The Pushcart Prize XXXIII: Best of the Small Presses (2009 Edition) (Paperback)

~ Bill Henderson (Editor), The Pushcart Prize Editors (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. The 33rd Pushcart anthology demonstrates that independent presses still publish much of the world's most engaging literature. McSweeney's nominated Wells Tower's standout story, Retreat, in which aging property developer Matthew Lattimore seeks assistance from (while simultaneously antagonizing) his brother, his carpenter and the very wilds of Maine. Man and Wife, Katie Chase's piece from the Missouri Review, tells the story of Mary Ellen, whose parents and neighbors marry off nine-year-old girls in a world eerily similar to our own. In her AGNI essay, Bendithion, Harrison Solow considers the enigmatic otherworldliness of the world-class tenor and Welsh postmaster, Timothy Evans. And Sylvester Stallone shows aspiring novelist Jeremy Collins something about the artist's life in the funny and moving Georgia Review essay, Shadow Boxing. Poems by emerging and established poets such as Ciaran Barry, Bruce Smith and Derek Walcott pepper this must-have book for contemporary literature lovers. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Despite claims that reading is in decline, there is certainly no downswing in the need to write. Literature remains vital, if underappreciated, as the range of expression, the spectrum of ideas, and the depth of feeling in contemporary writing grows and blossoms. Open the latest Pushcart gathering of the best of the small presses, and enter a cosmos of candor, humor, conviction, and lyricism. The more than 60 striking, diverse works showcased here include bracing poems by Kurt Brown, Derek Walcott, and Elinor Wylie; essays of earth, faith, and love by Krista Bremer, Brenda Miller, and Christian Wiman; and fresh and compelling fiction by Beena Kamlani, Jack Livings, and Elizabeth Tallent. Thoughtfully dedicated to the late Raymond J. Smith, editor and publisher of the Ontario Review and Ontario Review Press, who, in the words of Pushcart editor Henderson, gave “countless authors hope,” this generous, glimmering, and hopeful Pushcart Prize volume affirms the love readers and writers alike share for the art and spirit of strong writing, and the awareness and communion literature engenders. --Donna Seaman --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 596 pages
• Publisher: Pushcart Press (December 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888889519
• ISBN-13: 978-1888889512
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #285,783 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable, October 13, 2009

By	Tom Badyna (New Suffolk, New York) - See all my reviews

In a literary culture as fragmented as ours, these anthologies are about the best way to get a feel for what we're all up to. I love 'em, the Pushcarts, the O'Henry's, the Best American Stories, Mysteries, Essays, Sports Writing, so on. You don't have to love every story in these to profit from the reading. Occasionally I'm required to make long commutes to Manhattan for weeks at a time, and there's no better reading than these anthologies in general and the Pushcarts in particular.

Of this edition, I'd make special mention of Wells Tower, Lydia Peelee and Beena Kamlani as especial fun to discover. And in general sense, using this book as a thermometer of what's going on in literature, I'd comment that we seem to be having problems with endings. There were really very few stories with completely satisfying endings. Rather than a negative, I take this as informative and interesting. You can analyze it as a technical problem, a social one, or a spiritual one, but it's definitely there. Personally, I suspect a lot of these fine writers have forgot (or decided to ignore) the fundamentals of storytelling. They -- and we -- would gain from a little merging of the genre folk with the literary ones.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Is this really the best writing of the year?, September 11, 2009

By	Jonathan R. Ammon "Writing Student" (Johnstown, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a nice collection, but it definitely reveals the decline of taste prevalent in our society. It also reveals the common prejudices among publishers etc. There were a handful of pieces I genuinely loved, but I was surprised by how many I actually loathed. I consider myself fairly eclectic, but the amount of sensationalist smut present in this collection is somewhat appalling despite my defensive cynicism.