Customer Reviews

Prize Stories 2000: The O. Henry Awards (Pen / O. Henry Prize Stories)

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After years of languishing under late editor William Abrahams, the series takes another big step toward legitimately representing the vibrancy of American short fiction. Dark made some brave and striking choices last year, and continues to show himself an astute and thoughtful anthologist, one who has his finger on the pulse of what's exciting about the short story. His selections are almost uniformly excellent: Wideman, Lordan and Gordon are deserving winners, and stories by Russell Banks, Michael Byers, Andrea Barrett and Melissa Prichard are equally good. Hooray that these smart and wonderful writers are getting the attention they deserve! Equally exciting are some of the newcomers--John Biquinet's tiny but explosive "Rose," Jeannette Bertles "Whileaway" and Keith Banner's "The Smallest People Alive" among others. There are, of course, things to quibble with--the exclusion of Alice Munro's wonderful "The Bear Came over the Mountain," Stewart O'Nan's powerful "Please Help Find" and Tobias Wolff's lovely "Kiss," are perhaps the most surprising; and as much as I like Alice Elliot Dark's story, "Watch the Animals," I have to say that Mr. Dark, as her husband, might have easily replaced her story with one of the above pieces by Munro, O'Nan or Wolff and saved himself charges of nepotism. Perhaps the only major mis-step is the inclusion of the bizarrely popular Pam Houston as one of the guest editors. Cementing her self-involved, dim-bulb reputation as literature's answer to Flying-Nun era Sally Field, the author of "A Little More About Me" uses her introduction to Beth Lordan's story to babble witlessly about her boyfriend, herself, her dog's cancer, herself, how Lordan's story reminds her of herself, and, oh, by the way, herself--proving once again that she is possibly the dumbest person alive who writes and publishes fiction. But even in this case, the collection is more entertaining than not. A big thanks to Larry Dark for his hard work in bringing the series back up to standard. Well worth reading for anyone with an interest in contemporary fiction.

In the 2000 O'Henry Prize Stories, 11 of the 20 winners (55%) either hold MFA's, Ph.D.'s or teach at universities. Most interesting, however, is the experience of reading 19 highly polished, academically clean stories and at the end of the series, run headlong into Raymond Carver, a bold non-academe, and author of story 20. The contrast is striking, particularly coming at the end of the book. I am left wondering--are we missing or losing some literary giants because academic credentials have become as critical to the practice of creative writing as they are to law or medicine--or journalism?

Of the twenty stories, Michael Byers's "The Beautiful Days" was my top pick. From the literary journal Ploughshares, it's the story of Aldo, a young man we've seen before, who tries to find but ends up losing himself.

Stories such as these are entertainment far superior to most of what entertains us today. If only good literature were also more popular, and less reliant on the good will of universities and academic institutions. The popular mags publish so little fiction anymore, and the literary journals have budgets that don't permit much promotion. "Best Of" publications such as the O'Henry Awards are not only good collections, but probably the top promotional vehicles for good writing today.

The second prize winner here, "The Man With the Lapdog," is probably one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read. It's absolutely brilliant. Beth Lordan easily deserves first place for this piece, though the winner ("Weight," by John Edgar Wideman) is a wonderful piece of writing. Judging this must have been something else.

My other favorite was Judy Budnitz's "Flush." It's wonderful in that the ending is O'Henryish--a fitting award-winner indeed.

There's not a bad story in the bunch, really. This is a great buy--I plan to give many copies as gifts.

I almost didn't buy this book in the series because when I read the 1998 version I felt pretty much unmoved by what I read there. This one, however, is a beautiful collection of stories--each one often more stunning than the last. The stories are beautifully written, exciting, conventional and unconventional, and utterly surprising. What a read! I love it and am eagerly awaiting the 2001 edition. If anyone feels today's short story is stagnant--or that magazines are filled with ordinary work--read this book. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

The O. Henry Awards is for short stories. The stories are quite varied and selective. Also, this book is quite detailed with useful information for us inspiring writers like short story magazines, journals, and periodicals where they accept short story submissions.

The First Prize went to John Edgar Wideman's story entitled "Weight" introduced by Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours. It's a story about a writer who writes about his mother and the weight she must carry on her shoulders.

The Second Prize went to Beth Lordan's short story entitled "The Man With the Lapdog" introduced by Pam Houston about a retired couple in Ireland where the American husband befriends an American wife whose husband is dying.

The Third Prize went ot Mary Gordon's short story entitled "The Deacon" which is my personal favorite of the three top stories. It's about a nun and her relationship with a deacon who may have realized that she knew what his weaknesses and strengths were rather than telling him the truth while others just shyed away. She became probably the best friend that he had on his silver anniversary as deacon.

The other stories included Russell Banks, author of The Sweet Hereafter and Affliction, The Plains of Abraham about a man dealing with his former wife's loss.
Judy Budnitz's short story, Flush, about mothers and daughters and their relationship.
The other stories include
Kevin Brockmeier-These Hands
Melissa Pritchard-Salve Regina
Keith Banner-The Smallest People Alive
Kiana Davenport-Bones of the Inner East
J. Robert Lennon-The Fool's Proxy
Allan Gurganus-He's at the Office
Nathan Englander-The Gilgul of Park Avenue
Andrea Barrett-Theories of Rain
Jeannette Bertles-Whileaway
John Biguenot-Rose
Kate Walbert-The Gardens of Kyoto
Tim Gautreaux-Easy Pickings
Michael Byers-THe Beautiful Days
Alice Elliott Dark-Watch the Animals
and Raymond Carver's Kindling.

This anthology of prize winning short stories is an excellent example of the diversity in American writing today. Each story is unique in its perception and description of life- from voice, to view. I did not like all the stories by any means, but within this collection, I found stories that will stay with me forever-- "The Deacon" is a perfect example. I have always believed that a short story is one that answers all my questions, yet leaves me wanting to know even more about the characters-- these stories all accomplish this goal.

I highly recommend this book for book clubs and classes. The exposure to the different writing styles can easily spark disussions as to why readers prefer a particular style over another. In addition, many of the stories are enjoyable and thought provoking.