Best of Tin House: Stories

by Dorothy Allison (Editor)

Founded in 1999, Tin House's mission was to create a literary magazine without the stuffy, elitist reputation that afflicts so much of the genre. The only literary journal with a recipe for its own martini, Tin House quickly established itself as one of the most exciting, eclectic, and popular literary magazines in America, regularly honored in anthologies like Best American Short Stories and with awards including the O. Henry Prize. Best of Tin House celebrates six years of the magazine and wonderful storytelling. With a foreword by Dorothy Allison, the collection features nearly 30 stories that range from the experimental to the traditional from today's masters of the short form. Authors include James Salter, Deborah Eisenberg, Denis Johnson, Aimee Bender, Steven Millhauser, Steve Almond, Amy Bloom, Pinckney Benedict, Robert Olen Butler, Elizabeth Tallent, Mark Jude Poirier, Marshall N. Klimasewiski, Ryan Harty, Anthony Swofford, Amanda Eyre Ward, and others.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Writing

448 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2006

About the author

Dorothy Earlene Allison was an American writer from South Carolina whose writing focused on class struggle, sexual abuse, child abuse, feminism and lesbianism. She was a self-identified lesbian femme. Allison won a number of awards for her writing, including several Lambda Literary Awards. In 2014, Allison was elected to membership in the Fellowship of Southern Writers.

Reviews

[PR · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, bar only a couple, the best short story anthology I've ever had the privilege to read. The range is wide, the stories stunning. Good shit. Get with this.

[A-ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty crazy that something called the Best of Tin House was less enjoyable than just reading an issue of Tin House, which was without a doubt one of the best literary magazines of its time. It will be sorely missed. The problem with this collection is that it lacked the wide-ranging variety of styles that one would fine in the individual issues.

Some highlights:

The Breakup Vows by Steve Almond
End of the Line by Aimee Bender
Mudman by Pinckney Benedict
Zoanthropy by David Benioff was particularly good
The Old Gentleman by Frances Hwang
Xmas in Las Vegas by Denis Johnson
The Third House by Marshall N. Klimasewiski
The Anthropology of Sex by Martha McPhee
Dangerous Laughter by Steven Millhauser was an absolute triumph!
Squatter by Julia Slavin

[Stephen Dorneman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few too many magical realism, experimental, and just plain overblown, overworked prose pieces kept this from five stars, but the remainder are solid pieces that make it worth wading through the rest. Clearly, Tin House editors are more open to non-traditional pieces than I am (and Hey you kids, get off of my lawn!). Your mileage may vary.

[Pearse Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good ones, a surprising amount of disappointing stories, and overall a thick book! Excited to put it back on my shelf and move onto other Tin House stories. Also, this is sad bc Tin House is no longer a literary magazine.

Connection: I was a Tin House Books intern.

[Agnes Stanley · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writing is good, but I couldn't get through it. I skipped one story, and tried the next. But gave up after a couple pages of the fifth story. It usually ends up being pointless, so why get lured into another unsatisfying read.

[Helia Rethmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collections are a good way to find new favorite authors! Hate some, but love some, too!

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked some of these stories and really hated some of these stories so it was quite a mix.

[Catherine Bruzdzinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, however not my favorite.

[Rory G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some hits, some (big) misses. Made me wonder whether the misses were added for ‘variety,’ since lit fiction can get kind of run-of-the-mill. Gateway to some new authors.

[Bad Horse · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writers in this volume are great writers. The editors, I'm less impressed with. Each story is a great story, but they're so alike that they seem all to have been written by that same one person who's writing all the stories for all the literary journals these days. They must be slow, leisurely explorations, in a certain style, of one of a small set of allowable personal problems, with no resolution and a sad ending. (At least Tin House, unlike one famous journal I could name, still lets writers use the third person.)

This sounds harsh, but I could say something similar for every literary journal in English today. There are an infinite variety of stories to tell, but the arbiters of literary taste have decreed that this one kind of story is the only kind they will publish. This is why no one reads literary journals anymore. I'd probably give the book 4 stars if I weren't so angry about it.

This volume is especially dreary because of the relentless misery. I stopped halfway through the book; I can't afford to expose myself to that much concentrated depression. The editors seem to believe that a story must be tragic to be deep. The Atlantic Monthly publishes the same general sort of stories, but at least they're sometimes happy.

[ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some wonderful short pieces in here by Denis Johnson, Robert Olen Butler, as well as new folks with whom you might not be familiar.

Check it out.

[Joan Oexmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really enjoyed this books. the stories were all the perfect length, i could start and finish one within the same day. if you commute a lot i would strongly recommend this book.

[Laureen Vonnegut · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved most of the selections. also nice foreward by dorothy allison.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

some great ones, here, obviously, but as a whole, shockingly disappointing

(keep my personal problems with former tin house personnel in mind, to be fair)