The Best American Short Stories 1984 [Hardcover]

John Updike (Editor), Shannon Ravenel (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Updike is the author of numerous books, including the acclaimed Rabbit novels, Couples, In the Beauty of the Lilies, and Bech at Bay. His novels have won the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, the American Book Award, the National Book Critics' Circle Award, and the William Dean Howells Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Recently he received the 1998 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 295 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (October 15, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395354137
• ISBN-13: 978-0395354131
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,107 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best in This Series To Date, May 23, 2009

By 

Bonnie Brody "Book Lover and Knitter" (Port St. Lucie, FL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Best American Short Stories 1984 (Hardcover)

This collection has a large percentage of wonderful stories in it. Usually, there are only one or two in a collection that I find memorable. In this collection, I found four. Perhaps the excellence is due to its being edited by John Updike. Of note are the following:

1) Gent by Rick DeMarinis - - This story is told from a child's point of view. The child's mother is on her third marriage. Her first two husbands have committed suicide. She is cheating on her third husband.

2) Morrison's Reaction by Stephen Kirk - - This is a great story. It is about the relationship of a dentist to his patient in one three hour setting. The dentist is driven to extremes of anger at the patient because of the patient's provocative manner.

3) Rosa by Cynthia Ozick - - This is one of my favorite short stories of all time. I have read this, along with The Shawl, three times. The story is about a Polish woman named Rosa, once wealthy and educated. She now resides in Miami, clinging to the memories of her time in a concentration camp. She conjures up memories of her daughter, Magda, and thinks about her evil niece, Stella. The story is haunting.

4) The Cold Room by Lowry Pei - - A man who dissects rats for a living becomes obsessed with both the mundaneness and horror of his work. He has relationships with two women and these are explored with the backdrop of his work.

By all means, read this collection. It is the best on in the series for more than two decades.