Best Worst American: Stories

by Juan Martinez

Winner of the inaugural Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award These are the best Americans, the worst Americans. In these stories (these cities, these people) there are labyrinths, rivers, wildernesses. Voices sound slightly different than expected. There's humor, but it's going to hurt. In "On Paradise," a petshop manager flies with his cat to Las Vegas to meet his long-lost mother and grandmother, only to find that the women look exactly like they did forty years before. In "The Spooky Japanese Girl is There For You," the spooky Japanese girl (a ghost) is there for you, then she is not. These refreshing and invigorating stories of displacement, exile, and identity, of men who find themselves confused by the presence or absence of extraordinary women, jump up, demand to be read, and send the reader back to the earth reminded from these short stories how big the world is.

Genres: Short Stories, Speculative Fiction, Fiction

198 pages, Paperback

Published February 28, 2017

Reviews

[Rachel León · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martinez has a really unique voice and these stories are masterful.

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, absurd, and a little surreal short stories of a young and restless colombian in usa with lots of winks and shout outs to literature you may love.

[Anne Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stories in Juan Martinez's Best Worst American are a delight to read. If you like Borges, Nabokov, Saunders then you should give this collection a try, because Juan likes those guys too, a whole bunch, yet has crafted a voice and style all his own. Some of the stories are very very short, and weird, and funny, while others are longer and more realistic. Here's the opening paragraph of one of the weird ones (Liner Notes for Renegade, the Opening Sequence):

"The original version of Renegade's opening sequence is fifteen minutes longer than the length of a single episode of the show. While this sequence could, in fact, be reconstructed, little would be gained by doing so; the opening-sequence director was aware that an hour-plus of Lorenzo Lamas riding through the desert was too much, but he was also, he later admitted, mesmerized by a long shot of the motorcycle (looking no bigger than a pebble) progressing from one end of the screen to the other---punctuated by dust storms, sunsets, and surprisingly inspired (and inspiring) music."

[Cheryl Montgomery-Nolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. It is off the wall and different, like peeking into the mind of the author and appreciating what you see there. There are 24 diverse stories. And I loved the stream of consciousness writing style!

[Kendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious, dreamy, heartfelt and surreal. Martinez's writing is deft and delicious as it ferries the reader into and out of landscapes fantastical, fantastic, and plain bizarre, populated by sad men and beautiful women, Japanese ghosts, and every sort of lost soul. Recommended for fans of Etgar Keret, Kelly Link and George Saunders.

[J.N. Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Juan Martinez is the Juan Martinez of our generation! This collection of short fiction is enthralling and brilliant. You will want to read these stories over and over again. When does his next book come out?

We want more Juan Martinez!

[Tyler Barton · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a story in this that I have read probably twelve times this year, called The Women Who Talk to Themselves. Go read it and then let's talk about it. I love this book, but especially the first 10 stories over the last half of the book.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fun collection of odd shorts. The first third of so, I had the sense that Martinez was mostly interested in wringing humor from being a sad sack-- there seems to be a character or at least a type who recurs in several of those stories who is heavy set, short and bearded, who maybe made a failed film once but who now works at Blockbuster. But there's a shift somewhere in here, where one story goes back to Colombia in the sixties and the collection opens up to this different emotional palette, of idealism and politics and the richness of family interactions and community that were missing in the other stories, as enjoyable as they were.

In the end, I really liked this. It hooked me with its tart early stories and then really delivered on the promise of pursuing a career in the arts even when you might not have what it takes to succeed at it. I'm still wondering if that somewhat-recurring protagonist is the subject of a longer manuscript. If there is such a book out there, I'd be excited to read it.

[Chris Bauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What a beautiful collection of short works by Juan Martinez.

While not my typical read in the realm of speculative fiction, there were several short stories in this collection which contained sf / fantastic elements, but regardless of "theme" the prose, construction and syntax of each work is exquisite.

This collection has a lot working in its favor;
- strong writing from start to finish
- varying lengths of works, which collectively pop and bang like a staccato rattle
- very unorthodox POV selections which make even the most "simple" story take on advanced nuance
- thought provoking, profound and visceral writing
- uncommon structures and word choices which REALLY pay off

In more than a few cases I was left scratching my head and wondering "how did he do THAT?" before turning to the next story.

I will say this - don't be tempted to read the entire collection in a single setting. One could, as the work is not terribly long, but each story is simply RICH in content. You won't know how stuffed with great writing you are until it is too late.

[Marlena Trafas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this collection of stories. A lot of them read like personal essays and the humor in them is very Sedaris-esque. About half of the essays I loved and the other half I could do without. Most of the ones I didn’t enjoy as much were too short/abstract for me the grab onto any deeper meaning. Throughout all of the stories I enjoyed there is this quiet absurdity and despair that feels so universal to the human experience. Most of the characters and narrators are imperfect and uncool but have these aching wants inside them that made me want to root for them.

Favorite stories include:
Machulín in LA
Dominion in Fremont
Well Tended
Souvenirs from Ganymede (beautiful ending passage)
The Coca-Cola Executive in the Zapatoca Outhouse
Correspondences between the Lower World and Old Men in Pinstripe Suits
Hobbledehoydom (no.1 fave)
After the End of the World: A Capsule Review
Forsaken, the Crew Awaited News from the People Below
Northern

[Ben Francisco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of short stories - some surreal, some satiric, but all with interesting characters and a strong sense of place, whether Colombia or Orlando, Venezuela or Vegas. Martinez has a knack for capturing the telling details of human psychology and interaction with verisimilitude, quirkiness, and beauty. He also captures a unique combination of longing, alienation, and connectedness that Latinx people and other immigrants often experience in relation to our countries of origin.

My favorite stories included Machulin in LA, about a former filmmaker attending his 38th wedding after multiple setbacks in life and career, and "Correspondences Between the Lower World and Old Men in Pinstripe Suits," about recovering data and conspiracy theories and letting go.

[James Joseph Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This smart collection of witty, quirky stories is written with such care and vulnerability it’s hard to not feel a little heartbroken for these characters. Martinez writes with an eerie precision and command of prose that is hard to find. I felt invested in the lives of these characters, even when they only appeared on the page briefly. Deft and skillful details as well as an unmistakable earnestness make these stories feel like delightful, slightly terrifying journeys through the lives and identities of real people on the margins who are given the spotlight here and allowed to shine.

[Bryce Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Upgraded this to 4* since it finished with some good ones. "Forsaken" in particular, awesome. I felt like the whole book was influenced by Saunders or Borges or something which was great, though I didn't totally dig the sad-sack narrator and style of some of the stories. Overall though, pretty solid.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

An often very funny (and always imaginative) collection of stories. Juan Martinez is a terrifically inventive, memorable writer who somehow also manages to be profound (many of these stories are quite sad too).

[Heyhansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some enjoyable stuff. A little Borges. I liked it.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This really made me fall in love with the craft of short story telling. I loved every story.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightfully weird.

[Simone · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Funny” and “devastating” are the two words that first come to mind when reading Juan Martinez’s Best Worst American. Whether he’s talking about a Japanese ghost girl, literary karaoke where poetry’s a no-go, a pyromaniac aunt, a Coca-cola executive locked in an outhouse, kitten posters, or creature-children with only fanged mouths gaping on their faces, his stories flame with a surrealistic strangeness.

With the same satirical brilliance and bite of writers like George Saunders and Donald Barthelme, Martinez’s stories are innovative, witty, pitch-dark, and playful, and the ways in which he is able to deftly stitch together these contradictory tonalities make his work disconcerting yet satisfying, uncanny yet original. In his opening story “Roadblock,” I found myself laughing aloud in a Lyft, only to then be quietly crying by the finale, mystifying my Lyft driver.

The manner in which Martinez maneuvers through these differing registers of humor and horror never fails to surprise. In his arresting allegorical story “Northern,” the horror is forefront. A couple who spawn monster children is confronted by their horrified houseguest to which the narrator starkly responds “She does not deserve an explanation. I simply walk over to my child and snap its neck”; later noting that “the whole subdivision blooms with corpses.” However, instead of leaving us in the land of the dead, Martinez pivots so that we end on ideas of bliss and acceptance. Through Martinez’s curtain of strange, there is a ribbon of perseverance that runs through the stories, reminding us all that even though we may land bleeding, at least we are still alive.

[Christy Orwig · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book from librarything for an honest review.
I did not enjoy this book at all, it felt very disjointed and nothing really made sense. The story just skipped all over. I honestly couldn't finish it. Maybe it just wasn't my cup of tea.

[Liz]

Chicago review of books best of 2017.