Tales of O. Henry: 62 Stories

by Peg Hall

This collection of 62 stories is an introduction to the Father of the American Short Story and covers the full range of O. Henry's humor, irony, and sense of tragedy. Includes "The Gift of the Magi," "Mammon and the Archer," "The Ransom of Mack," "Jimmy Hayes & Muriel," "Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen," and more.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Literature, Humor, Classic Literature, American

565 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

Reviews

[kris]

My usual approach to short story collections is to do minor reviews of each one in order to provide a more comprehensive summary of my reactions. But I'm not going to do that for each of the 62 stories compiled in this collection because that would be ridiculous.

Instead, my general thoughts are these: O. Henry likes his twists and is prolific af; he likes America and the growing identity of (white) America. His settings range from New York to Texas to New Orleans to a small island named Coralia. He's also racist and colonialist and sexist, so.

[Jordan Napier]

Did not finish in that I read 13 of the 62 stories before I turned it back into the library because it was overdue. But, I got the general gist of O.Henry’s style and prose through those stories, which I did enjoy reading. The ironies in some of them became easy to predict, but many of them had what I felt was the intended literary impact upon my completion of them. I can’t help but liken my experience of reading these stories to my experience of watching The Twilight Zone. Obviously O.Henry doesn’t quite reach the levels of science fiction that Rod Serling did, but they masterfully craft an intriguing and developing tale in a rather short amount of pages (or run-time for Twilight Zone). The conclusions sometimes leave you with a sentiment to carry with you beyond the pages, and sometimes they just leave you with a little chuckle. And sometimes maybe even a sigh. Like The Twilight Zone, some are simply better than others. But after reading the first several stories before resorting to the internet to tell me which ones I should seek out, I come away having solidly enjoyed this reading experience, and may re-check this book out down the road. For now though, after 13 stories, I’ve had my fill.

P.S. my favorite story I read was “The Last Leaf” and the runner up was probably “The Ransom of Mack”

[Lisa]

Ok, I admit, I write. And it was the ‘surprises’ in O’Henry’s short stories that inspired me. I’ve written and told stories all through elementary through to today which is a l o n g time. Now, there are dry spells that come along and no ink stains the page. Old friends, like the shorts by O’Henry are great to revisit for a boost of motivation. Favorite shorts of course include The Gift of the Magi. . . A great Christmas tale worth sharing. Some of his stories lend themselves nicely to oral storytelling. . . And yes, I do some of that as well.
Read a short story today and see how long the character lives in your head or picks at your sub conscience pestering you because that IS how characters remain alive, existing in our thoughts. Then you too can write a short story of your own to keep secret or to share. Entertain yourself, read; entertain others, tell a story..

[Cameron]

I read these 62 stories at the rate of one story a night, which might be the perfect way to consume O. Henry's tales. I was vaguely familiar with O. Henry from his famous stories like Gift of The Magi but I had no idea he was considered one of the fathers of the short form. His shorts are the perfect length, ranging from eight to twenty pages apiece. The protagonists, setting and themes for each are wildly different. This guy could really write everything from a stockbroker to frontier cowboy and make it authentic.
O. Henry's personal story is also intriguing. He was like the American version of Rimbaud. He led somewhat of a drifter's life, stole money from a bank he worked at and fled to Honduras. After surrendering, he spent several years in prison and then started furiously writing. He eventually drank himself to death.

[Luke Soto]

This guy was a comedic genius!

what a writer. everytime you think you figure him out and get how the story is going to go BAM it changes.

this is the writer who wrote

"the gift of the magi" one of the best Christmas stories of all time.

the stories get better and better as you read on, you are so missing out on one of the best wrtiers of the past century, if you have never read him.

this writer was a great story teller one in which many can only hope to be inspired about and try to emulate in their writings. i hope we all start picking up and writing like a man like this the common man with a flare for bringing the humor of life into the pages.

[Nate izzo]

O'Henry is a master of setting. He finds a way to express social and cultural environments using nuance and small details from everyday life. The woman dressed as a socialite is betrayed by a tattered rag holding a piece of her dress together, revealing her to be a shop girl trying to fit in with the upper class. These little details show O'Henry's ability to see and interpret both the upper, middle, and lower class. What makes him a great writer is that he finds the lovable and human side to each. He appreciates people despite their flaws and hang-ups...which is useful for someone who may not be perfect.

[James Biser]

O. Henry is the master of the short story. This book is full of genius stories. I loved every Tale.

[Michelle]

My introduction to short stories in elementary school so I will always remember how vivid the tales were!

[Bill Higgins]

“I’m not tied Down to anything that isn’t 8000 Miles in Diameter”
- E. Rushmore Colgan “A Cosmopolitan in a Cafe”

Great words do live by.

Lots of great stories and memorable lines.

[Troy Stauffer]

My favorite short fiction author...

[Nancy]

This was a retelling collection of stories quite entertaining and amusing. Interesting background on the author.

[Irene]

I read a few of the O. Henry short stories in school. So, I enjoyed this collection of stories that I had never read. His endings are always something to look forward to.

[Jim Huinink]

old stories. a lot outdated. life's too short

[Michael]

I haven't read this in ages. Known for his mastery of irony, O. Henry is always entertaining. Many are feel-good stories, and the sad ones leave an almost satisfying bitter-sweet aftertaste. The irony, though, gets predictable when one reads over sixty in a row. So… just don't read more than a few before going on to something else. One other small criticism. O. Henry seemed to fall into the same trap as Twain and Dickens in their later careers: they took themselves too seriously. In O. Henry's case, he didn't get political, but philosophical. He wrote irony for so long, he began to write stories that seemed to portray life in inescapable fate. The most notable was his novellette "Roads of Destiny," in which he crafts his story in four different versions with the characters making different decisions, but in the end, the result was always the same. "Bravo" to execution, but I still resent free will's being denied. Again, for enjoyment of plot technique, Henry's a must-read.

[Robert Palmer]

O.Henry was the pen name of William S. Porter . I don't know how many short stories O.Henry wrote, only that this book contains sixty two. I started reading this collection early this year,,reading a few stories a week. The first story in the book was "The Gift of the Magi"it is one of his most popular stories and as Christmas is coming and the Goose is getting fat, I thought it would be a good time to re-read it. The story tells of a young couple " Jim and Della " who are short of money and both want desperately to buy each other a special Christmas gift. Della sells her most valuable possession,her very long and beautiful hair,to buy a platinum fob chain for Jim's watch. Meanwhile Jim sells his most valuable possession, his watch,to buy a set of jeweled combs for Dellia's hair. In the end they still were able to laugh about it and have a very Marry Christmas. The story is a far cry from the way many of us go into debt to buy far to many gifts in the present time.

[Dale Pearl]

These stories are amazing! I am not typically a big fan of the short story but this collection by Mr. Porter has made me a fan of his. The wit, the unexpected twist and turns always leaves you with a surprise ending. This is one of the great story tellers and should be an inspiration to anyone who wants to write and does not have a higher education. O. Henry or William Porter never went to college and yet his star shines equal to a Hemingway, Stevenson, or Dickens.

[Crystal]

Not all of the stories are great. Go to the Wikipedia page of this book and only read those. Would also recommend "The Last Leaf" and "Springtime á la Carte". Other than that, the other stories are hit-and-miss. There's a Sherlock Holmes parody, if you're interested.

[Joanne]

He is to stories what Norman Rockwell is to paintings - that innocent charm of a bygone era (but with a twist).

OK, how about Twilight Zone, minus eerie and disturbing.

[Elise]

O. Henry's strange dialect left my head spinning at times, but I did enjoy a couple of the 60+ stories.

[Megan]

THE master of irony. Fantastic!

[Debra]

Nice short stories, all with a clever little twist at the end. Light, enjoyable reading.

[Pitbull]

brilliant

[James Violand]

The expert at story prestidigitation. Very entertaining.