The Best American Short Stories 2001

by Barbara Kingsolver (Editor), Katrina Kenison (Series Editor), Julie Schumacher (Contributor)

This year’s Best American Short Stories is edited by the critically acclaimed and best-selling author Barbara Kingsolver, whose latest book is Prodigal Summer. Kingsolver’s selections for The Best American Short Stories 2001 showcase a wide variety of new voices and masters, such as Alice Munro, Rick Moody, Dorothy West, and John Updike. “Reading these stories was both a distraction from and an anchor to the complexities of my life — my pleasure, my companionship, my salvation. I hope they will be yours.” — Barbara Kingsolver

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Literature, Short Story Collection, Contemporary, Book Club

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Barbara Ellen Kingsolver is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, essayist, and poet. Her widely known works include The Poisonwood Bible, the tale of a missionary family in the Congo, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a nonfiction account of her family's attempts to eat locally. In 2023, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for the novel Demon Copperhead. Her work often focuses on topics such as social justice, biodiversity, and the interaction between humans and their communities and environments.
Kingsolver has received numerous awards, including the Dayton Literary Peace Prize's Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award 2011 and the National Humanities Medal. After winning for The Lacuna in 2010 and Demon Copperhead in 2023, Kingsolver became the first author to win the Women's Prize for Fiction twice. Since 1993, each one of her book titles have been on the New York Times Best Seller list.
Kingsolver was raised in rural Kentucky, lived briefly in the Congo in her early childhood, and she currently lives in Appalachia. Kingsolver earned degrees in biology, ecology, and evolutionary biology at DePauw University and the University of Arizona, and worked as a freelance writer before she began writing novels. In 2000, the politically progressive Kingsolver established the Bellwether Prize to support "literature of social change".

Reviews

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kept this book in the car for the last year. I'd read it at stop lights or when waiting to pick up carryout or any place/time I had the opportunity. Quality collection. Some of my favorites (w/ links to the ones I could find online so you can read'em yourself):
- "Servants of the Map" by Andrea Barrett
- "After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town" by Ha Jin
- "Boys" by Rick Moody
- "The Raft" by Peter Orner
- "The Secrets of Bats" by Jess Row
- "Nobody Listens When I Talk" by Annette Sanford
- "The Apple Tree" by Trevanian

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was delighted to see a shelf of these at the library and zeroed in on the Kingsolver edition. Short stories feel so new to me that the idea of seeing how people of literary merit judge them is incredibly appealing. The author section in the back that tells the inspiration for the story is also great.

I'm embarrassed to be rating this one star. I feel like I must be the problem here, not the stories chosen. And I don't know if perhaps I don't like the style of stories these were culled from or Kingsolver's taste! I feel like a lot of these heavily showcased a character's "inner life" when a lot of what I savor about a short story is how little interactions between people can signal volumes, and the way an author communicates that.

The first few stories seemed off to me. Enjoyable to a degree, but lacked a certain finish. I was excited to read Ha Jin's Cowboy Chicken. The clash of Eastern and Western cultures it espoused sounded right up my alley, but I couldn't finish it. I thought many of the stories went on for much longer than they really needed to. Halfway through the book I utterly dreaded the start of a new one. This book sucked the story-loving life out of me!

I loved My Mother's Garden by Katherine Schonk.

I feel like I don't have enough experience with short stories that I can say "don't read this." Obviously these were considered to be good stories by a number of people, who am I to disagree with that? I'd recommend one read this and come to their own conclusion.

[Dave Harmon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this slowly during lunch each day at work. overall pretty good. 4.5 stars. I liked the story by Roy Parvin (Betty Hutton) so much that I looked up and bought all his other books.
there's some really good stories here

[Jerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best of the stories here began and ended the collection: “Servants of the Map” by Andrea Barrett, and “My Baby” by Dorothy West. The latter was written in 1938, if I’m reading it correctly, but made it into this volume because the author wrote a lot, some of which is still being published; this was published in The Connecticut Review in 2000.

Reading the introduction after the stories, it appears they were chosen not so much for whether they were good stories as to whether and what they taught the guest editor. This may explain why the stories seemed, to me at least, as if they were more about stereotypes across the world than in other years. “The Fireman”, “Think of England”, and “The Raft” were the worst of these. Not being a fireman myself, nor Welsh, nor a World War II vet, it may be that they conform to stereotypes, but then, what’s the point of a story that does?

Katherine Shonk’s “My Mother’s Garden” was another standout, not necessarily because it transcended stereotypes (of Soviet peasantry in this case) but because it is a very good story about generational gaps; a stereotype that deserves very good stories.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific collection of short stories, with a lovely introduction by editor/author Barbara Kingsolver.

My favourite stories in this collection were:

Servants of the Map by Andrea Barrett - A British cartgrapher, mapping the Himalayas, writes to his wife of his outward travels while the reader follows his inner journey.

Rug Weaver by Barbara Klein Moss - An Iranian rug weaver muses about the magical carpet designs he wove in his head to keep him sane while a prisoner of the Revolution. His son's beautiful but very foreign wife tries to encourage him to join the living in the strangeness of California.

Post and Beam by Alice Munro - Lorna's awkward, shuttered cousin Polly comes to visit. It's hard to explain more.

The Apple Tree by Trevanian - Two women war over an old love and an apple tree that sits on the boundary between their properties. Sly & witty.

[Lewis Summers · Rating 4 out of 5]

These were definitely well written, though very few made much of an impact on me. I liked cowboy chicken and my mother’s garden best. Maybe I’m just not the biggest short story guy.

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is edited by Barbara Kingsolver. I was reading a book of her essays when I started this collection.

[John Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love short story collections and have since I was about 10 or 12-years old, brief and tightly written entertainment. For 50-plus years, ever since I was a pre-teen, I have settled down my day by reading for an hour or so, in bed, just before going to sleep. I find it relaxes me, puts the trials of the day at rest and clears my mind. I discovered "The Best American . . ." series about thirty years ago -- the best sports writing, the best science writing, the best traveling writing, etc, and my favorite, the best short stories. The latest collection I refer to here is "The Best American Short Stories 2001," a compendium of twenty short stories selected by a renowned guest editor. The premise is for the Annual Editor, assigned by the publisher, to review throughout the previous year some 3,000 stories published in magazines in Canada and the U.S, ultimately selecting 200 for review by the guest editor, in this case, award winning author Barbara Kingsolver. The guest editor picks the final 20 stories that will be included in the year's annual.

This edition included stories by Alice Munro (Post and Beam), Rick Bass (The Fisherman), Jess Row (The Secrets of Bats) and John Updike (Personal Archeolgy). Each story includes a brief biography of the author and his/her writings and a narrative by the author for the origin of their story inclusion. I particularly enjoyed this anthology and the many I have read in the past. I've found it a way, too, to discover authors of whom I wish to pursue further, looking in to more of their work.

[Ben Siems · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most lovers of literature, I have some discomfort with the title of this series. Literature and rankings seem rather incompatible, after all.

But whether the stories in Best American Short Stories are indeed the best of that year is of no great consequence. They are certainly very good. I have, over the years, grabbed three different editions from this series (1988, 1991, and 2001) at used bookstores, and I must say, I enjoy them immensely. I would highly recommend to everyone to track down at least one Best American Short Stories at some point. The books offer a great opportunity to read a truly diverse collection of excellent writing all in one handy volume. Definitely great to have along when traveling.

I think of the three I've read, I'd list 2001 as my favorite, in that I found myself genuinely taken in by almost every story in the collection. That being said, I don't think any single story-reading experience will ever match the afternoon a few years ago when I read the story Inn Essence in the 1988 edition. I truly had never imagined any work of writing could ever make me laugh that long or hard. It's an experience not to be missed.

[Harley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe I finished all these stories a year or two before, but I re-read several over the last few days. Some of the stories in this collection are on my all-time favorites list, if I were going to edit a volume called The Best of The Best American Short Stories. "The Secrets of Bats" by Jess Row, "Labors of the Heart" by Claire Davis. Then there are others that are favorites in this book: "Nobody Listens When I Talk" by Annette Sanford, "The Apple Tree" by Trevanian -- which is a hysterically funny story about a feud between two widows in a Basque village. I think they were almost all fascinating, though Updike's New England ways are boring and a couple others caused me to nod off. On to the next collection!

[Ann Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an exceptionally good volume of short stories. (This series if published annually.)

Highlights included

"Boys" by Rick Moody
"Nobody Listens When I Talk" by Annette Stanford
"The Apple Tree" by Trevanian
"My Baby..." by Dorothy West

Here is a wonderfully mischievous quote from "The Apple Tree":

"Short first pregnancies do not occasion criticism in our valley, for it is widely known that the good Lord often makes first pregnancies mercifully brief as His reward to the girl for having preserved her chastity until marriage. Subsequent pregnancies, however, usually run their full terms, which only makes sense, as the very fact that they are not first pregnancies means that the mother was not chaste at the moment of conception."

[Kasandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm reading such an "old" book because I found it cheap, used. I buy most of my books used to save money. This one is worth looking up for a story within by Claire Davis, called Labors of the Heart, which made me cry. And then read it again. It's so good I wanted to call my mom late at night and read the whole thing to her over the phone!! There are other fantastic stories within, particularly Boys by Rick Moody (also a 5-star story, incredibly well-written), Betty Hutton by Roy Parvin, My Mother's Garden by Katherine Shonk (another 5 star, set outside Chernobyl), and Marisa Silver's What I Saw From Where I Stood. A great read.

[David Rosen · Rating 4 out of 5]

best story in this collection is the unforgettable, mesmerizing "The Secrets of Bats" which (i believe) first appeared in Ploughshares. By Jess Row http://www.writingclasses.com/Informa... If I were to rate this story on its own- it would get a(n unhesitant) 5! I'd love to read a review of this story by a blind person (if i keep blabbing- I'll give the game away ;)

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

BASS are a consistant favorite of mine. This one is especially enjoyable with Barbara Kingsolver as the editor.

[Arthur · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love an anthology. Like any anthology, there were hits and misses for me. My favourite stories were:
Servants of the Map by Andrea Barrett
-Took me on an adventure through the Himalayan mountains, I loved the character descriptions and I loved the duality between what Max was writing in his letters to Clara vs what he was living and experiencing.

After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town by Ha Jin
-This one was so fun to read. A slice of life of an American fast food chain in China and the seedy underbelly of it all. I loved that the author was inspired after hearing praise of American fast food chains burning the excess food at the end of the work days.

Illumination by Nancy Reisman
-GAY and repressed and delicious. I loved the opening descriptors of Lucia of bread.

My Mother’s Garden by Katherine Shonk
- This one made me cry and made me feel overwhelmed with emotion. I felt extremely touched by the story of a grandma who refuses to leave her farm despite of nuclear contamination from the Chernobyl explosion because it wasn’t material and the daughter trying to get her to leave and the ways in which Chernobyl had seeped into everyone’s lives in tragic ways.

What I Saw from Where I stood by Marisa Silver
-I related to Dulcie’s character, especially when she hears the rat scratching in the wall and moves her mattress into the living room. Really liked this one.

The stories I abjectly hated were:

Labors of the Heart by Claire Davis
-What a boring and tired, stereotypical and wasteful portrayal of a fat character. What a boring story; in the sense of cliché and tired narrative.

Brothers and Sisters Around the World by Andrea Lee
-No, I don’t want to hear about the relationship between American Black people and African Black people from the perspective of some white bourgeois who has a vacation home in Madagascar. Made me nauseous lol

In both cases of the stories I hated, I read their notes on their short story submissions at the end of the book and rolled my eyes. But there were so many juicy wonderful stories in this anthology. A mixed bag!

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting to go back and look at the state of American short fiction nearly 20 years ago. Many of these stories were longer, fully fleshed-out, so it seemed the minimalist trend had exhausted itself by 2001. The stories were all technically precise, but I was disappointed by how little creativity or innovation there was. Many of these stories were the equivalent of photo-realism in painting. The writers were adept at capturing reality, but to what end? For instance, this was literally the point where Updike could write a story about some debris in his backyard and connect it somehow to a few recycled incidents from "Couples" and end up with a story published by the New Yorker and reprinted here (and I write this as an Updike fan). I'm still not sure whether it was a symptom of the times or a conservative streak in the editors that led to such tame, and at times dull, stories. However, there were some standouts and some exceptions. Rick Bass's "The Fireman" is now rightly considered a classic of the form. I was unfamiliar with the writer Elizabeth Graver, but her "The Mourning Door" was nicely-written, and the closest this anthology came to magic realism. Andrea Lee's story was fantastic. Rick Moody's story "Boys" stood out as being both shorter and more innovative in its form. In some ways, it mimicked or responded to "The Virgin Suicides." I was greatly impressed with another author unfamiliar to me, Roy Parvin, and his long story about an ex-con on a road trip, "Betty Hutton." Finally, there were some really fine moments in Marisa Silver's story. If you are a fan of short fiction, then the collection is worth reading, but one thing that interests me is the diversity of the short story form, and too many of these were too similar, examples of what some might call "domestic" fiction.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my continuing quest to read each book in this annual publication going backwards about ten years. I became a fan of short stories a few years ago when I happened on one of these collections at a used book sale.
As I am making my way, I realize that I will need to schedule enough time to read an entire story at a time and that I shouldn’t go immediately from one story to the next. Reading a story in more than one setting seems to lose its impact. I also need to take a little time to absorb the story I just finished before I start another, or at least I should take time to first make some notes.
My favorites:
Servants of the Map by Andrea Barrett
The Fireman by Rick Bass
Boys by Rick Moody: This story reads like poetry and I love it.
My Mothers Garden by Katherine Shonk
The Apple Tree by Trevanian
My Baby by Dorothy West
I like the contributors’ notes in the back and read each one before I read the story and sometime re-read it after I finish the story. This was a good collection.

[Gsus · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked Boys by Rick Moody, The raft by Peter Orner, Nobody listens when I talk by Annette Sanford, The Apple Tree by Trevanian, My Baby by Dorothy West but most of all: My Mother's Garden by Katherine Shonk.
What I didn't like were mostly the long ones (They were super dragging for me):
Servants of the Map
Post and Beam and
Betty Hutton (I did not really understand the story because I think this was the longest and I read it in separate days because I was busy, In the last pages of this story, I LITERALLY JUST SCANNED IT. I did not understand how it ended, just how it started.

[William Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a different book, but it was my second time reading a book that has many short stories in. Since I'm not a big fan of reading a long story with complex settings/stages, it was much easier for me to understand each story. The content of each story tells why the title of this book is named "The Best American Short Stories". Stories contain emotions that all of us have. Hatred, love, disappointment, sudden joy of one thing, sorrow, and joyfulness. I hope some stories' emotions can be relatable to readers

[Nanni Sender · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved every short story in this collection. I'd only read one of the authors previously, all the others were newbies and the stories were so original and enjoyable, full of pleasant surprises. I'd like to read more in this series.

[Jami · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you only have limited time to read, these are great short stories that are from a variety of well known authors.

[Ruth Conrad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the story by Alice Munro.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some wonderful short stories In this collection but some that aren’t.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorites were: Labors of the Heart, Post & Beam, The Secrets of Bats, The Fireman, and especially My mother's Garden.
I also liked: Betty Hutton, and What I Saw From Where I Stood.

[Linda Johnson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish I could give it less than one star. So boring!

[Michael Huang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining at times.

[Simeon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A/UN - NOTHING TERRIBLY MEMORABLE - BUT I GENERALLY ENJOYED- KINGSOLVER INTRO THAT DISCUSSED HER PROCESS OF PICKING STORIES WAS OUTSTANDING - SHE'S VERY GOOD

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the whole, an unimpressive volume with very few bright spots: The Apple Tree by Trevanian and My Baby by Dorothy West are worth the price of admission.

[Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm convinced this book only exists to decorate coffee tables in the houses of people who want to project a kind of Kingsolveresque mystique.

[Mary Newcomb]

Some collections are a bit uneven, this one was great throughout.