Amazon.com Review
When a great annual collection comes out, it's hard to know the reason why. Was there a bumper crop of high-quality stories, or was this year's guest editor especially gifted at winnowing out the good ones? Either way, the 2000 edition of
The Best American Short Stories is a standout in a series that can be uneven. Its editor, E.L. Doctorow, seems to have a fondness for the "what if?" story, the kind of tale that posits an imagination-prodding question and then attempts to answer it. Nathan Englander's "The Gilgul of Park Avenue" asks: What if a WASPy financial analyst, riding in a cab one day, discovers to his surprise that he is irrevocably Jewish? In "The Ordinary Son," Ron Carlson asks: What if you are the only average person in a family of certifiable geniuses? And Allan Gurganus's "He's at the Office" asks: What if the quintessential postwar American working man were forced to retire? This last story is narrated by the man's grown son, who at the story's opening takes his dad for a walk. Though it's the present day, the father is still dressed in his full 1950s businessman regalia, including camel-hair overcoat and felt hat. The two walk by a teenager. "The boy smiled. 'Way bad look on you, guy.'"
My father, seeking interpretation, stared at me. I simply shook my head no. I could not explain Dad to himself in terms of tidal fashion trends. All I said was "I think he likes you."
The exchange typifies the writing showcased in this anthology: in these stories, again and again, we find a breakdown of human communication that is sprightly, humorous, and devastatingly complete. A few more of the terrific stories featured herein: Amy Bloom's "The Story," a goofy metafiction about a villainous divorcee; Geoffrey Becker's "Black Elvis," which tells of, well, a black Elvis; and Jhumpa Lahiri's "The Third and Final Continent," a story of an Indian man who moves to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Like the collection itself, Lahiri's story amasses a lovely, funny mood as it goes along.
--Claire Dederer
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
In an anthology that once again lives up to its title, guest editor Doctorow presents an eclectic mix of 21 stunning stories by writers of varied ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Each short fiction conjures up its own atmospheric world; most provide memorable glimpses deep into the souls of its characters. Five of the selections hail from the New Yorker, three from Story, two each from Harper's magazine, the Atlantic Monthly and Ploughshares. In his introduction, Doctorow quotes Frank O'Connor: "What makes the short story a distinct literary form is 'its intense awareness of human loneliness,'" a quality that applies to many of these tales. The protagonist of Amy Bloom's "The Story," bitter at having lost a baby and a husband while her new neighbor has an adorable daughter and a lover, callously destroys the "guilty" woman's life. Veteran mystery writer Walter Mosley tells in "The Fly" of a young black man unjustly accused of sexual harassment after only a few days on the job at a Wall Street firm. "Call If You Need Me," a newly unearthed story by the late Raymond Carver, is a terse, understated tale of the dissolution of a marriage. The pi?ce de r?sistance is by Wyoming-based writer Annie Proulx, "People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water," the tale of a brain-damaged young man who suffers rough frontier justice. Seen by neighbors as an example of bad genetics, he is "culled from the herd," so to speak. Other outstanding contributions are "Black Elvis" by Geoffrey Becker, "Third and Final Continent" by Jhumpa Lahiri and Allan Gurganus's "He's at the Office." The standards are high, and all of the stories meet them, in a sterling collection. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
