Customer Reviews

The Best American Short Stories 2008

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I look forward to this series every year, so it was with high hopes that I opened up this year's editon and began to read. The format is the same as it has been for years, with Ms. Pitlor cherry picking stories and handing over a hundred or so vetted stories to the guest editor. I don't get too caught up in who the guest editor is in any given year - I think Ms. Pitlor does a good job in gathering a pool of quality stories, but this year I thought the overall effort was slightly below the average.

Four of the stories in the collection come from Harper's Magazine, and while I was glad to see the series move away from being so New Yorker oriented, I subscribe to Harper's, so those stories weren't new to me. To of them deserved rereading anyway - the masterful Alice Munro with "Child's Play", and Nicole Krauss, "From the Desk of Daniel Varsky."

Two of the three stories from the New Yorker were also quite well done - "Puppy", by George Saunders, and "Nawabdin Electrician" by Daniyal Mueenuddin. Others that I felt really rose above were "Buying Lenin" by Miroslav Penkov, "Man and Wife," by Katie Chase, and "Straightaway," by Mark Wisniewski.

Four of the stories in this collection would fall under what I would loosely consider 'Fabulist' stories, and those are not really my thing, although I still enjoyed "Man and Wife." Perhaps that is a trend, because I don't remember as much of that in years past.

One of the things I've always enjoyed about this series is that it collects stories I'm sure I'd never get to see otherwise, and that always makes it worth it to me. This year, I would just have to say that not all of it was as interesting to me as other years. I would still definetly recommend it to anyone who enjoys short stories.

I've been reading this series on and off since 1992 when a friend gave me a copy of the 1991 edition. Some years I've loved it, some years not, and I think that's part of what's great about the collection - because the editors are different, when your taste aligns with them you're really in for a special treat.

As an example, I don't align with Stephen King at all. Last year's collection was difficult for me to get through. Some good writing but the overall tone was irritating.

Not so for this year. There is something about each story that is exciting. Unexpected but undeniably true events or actions or insights into human nature that to me, truly elevate the stories in this collection to qualify for "the best".

Addressing some of the other reviews -

- "Fabulist" - I'd agree, but I personally like stories that detail realities that are like ours but not quite but really, aren't most people's perceptions of reality different, and doesn't that make a good basis for a story?

- "stylistically trendy" - if stories that don't have exactly the same 1990's-style semi-detached perspective, describing somewhat depressed people making somewhat bad choices and then reacting to the results with some equivalent of "oh. OK." are trendy then alright, this is trendy. Thankfully. Joy, excitement, horror, desperation for redemption, what set these stories apart for me from that style is that the characters have arcs. Think Somerset Maugham. Or just think, because that's what a lot of these characters do.

- "approval of pedophilia" - I guess stupidity follows Mr.Rushdie around like a hungry puppy. If you're looking for all your writing to include moral condemnation then stick to Ann Coulter. There's nothing in this book that promotes pedophilia.

I hope next year's editor chooses as well.

Bought at the airport for a Denver-Seattle trip, I found these stories ranged from fair to excellent, with plenty of very good ones. These tend toward moderately serious, with definite purpose and action, and minimal preaching, and are 20-30 pages apiece.

What else should a short-story review report to avoid any more "not useful" feedback? I like short stories, and have not come across such a good collection in my lackadaisical eclectic sampling for quite a few years. Several, including the ones about the guy on the motorcycle, the swimming girls, and the puppy adoption, remain on my mind still.

The brief biographies and authors' comments about their stories was a welcome addendum.

There is probably no more authentically American literary art form than short story, and some of the most memorable short stories that I've read over the years have been by American authors. From Poe, through Hemingway to Tobias Wolff (to name just a few of my favorites through history) American authors had fine-tuned the art of writing short fiction to perfection. For years I had been enjoying "The Best American Short Stories" anthologies, and was eager to read the new volume as soon as it had come in. However, in last few years I had grown increasingly frustrated with the workshop-quality of stories that were presented in these anthologies. Stories were indubitably well-crafted, but lacked much of imagination and excitement that I had come to associate with this genre. A few years back I finally gave up and did not continue buying these anthologies for several years. I gave the series a second chance when The Best American Short Stories 2007 came out. I thought that having Stephen King as the guest editor would be a good sign if not of quality of writing then at least of interesting plotlines. Unfortunately, I was disappointed yet again.

So I am writing this long rambling preamble in order to show that I am a big fan of short stories, and not so big fan of the "Best American" collections of recent years. That's why I was very pleasantly surprised with the 2008 edition. As some other reviewers have commented, it is by far the best collection in years. After reading the first few stories I was completely hooked, but having been burned in the past was apprehensive about each new story that I would read. In the end, it turned out that my apprehension was totally misplaced. I thoroughly enjoyed every single one of the stories in this collection. They were all remarkably well crafted, with interesting premises and plotlines that kept me reading and wishing for more. Several of the writers in this collection were new to me, and now I am interested in reading more of their works. Throughout reading this collection I felt that all of the stories and authors absolutely deserved to be included. Hopefully this is a good sign not only for this series of books, but for the overall quality of short fiction in America.

I love this series, have been reading it for years. Definitely more stylistically trendy stories chosen for 2008, many by popular young writers.

This was one of the more stable collections of this series' recent history. Almost every story is at least enjoyable, all done with impeccable quality and knowledge of craft, and Rushide does a good job bringing a plethora of styles and subjects to the table that will keep the reader engaged as he/she gets deeper into the book. Rushdie wisely points out the underlying themes of this collection in his intro. Religion is certainly one, with stories such as "Missionaries" and "Bible". Another is from the female point of view and how women fit into society; take "Man and Wife" or "Quality of Life" for example. Some stories wonderfully describe foreign lands; namely, "Nawabdin Electrician" and "Vampires in the Lemon Grove".

My favorite stories:

"Admiral" by T.C. Boyle, concerning a young man who has suffered from some poor decision-making after leaving college and decides to return to her former employers, an eccentric rich old couple who want her to duplicate their old dog's life through a clone.

"Man and Wife" by Katie Chase, a young woman is "chosen" by an older but tender and even caring man to be his wife, much to the joy of her parents, who see being chosen by a man as the moment where a girl becomes a woman and enters into the rest of her life.

"Virgins" by Danielle Evans, two inner-city girls go out for a night of clubbing, with the more thoughtful narrator eventually bailing her friend when she leaves with a mysterious bunch of guys and calls her quiet but protective male friend to help her.

"Nawabdin Electrician" by Daniyal Mueenuddin, a locally famous electrician with twelve daughters in Pakistan is carjacked (motorcyclejacked actually) by an out-of-town hitchhiker in the middle of the night.

"Bible" by Tobias Wolff, a Catholic school teacher is carjacked (perhaps another theme of this collection?) by a furious foreigner who demands that his troublesome son be forgiven for his insubordinate actions so that he can eventually become a doctor.

Every year is a good year for short stories and the year 2008 was a good time. `Admiral' by T.C. Boyle is the name of the Strikers' Afghan. The clone of the original dog has a sitter who worked for the Strikers before going to college. Currently the pay is great and the duties are minimal.

In another story Danielle Evans describes the setting, Mount Vernon, where only the former school principal has a pool in his backyard. Erica and Jasmine are friends and Jasmine claims that Erica doesn't understand adult relationships. The girls decide to go clubbing, pretending they are at City College. Later they go with four men to the Bronx.

In Allegra Goodman's tale, her characters Orion and Molly feel both old and childish. They are still living in Cambridge following their graduation. Orion is a tinkerer, a puzzle-solver. Molly's father is an academician and believes that computer science, Orion's filed, is not a true science. Orion thinks the term intellectual property is an oxymoron. How can something intangible be owned? Orion has an eye for detail.

A.M. Homes, `May We Be Forgiven,' begins with a story of a Thanksgiving celebration. One brother dislikes his slightly younger brother. He is angry that his brother doesn't help his wife clear the table. Next the narrator is asked to pick up his brother at the police station. Soon the brother is in a padded cell and the bad events escalate. It is gripping.

Nicole Krauss writes of someone living out of a suitcase after breaking up with a friend. It is arranged that she receive Daniel Varsky's furniture. Varsky is a Chilean poet. The narrator in the future writes her novel at Daniel Varsky's desk. It seems that both the narrator and the poet love Rilke and on the day they meet they talk for hours. The desk serves as a talisman.

Jonathan Lethem's subject is writers and their chief tool, sentences. In `The Worst You Ever Feel' Aaron's father left for Julliard nine days before a pogrom in Romania. Aaron believes his father feels guilty for leaving at the right time. A guest of the family, an old musician, had hidden from the ravages of the pogrom and been imprisoned during the rule of Ceausescu.

Not surprisingly the selections of Salman Rushdie are cosmopolitan. The choice of Rushdie as a guest editor is inspired. Some of the stories are of a magical realism bent.

`The Wizard of West Orange' by Millhauser is an expression of esoteric concerns. Alice Munro reminds us that every year a child becomes a different person. Also, children are conventional. There are no priests at funerals under Communism, Miroslav Penko, `Burying Lenin.' This story of a village and a grandparent is amazing.

Karen Russell describes a vampire in her piece. Allegra Goodman writes in the notes at the end of the volume that when she finds a rich subject she keeps working on it.

(The most revealing note was that of Miroslav Penkov. Keep writing stories, Miroslav.) `Missionaries' imagines the anxiety of a pair of young men setting forth to become leaders. One of the best stories is near the end of the volume, the arrangement is alphabetical by authors' names, a story of Mark Wisniewski.

My impressionistic survey here does not include every story in the book. I liked them all. The quality is evident, and their interest is great. America is rich in story writers.

If you are a fan of the short story, this is a great series, as are their essay and poetry offerings. The selections are consistently worth reading and you won't have wasted your money.

I love reading these collections as they are released each year. Keep them coming! Was especially impressed with the work of Nicole Krauss.

As always, I recommend both the Best American and O. Henry Prize short story anthologies as being great ways to become exposed to a wide variety of different authors and top-notch writing. For 2008, I would cite the O. Henry Prize Stories anthology as being the stronger of the two, because it features more truly memorable stories. But, for those with the desire to tackle two volumes of vintage 2008 short stories, I can also recommend the 2008 Best American Short Stories.

Usually when reviewing anthologies, I will cite my favorite stories and state why I especially liked them. However, for the 2008 Best American Short Stories anthology, I was unable to do so, because no stories stood out as being especially good. I found the quality level to be uniformly high, but with no truly superb stories. The only story that caused me to question its appearance in this volume was Tobias Wolff's "Bible", which I found to be pretty mundane and perhaps guilty of stereotyping recent immigrants to America. Usually I question the appearance of the de rigueur Alice Munro story, because seemingly every short story anthology always includes a Munro story, which I typically find to be predictable in terms of setting, subject matter and writing style. The Munro story included in this volume, "Child's Play", does indeed have a predictable plot (in stark contrast to the short story style pioneered by O. Henry), but it did hold my interest more than the typical Munro story.

Salman Rushdie's introductory essay is quickly read and forgotten. Often the stories selected by the guest editor of the Best American Short Stories series will tend to reflect that editor's views. If I had to cite a general characteristic of the stories Rushdie selected, it would be that many are prurient in nature. Whether this does in fact indicate something about Rushdie's mindset is subject to conjecture.