprising, since I wasn't expecting Alice Sebold to be the greatest editor. Does she even write short fiction? And in spite of the success of The Lovely Bones, I've ne...more
Not one of the stronger collections, I didn't think. Some years I devour every single story without thinking about anything else. This year, not so much. I am working on my skills of just stopping reading something when I'm not enjoying it, and I probably did that with five or six of the stories in here. And then I had read a bunch in the New Yorker already, so there were probably only a handful of new stories that I really enjoyed in this on.
On a sidenote, can someone explain to me ...more
On a sidenote, can someone explain to me ...more
all the stories are 2 to 4 stars, i guess, but as a collection: what? this is the state of the short story? what happened to the third person? when did all short stories get dragged to the time-filling, but mind-numbing, middle-place of witty quotidian half-insights?
where's the innovation? the imagination?
i feel like i'm back in freshmen year attending seminar after seminar on diversity, but... the collection seems to be okay with diversity resting largely with authors...more
where's the innovation? the imagination?
i feel like i'm back in freshmen year attending seminar after seminar on diversity, but... the collection seems to be okay with diversity resting largely with authors...more
This is one of the best BASS in recent years. My favorites from this excellent collection are Alice Fulton's "A Shadow Table" and Annie Proulx's "Them Old Cowboy Songs." With so many fine stories being written these days, I don't envy Alice Seybold having to select twenty. Sarah Shun-lien Bynum's "Yurt" is also a standout.
As usual with the Best American Series, not everything contained within these pages knocked my socks off. Many of the stories were good enough, and were well enough written, but weren't anything to write home about. I only skiped over one of the stories (the one by the only Pulitzer Prize winner that I know of in the collection). There were a few gems, though, such as Greg Hrbek's "Sagittarius," Adam Johnson's "Hurricanes Anonymous," and Yiyun Li's "A Man Like Him."...more
I pick these up on the cheap and pick through the stories and usually read about 50% of them before I put the book away. I am a very finicky reader.
"In the Gorge" was agreat story. I appreciated the sentimentality of the circular generations linked to the land. It was mystical, botanical and even violent.
Be aware that these "Best of ..." books are going to undoubtedly have something you don't like, but they are addicting because you always feel that there might ...more
"In the Gorge" was agreat story. I appreciated the sentimentality of the circular generations linked to the land. It was mystical, botanical and even violent.
Be aware that these "Best of ..." books are going to undoubtedly have something you don't like, but they are addicting because you always feel that there might ...more
A struggling South American actor who never manages to leave his
country as he planned; a public teacher reckoning with her late
20s; an Iraq veteran trapped in Hurricane Katrina; and an
aging John D. Rockefeller are just some of the characters who
populate this commanding volume. Many of the stories in this year’s
collection focus on questions of shifting communities: “The Farms,”
for example, chronicles one rainy afternoon when a girl who finds
herself quiet...more
country as he planned; a public teacher reckoning with her late
20s; an Iraq veteran trapped in Hurricane Katrina; and an
aging John D. Rockefeller are just some of the characters who
populate this commanding volume. Many of the stories in this year’s
collection focus on questions of shifting communities: “The Farms,”
for example, chronicles one rainy afternoon when a girl who finds
herself quiet...more
I learned from this collection of short stories that a few things have changed since I took the AP English test in high school.
#1 Proper punctuation such as quotation marks are so last season.
#2 Short stories no longer need to have a plot, a purpose, a rhyme or a reason.
#3 Most American short stories are about people living in foreign countries.
#4 I should stick with "This American Life" for all my future short story needs.
#1 Proper punctuation such as quotation marks are so last season.
#2 Short stories no longer need to have a plot, a purpose, a rhyme or a reason.
#3 Most American short stories are about people living in foreign countries.
#4 I should stick with "This American Life" for all my future short story needs.
Maybe I just wasn't in the mood, but I found this collection kind of...dull. Nothing really lept out at me as something bold or new or unexpected, with that little frission of finding something amazing, which was disappointing since I expect more from Sebold. On the other hand, I think she should have selected the essay collection, not the fiction collection, as I find her a much stronger nonfiction writer, but nobody asked me! Oh well.
My favorites stories include the ones by Daniel Alarcon, Sarah Shun-Lien, Joseph Epstein, Eleanor Henderson, Adam Johnson, Victoria Lancelotta, Jill McCorkle, and Alex Rose. Most of the stories in this collection are under twenty pages, something kind of unusual and that makes for fast reading. Definitely an approachable collection for anyone new to short stories.
This collection was odd, but I think I only say so because of my personal preference for subtlety and lack of description in stories. The only story I completely disliked in the collection was Epstein's "Beyond the Pale" (due to an excess of summary and lack of character) and my favorite was Rose's "Ostracon."
Favorites:
Yurt by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum
Rubiaux Rising by Steve de Jarnatt
A Shadow Table by Alice Fulton
Sagittarius by Greg Hrbek
Hurricanes Anonymous by Adam Johnson
The Anniversary Trip by Victoria Lancelotta
The Briefcase by Rebecca Makkai
Modulation by Richard Powers
Into The Gorge by Ron Rash
Yurt by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum
Rubiaux Rising by Steve de Jarnatt
A Shadow Table by Alice Fulton
Sagittarius by Greg Hrbek
Hurricanes Anonymous by Adam Johnson
The Anniversary Trip by Victoria Lancelotta
The Briefcase by Rebecca Makkai
Modulation by Richard Powers
Into The Gorge by Ron Rash
I'm giving this 4 stars out of respect for the best stories in this collection, but you should understand that about 50% of this book is painfully dull. The BASS collection selection seems so political, and I do wish that the judges would lighten up and include more lively prose and lively stories. It's still worth picking up, and I hope that Best American continues to be a successful series.
Greg Hrbek's "Sagittarius" was a complete gem. Kevin Moffett's "One Dog Year" made me wish I could have written it and look for the seams. This collection is generally a good one, but those are the two out of twenty that made me want to find everything else the authors had written before.
I finished about five of the short stories before I had to turn it back into the library. For a "Best of" series the short stories were very uneven. For those of you looking for great short stories, you might want to consider "The Year's Best SF" instead. Some of the stories in that series will knock your socks off.
It's so hard to give these collections stars. It was maybe a little weaker than some, but a few of the stories were among my favorites of any year. Probably the best was "The Briefcase" by Rebecca Makkai. I really didn't care for Sebold's self-indulgent introduction.
Finally, a collection without a bunch of gimmicks. Tense and unexpected are how I would describe most of the included stories. Of course, I may be biased about the best one in the bunch, "The Anniversary Trip" by talented and gorgeous Victoria Lancelotta.
We read the majority of the stories in this book for my graduate Theories and Methods of Literary Studies class. I greatly enjoyed all of them, and I'm not sure I could pick a favorite. Fantastic. It gives me hope for the future of literature.
These are the best American short stories? All I'll say is that reading this collection has made me seriously doubt the short story medium. There were three or four that I liked a lot, or maybe even loved. Reading other reviews of this books reminds me of some of the highlights, although there were many stories I didn't even finish or seemed very heavy handed on topical issues (Katrina, China).
I can't help but think that people read these anthologies, because they are interested in ...more
I can't help but think that people read these anthologies, because they are interested in ...more
I prefer reading a bunch of stories by one author to the bouncing around that is required to read a collection like this. But some of the stories were pretty good. The image of a baby centaur will stay with me for a while.
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Alice Sebold is an American writer. She has published three books: Lucky (1999), The Lovely Bones (2002), and The Almost Moon (2007).
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