The Best Short Stories 2021: The O. Henry Prize Winners

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Editor / Introduction), Jenny Minton Quigley (Editor / Foreword), Daphne Palasi Andreades

The prestigious annual story anthology now has a new title, a new package, and a new guest editor format to reinvigorate it as it enters its second century. An Anchor Books Original.

'THE BEST SHORT STORIES 2021' - continuing a century-long tradition of cutting-edge literary excellence - contains twenty prize-winning stories chosen by guest editor Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie from the thousands published in magazines over the previous year. Chimamanda has brought her own refreshing perspective to the prize, selecting an impressively diverse array of stories by an engaging mix of celebrated names and young emerging voices. The winning stories are accompanied by an introduction by Chimamanda, observations from the winning writers on what inspired them, and an extensive resource list of magazines that publish short fiction.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Unfinished, Contemporary, Adult, African Literature

375 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 14, 2021

About the author

CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE grew up in Nigeria. Her work has been translated into more than fifty-five languages. She is the author of the novels Purple Hibiscus, which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize; Half of a Yellow Sun, which was the recipient of the Women’s Prize for Fiction “Best of the Best” award; Americanah, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award; the story collection The Thing Around Your Neck and the essays We Should All Be Feminists and Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. Her most recent work is an essay about losing her father, Notes on Grief, and Mama’s Sleeping Scarf, a children’s book written as Nwa Grace-James. A recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, she divides her time between the United States and Nigeria.

Reviews

[Monica | readingbythebay · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⚡️4.5/5. Twenty stand-outs very deserving of the O. Henry Prize, the oldest and most prestigious award for short fiction in America.

It was an honor to receive an advance copy in exchange for my honest review. Many thanks to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Anchor Books, and Netgalley. This collection is available NOW!

Reading this collection is like getting a masterclass in how to write from twenty different experts. Even when I didn’t personally connect with a story, I was so impressed with the CRAFT that was on display. This time around, O. Henry invited a guest editor to choose the stories (the amazing Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - yay!) and considered works in translation (double yay!). Explaining how she chose the pieces, Adichie says: “I look to stories for consolation, the kind of small consolation that one needs to want to wake up every day; as templates for life; for news of how others live; for reminders that life’s mysteries have no keys.” YES. This really resonates with me and I could gush about Adichie for pages and pages.

The stand-outs for me, and the themes that caught my attention, were:

*Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades
(racism, class, colonialism, immigration, gender — thoughtful, political)

*Endangered Species: Case 47401 by Crystal Wilkinson
(displacement, racism, black lives matter — powerful)

*Things We Worried About When I Was Ten by David Rabe
(class, bullying, poverty, anxiety — strong narrative voice)

*Freedom From Want by Joan Silber
(death and dying, relationships, LGBTQ — emotional)

*White Noise by Emma Cline
(me too movement, wealth and power, Hollywood — spot on)

*Color and Light by Sally Rooney
(longing and intimacy, relationships — enigmatic and strong characters)

One caution: I read this collection completely cold, which I often do with fiction. In this case, several of the stories were quite disturbing. Witness, Delandria, Grief’s Garden, and To the Dogs all have pretty graphic, unsettling elements, and in particular, I found From Far Around They Saw Us Burn to be way too much for me and I wish I would have known what it was about so that I could at least brace myself, or perhaps skip it all together. Everyone has different trigger points, and sensitive readers should consider this before reading this collection.

[Cindy C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not finished, but thus far my favorite compilation of short stories in a series like this. Likely because Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the editor.

I'm reading one a day v. my usual style of binging stories until I'm finished with the book (not really an ideal way to understand or take in the short story form for me).

I'm trying more intentionally not to frame reading as a competitive, productive game, and books as something to get through so I can say I finished it -- because if I think about it --- the number of books read measures absolutely f'cking nothing meaningful in my endeavor to read. The only thing it does is give my ego a boost on goodreads & serves as bragging rights...But at the detriment to my ability to take in or even understand what I'm reading... Capitalism's idea of productivity above all else is weirdly insidious in our pleasure/leisure activities.

Anywaaays, sometimes w. short story compilations the editor can be disappointing in terms of breadth and diversity of stories, but not here!

In addition reading George Saunder's A Swim in a Pond has helped me unpack and appreciate short stories more, so another reason I'm especially enjoying this collection.

[Nilo0 · Rating 4 out of 5]

مجموعه‌داستان‌های برنده جایزه اُ هنری از هرجا و هر موضوعی که بشه فکرش رو کرد. اما بیشتر با درون‌مایه نژادپرستی، گذشته و تلخ و شیرینی‌های زندگی انسان.

چند تا از بهترین‌هاش از نظر من:
اقامتگاه مالیگا: زنی مسن که پس از مرگ همسرش در اقامتگاهی برای سالمندان مستقر شده و منتظر بازگشت فرزند مهاجرت‌کرده‌اش است.
درباره ادبیات هند و مهاجرت فرزندان

گونه‌های در معرض خطر: پرونده 47401: درباره تبعیض نژادی نسبت به سیاه‌پوست‌ها

از دور، سوختن ما را تماشا می‌کنند: در واقعیت یکی از رختشویخانه‌های مگدالین دچار آتش‌سوزی می‌شود و به‌خاطر شرایط اسفناک آنجا، بچه‌های زیادی در آتش می‌سوزند.

شاهد: درباره زنی سیاه‌پوست و ازدواج و خانواده و همسرش.

آن دیگری: دختری که پدرش برای کنفرانسی به آلمان رفته، اما خبر تصادف و مرگ پدرش که همراه با معشوقه‌اش بوده را می‌شوند.

قلعه ارباب: رویاهای مردی درباره عشقی قدیمی که به وصال نرسیده و با چاپ کتاب معشوقه‌اش یاد دوران گذشته می‌افتد.

دریای زنده: داستان زندگی دختر یتیمی که در سن کم با پسری رابطه برقرار می‌کند و زندگی‌اش را برای پسرش تعریف می‌کند.

باغ اندوه: زنی که همسرش با تصادف شدیدی در بیمارستان بستری شده، از احساساتش می‌گوید...

با چند تاش نتونستم ارتباط بگیرم اما اکثرش ملموس و قشنگ بود.

[Catie Choi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Standouts: “becoming the baby girl” and “white noise”

Had to stop reading “To the Dogs” bc that was awful and disturbing and I wish I had never read any of it

[Nicole Wagner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sigh... I hate short stories. I mean, they're addicting. They're a palate cleanser for me between novels when I'm in a rut. But they're terribly depressing. They always try to distill life's deep moments into a pill of sensation, and in avoiding lengthy exposition become stark and abrupt. There are gems here, for sure, but much of the usual as well. My favores in a nutshell:

Things We Worried about When I Was Ten by David Rabe was the most emotionally evocative. It captured the weirdly intense melancholy of childhood--that bitterness of having intellect, but being wholly dependent on someone else. The weight of responsibility is magnified when your world is small, as in childhood, and you can't yet see the big picture. This has some quirky morbid moments that were of interest in an absurd, almost darkly humorous way.

The selecton that I found the most satisfying is The Master's Castle, by Anthony Doerr. It begins a droll tale of toxic, deluded masculine romantic ideation, and deftly becomes a coming of middle-age. It's wholesome in its conclusion. I really, really liked this one, and identified with it when I thought I might not be able to.

The one I Googled feverishly the moment I finished it is From Far Around They Saw Us Burn by Alice Jolly. Dramatic, unknown moments of feminine history are delicious to read about when written as narrative. Bravo.

[Brenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short stories - all 7 to 15 pages of them - remind us how the people you meet are far more complicated than you would ever, ever know. ❤️

[Janie · Rating 4 out of 5]

i feel like i can’t give this book five stars because not every short story was my cup of tea (ahem “to the dogs” !!!!) but OH MY GOD some of these pieces just changed the trajectory of my life and the chemical makeup of my brain and i will never be the same they were so good!!!! my favorites were “things we worried about when i was ten” by david rabe, “becoming the baby girl” by adachioma ezeano, and “master’s castle” by anthony doerr. so lovely so wonderful i love short stories!!!!!

[Diana Lupu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The standouts for me were (in the order in which they appear in the book) Crystal Wilkinson's Endangered Species: Case 47401, Alice Jolly's From Far Around They Saw Us Burn, Adachioma Ezeano's Becoming the Baby Girl, Tiphanie Yanique's The Living Sea, Caroline Albertine Minor's Grief Garden, and Jianan Qian's To the Dogs.

[Casi ! · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to rate because so many different authors, and thus experiences. Overall though a collection of short stories feels a bit cumbersome for me. Though I loved a few, specially Tiphanie Yanique’s “The Living Sea” and Joan Silber’s “Freedom from Want.” Those were splendid! 5 stars to the first, 4/5 to the latter.

[Emily Rassel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short stories are terribly depressing, but this is some of the best ones I've ever read - one after the other.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Color and Light: Sally Rooney
Grief’s Garden: Caroline Albertine Minor/Caroline Waight
From Far Around They Saw us Burn: Alice Jolly
Freedom from Want: Joan Silbert

Exactly in that order. The bits of happenance that have left a mark in my memory, will live rent free in my mind for a long time to come. Brought to life by different triggers, I will happily remember these.
Life as happiness, careers, travel, laughter, friends, aloneness, meets, love, accidents, siblings, illness, grief, parents, community support- we’re all relational beings.

[˗ˏˋ kacie ˎˊ˗ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks Anchor Books and Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

How fitting this book is for Short Story September! I've pre-ordered a copy for myself bc it's the kind of book worth revisiting with fresh eyes from time to time. It's so very rare that I look forward to picking up an anthology after i put it down, but this well-curated collection did it for me.

Each story brings something unique to the table, all sensible and thought provoking with the precision and neatness not many short stories actually achieve. This is a book that will make you think more than you expect it to; it challenges some of the subtle and not so subtle intricacies of humanity. The stories vary in their topics, structures and voices; some are more disturbing than the others, some heartbreaking, some uplifting, but all more than well deserved the O. Henry Prize with their award-winning literary craftsmanship, dark humor, and thoughtful reflections of the world within and around us. Even the stories that didn't hit for me are interesting and bold.

My personal standout in the already very strong anthology: Malliga Homes by Sindya Bhanoo, Delandria by Asali Solomon, White Noise by Emma Cline, Color and Light by Sally Rooney, Grief’s Garden by Caroline Albertine Minor

Also would like to share some memorable quotes (sorry i forgot to jot down which story they're from):
"One where people are too busy driving to enjoy life. Nobody has time to talk, and yet everyone is seeing a therapist."

"What happens to all the one-sided desire in the world? Does it dissipate into the air, or does it flit around from soul to soul, anxious, haunted, looking for a place to land?"

"I don’t have the courage to watch it again, because there you are, and I can’t bear it, and I don’t even want to try."

"The first time he was a teenager, still in school. He thought that his life was just about to start happening then. He thought that he was poised tantalizingly on the brink, and that any day—or even any minute—the waiting would end and the real thing would begin."

[kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

i have got to stop trying to read short story collections

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

~3.5 average

Brown Girls: 2.5/5
I don't think I, as the audience, got out of this story what the author intended to convey.
Two Nurses, Smoking: 4/5
This is what I would have guessed would be my favorite short story going in. I did love the style.
Malliga Homes: 5/5
Endangered Species: Case 47401: 5/5
The story that has stuck with me the most
From Far Around They Saw Us Burn: 4.5/5
These last three stories were my favorite sequence of the collection, and all represent very different aspects of short story writing.
Things We Worried About When I Was Ten: 3.5/5
Scissors: 3/5
Witness: 4/5
Reading the author's words about their story really added to this experience in particular.
The Other One: 2.5/5
Becoming the Baby Girl: 3.5/5
The Master's Castle: 3/5
The Living Sea: 3/5
Freedom From Want: 3.5/5
Fisherman's Stew: 3/5
White Noise: 4/5
Delandria: 4.5/5
Antediluvian: 2/5
Grief's Garden: 5/5
To the Dogs: 1.5/5
My enjoyment was likely even lower, as this was disturbing to me in a way that made it difficult to read.
Color and Light: 4/5

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took a long time with this collection (I guess short stories still aren't my favorite) but I did enjoy it. Perhaps to be expected from the pedigree of the Prize, but the writing was all very well done. There were some stories I liked more than others but I wouldn't say any of them were bad. It wasn't a heavy collection either, the tone was more introspective than sad, or even dramatic. Editor Ngozi Adichie says in her opening that many of the stories have a "gorgeous grave grace" and you certainly feel that while reading.

My favorites were:
Endangered Species: Case 47401
From Far Around They Watched Us Burn
Things We Worried About When I Was Ten

Special mention to White Noise and To The Dogs which were unpleasant on purpose and very good at it.

[Jewyamarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many sad stories.

One very strange one that just left me feeling weird and sort of gross.

Overall, enjoyed.

Had to skip one because WAY too sad. Trigger warning for children, fire, death. Couldn’t handle it.

[Wendy Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to read this book, as I love good short stories, especially those by Alice Munro and writers like her. While I really enjoyed some of these stories, many were just a little too highbrow for me.
For example, "Delandria" is a story about a professor, Magna, who is mourning the loss of her lover, another academic who has moved on, thus leaving Magna stuck in a small town. As a black woman in small town America, there are certainly some issues that need to be overcome, so I get the issues of race. But, I am not down with disparaging the students at a small university just because they come from working class backgrounds. When i Was Ten" by David Rabe comes at class struggles from another angle. Told as a memoir about growing up poor in a time and place when it is okay to smack kids around (and your wife, if that is necessary), this story speaks about real life in many ways and Rabe gets the voice just about perfect!
However, this and several of the stories were first published in The New Yorker, a publication I regularly read, so there were not too many stories here that were new to me.
While I have read Adiche and usually find her writing compelling, I would just say that she and I do not have the same taste in reading.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for provided an electronic ARC of this book.

[gigi maimuna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I usually prefer novels but this was perfect to read in between climbs or on the bus to work

certain stories really stuck with me. with some, I wished they were whole novels and others felt perfect in their brevity. I admire and appreciate the skill it takes to create a whole engrossing narrative in just a few pages

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories that I liked least were pretty good and the best ones were very good, and I wouldn't ask more from a collection like this. In keeping with modern times, many of these were depressing. Humor or an uplifting story is rare here.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection was uneven, but I was thrilled with four of the stories -
The Other One by Tessa Hadley
Antediluvian by Ben Hinshaw
Delandria by Asali Soloman
Grief's Garden by Caroline Albertine Minor (translated from Danish)

From the introduction by guest editor Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie:
"I look to stories for consolation; as templates for life; for news of how others live; for reminders that life's mysteries have no keys. Above all, I look to fiction for a kind of wisdom."

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Best Short Stories collections never fail to disappoint! Featuring twenty stories from O. Henry Prize winners, this year's collection deals deeply with life, love, loss, and the complexities of navigating the modern world.

I'm not sure that I have much to say beyond that I really, really enjoyed this collection. The pieces were all written at an elevated level; none of them wasted time or space, and the characters were rich and round and the stories were beautiful and thought-provoking and heartbreaking. They are stories that you can't just read once. I know I will be thinking about them, and re-reading them, quite often from here on out.

[Valentina Miali · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Carter Murphy]

Picked this up on a whim when I couldn’t find the book that I originally went looking for. A great introduction to some amazing writers.

[Patrick Probably DNF · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first five stories all rank in the five-star range. And "Endangered Species: Case 47401" by Crystal Wilkinson deserves special acclaim for its tension, poignancy, and timeliness. The rest of the collection is standard fare, a good cross-section of voices and topics. The only story I questioned for inclusion here was the final piece by Sally Rooney; it felt a bit superficial compared to the others. Open to your thoughts on that. Or any of this! Thanks.

[Viviane Papis]

Although I've been an avid short stories reader, It's the first time I read a collection of contemporary stories mainly by newly discovered authors.

It's a tiring task reviewing this collection of such diverse stories filled with different approaches to human suffering and address all their complexity and literary mastery. While some stories replicated the "conventional" style I'm so used to (having read mostly classics), others brought novel formats that intended to capture modernity in racial, gender, and ethnic suffering - and these stories caused me great discomfort, which is always a good thing while dealing with novel literary pieces.

Altogether, this collection depicts the contemporary world in its various facets, some more arduous to read and think about, some more appealing to me. But in its entirety makes us question society and each character's place in it.

Albeit I didn't enjoy the reading experience of all the short stories, I was affected and touched by the emotions put into every page of this book. And for that, I regard Ms. Adichie's editorial work to be on point.

Finally, I highlight The Other One and The Living Sea as my favorite stories that remained with me after I had finished the book.

[Jennifer Anitzberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I look forward to the yearly editions of the O. Henry Prize Best American Short Stories, the PEN Awards stories, and Pushcart Prize collections. The O. Henry Prize made two changes to how they select the stories than in years past. The first is they are now including translated stories and the second is a guest editor, like the Best American Short Stories. To start the new trend they chose Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and her selections are diverse, from all over the world. There are familiar names and new names and overall this is my favorite of the O. Henry Prize collections. I enjoy the writers who are new to me, I added some books to my TBR list! The stories that stood out to me were "Malliga Homes" by Sindya Bhanoo, "Endangered Species: Case 47401" by Crystal Wilkinson, "Things We Worried About When I Was Ten" by David Rabe (the playwright, was thrilling to read something new by him), "Witness" Jamel Brinkley, "The Other One" by Tessa Hadley that was a real standout, "The Master's Castle" by Anthony Doerr, "Freedom from Want" by Joan Silber (I recognize the story from her collection "Secrets of Happiness" that is such a strong and lovely collection. She's such a master of the short story.), "White Noise" by Emma Cline (bold choice of subject matter, she is unafraid to get in the head of a dangerous and ugly, criminal man), and "Color and Light" Sally Rooney. Such a strong selection of stories!

(*Thank you to Penguin Random House and Anchor books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.)

[Madison Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of these stories covered different topics. While many of them covered deep topics such as racism, death, identity, and love, the mix of the stories was wonderful. My favorite was “becoming baby girl” by Adachioma Ezeano. Admittedly, I didn’t read every story in the book as I ran out of time and had to return it to the library. I will likely check it out again and reas the stories I missed!

[Christina Sherwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great short stories in this book. Great before bed read.

[Bella Carpenter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great variety of stories all on different subjects. Some of the stories took longer to read than others due to them going through translation but overall the compilation was done beautifully. Would say that they are some of the best short stories I have read thus far. Hoping they do a similar edition for 2022!

[Merritt Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

How can you go wrong with so many excellent short stories to choose from.