The Best Short Stories 2023: The O. Henry Prize Winners

by Lauren Groff (Editor)

The prestigious annual story anthology includes prize-winning stories by Jamil Jan Kochai, David Ryan, Kirstin Valdez Quade, Lisa Taddeo, Ling Ma, Catherine Lacey, and Cristina Rivera Garza.

“[A] standout collection . . . . Dazzling performances from some of today’s most exciting writers. . . . This is one of the best fiction anthologies in years.” —Publishers Weekly starred review

Continuing a century-long tradition of cutting-edge literary excellence, this year's edition contains twenty prizewinning stories chosen from the thousands published in magazines over the previous year. Guest editor Lauren Groff has brought her own refreshing perspective to the prize, selecting stories by an engaging mix of celebrated names and emerging voices and including several stories in translation. The winning stories are accompanied by an introduction by Groff, observations from the winning writers on what inspired them, and an extensive resource list of magazines that publish short fiction. AN ANCHOR BOOKS ORIGINAL.

THE WINNING
“Office Hours,” by Ling Ma
“Man Mountain,” by Catherine Lacey
“Me, Rory and Aurora,” by Jonas Eika,
translated from the Danish by Sherilyn Nicolette Hellberg
“The Complete,” by Gabriel Smith
“The Haunting of Hajji Hotak," by Jamil Jan Kochai
“Wisconsin,” by Lisa Taddeo
“Ira & the Whale,” by Rachel B. Glaser
“The Commander’s Teeth,” by Naomi Shuyama-Gómez
“The Mad People of Paris,” Rodrigo Blanco Calderón,
translated from the Spanish by Thomas Bunstead
“Snake & Submarine,” by Shelby Kinney-Lang
“The Mother,” by Jacob M’hango
“The Hollow,” by ’Pemi Aguda
“Dream Man,” by Cristina Rivera Garza,
translated from the Spanish by Francisca González-Arias
“The Locksmith,” by Grey Wolfe LaJoie
“After Hours at the Acacia Park Pool,” by Kirstin Valdez Quade
“Happy Is a Doing Word,” by Arinze Ifeakandu
“Elision,” by David Ryan
“Xífù,” by K-Ming Chang
“Temporary Housing,” by Kathleen Alcott
“The Blackhills,” by Eamon McGuinness

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Book Club, Literary Fiction, Adult, Short Story Collection

418 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 12, 2023

About the author

Lauren Groff was born in Cooperstown, N.Y. and grew up one block from the Baseball Hall of Fame. She graduated from Amherst College and has an MFA in fiction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Her short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in a number of journals, including The Atlantic Monthly, Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, Hobart, and Five Points as well as in the anthologies Best American Short Stories 2007, Pushcart Prize XXXII, and Best New American Voices 2008.

She was awarded the Axton Fellowship in Fiction at the University of Louisville, and has had residencies and fellowships at Yaddo and the Vermont Studio Center.

She lives in Gainesville, Florida, with her husband, Clay, and her dog, Cooper.

Reviews

[Radwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

wasn't really the best collection.

#1- Office Hours by Ling Ma: I'm not sure what this story is supposed to mean. It started as a normal contemporary story about film student and her professor and their tight relationship, but then it takes a magical realism/dark twist and I feel like I didn't truly understand the point of that end. like it was a nod to the films she discussed in the story maybe?

#2- Man Mountain by Catherine Lacey: uhh, what? man mountain is an actual mountain of adult men and we follow a woman who is trying to climb it? I know there has to be seome deeper meaningful message, but I didn't get.

3- Me, Rory and Aurora by Jonas Eika: uhhh, weird/kinky family/lovers dynamic isn't my thing. but that wasn't even the weirdest thing about this story, which felt like a dream caused by drugs, a bad dream.

#4- The Complete by Gabriel Smith: expermental snippets of someone's life or maybe the novel he's writing? Im not sure. but it wasn't funny or deep as it hoped to be

*+#5- The Haunting of Hajji Hotak by Jamil Jan Kochai: Finally, a story I like. We're witnessing the lives of an afghan family in the US through the eyes of the spy spying on them and witnessing their lives like he's watching a tv show. very interesting

#6- Wisconsin by Lisa Taddeo: messed up and realistic characters.

7- Ira & the Whale by Rachel B Glaser: felt so surrealist. a bunch of men stuck inside a whale and what they actually think about when they're facing death

8- The Commander's Teeth by Naomi Shuyama Gomez: The writing style wasn't to my taste. about dentists working in rural areas and they encounter a military commander who comes for a checkup

9- The Mad People of Paris by Rodrigo Blanco Calderon: about mad people in paris at the metro and all of their conspiracy theories. is the protagonist just an observer or one of those mad people? the line is blurred. it was interesting, but all the political talk lost me a bit

*10- Snake & Submarine by Shelby Kinney Lang: a devastating story about a man going through the suffering of women from cancer, some he knows and another he's writing about.

11- The Mother by Jacob M'hango: felt like a folktale, but it was as if it was missing something

*+#12- The Hollow by 'Pemi Aguda: a masterpiece. about the meaning of a house and a home. about the struggle of women to find a safe place for them to be.

*+#13- Dream Man by Cristina Rivera Garza: I liked how I was puzzled by this story. is it all a man's or a woman's dream? did a man meet a siren that caused his insanity? are these just hallucinations? you don't know, you just enjoy the ride

*+#14- The Locksmith by Grey Wolfe Lajoie: I liked the eerines imposed by other on the locksmith, while he's just a human being trying to navigate life despite his difficulties. i would've loved it if the story was a bit longer

15- After Hours at the Acacia Park Pool by Kristin Valdez Quade: a story about kids and teenagers and navigating life and having different feelings for the first time and all the wrong choices and decisions teenagers make.

16- Happy is a Doing Word by Arinze Ifeakandu: a sad story set in nigeria, wehre we follow a boy growing into a young man and the struggles he goes through

17- Elision by David Ryan: interesting concept of a woman going through an event in her life that changes the way she views her choice and her husband and deciding how to move forward

*+#18- Xifu by K-Ming Chang: I was both horrified and mesmerized by this story's mc while she talked about the relationship between mothers and daughters, folk myths, and mothers in law who are annoying. I defintely want to read more from her!

19- Temporary Housing by Kathleen Alcott: interesting look at an individual, looking back at her life and how it affected her present. just nothing new to me

20- The Blackhills by Eamon McGuinness: the writing style really wasn't to my taste

[Ben Davies · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was excited to read this collection however I think me and Lauren Groff, the editor, have very different tastes. That's the danger of a collection where one editor picks all the stories so no complaints there, we just look for different things in a story. Although they were all well written, many of them just didn't work or grip me. I always try and read a book right to the end, even if I'm not enjoying it, yet here I was giving up on some of the short stories, which says a lot.

That said, there were some great stories in there, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak by Jamil Jan Kochai and Office Hours by Ling Ma, particularly stood out and I want to now go explore their work.

[el · Rating 3 out of 5]

rtc

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5) Hard to convey the variety of this 20-story anthology in a concise way because they run the gamut from realist (Nigerian homosexuality in “Happy Is a Doing Word” by Arinze Ifeakandu; Irish gangsters in “The Blackhills” by Eamon McGuinness) to absurd (Ling Ma’s “Office Hours” has academics passing through closet doors into a dream space; the title of Catherine Lacey’s “Man Mountain” is literal; “Ira and the Whale” is Rachel B. Glaser’s gay version of the Jonah legend). Also difficult to encapsulate my reaction, because for every story I would happily have seen expanded into a novel (the gloomy character study “The Locksmith” by Grey Wolfe LaJoie, the teenage friends’ coming-of-age in “After Hours at the Acacia Park Pool” by the marvellous Kirstin Valdez Quade), there was another I thought might never end (“Dream Man” by Cristina Rivera-Garza and “Temporary Housing” by Kathleen Alcott). Three are in translation. I admired Lisa Taddeo’s tale of grief and revenge, “Wisconsin,” and Naomi Shuyama-Gómez’s creepy Colombian-set “The Commander’s Teeth.” But my two favourites were probably “Me, Rory, and Aurora” by Jonas Eika (Danish), which combines an uneasy threesome, the plight of the unhoused and a downright chilling Ishiguro-esque ending; and “Xífù,” K-Ming Chang’s funny, morbid take on daughter/mother-in-law relations in China.

[Coco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exceptional:
Office Hours by Linga Ma
The Haunting of Hajji Hotak by Jamil Jan Kochai (!!)
Wisconsin by Lisa Taddeo (!!)
The Hollow by 'Pemi Aguda
Elision by David Ryan (!)
Xífù by K-Ming Chang (!)
Temporary Housing by Kathleen Alcott

The rest were really good.

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first O. Henry Prize anthology, after reading a few volumes of Best American Short Stories. I’m not sure why I didn’t start with the O. Henry series instead: unlike BASS, it isn’t limited to American writers and even includes stories in translation; also, ordering the stories artistically rather than alphabetically makes for a more pleasing composition.

And then, despite mixed responses to Groff’s own stories elsewhere, I loved everything about her introduction, from her love of short stories and recognition of their many facets (introduction writers who justify each story with a phrase really do flatten them too much), to her tiring of the endless run of first-person stories (“I began to feel at the center of a sucking collective whirlpool of anxious solipsism”). Though first-person lovers shouldn’t worry: it’s so ubiquitous in today’s stories to still account for 8 of the 20.

At any rate, I loved the first 5 stories and considered that this might be my first 5-star anthology, though several subsequent stories lost me and it became more of a regular anthology from there, with hits and misses. It begins with some strongly fantastical or surrealist tales, though ultimately only 5 of the 20 stories have this as a major factor, and has all the experimentation with form that I was missing from this year’s BASS.

In terms of demographics, there’s a 50/50 gender split, and about half are authors of color. Most stories were first published in the U.S., but three are translated (two from Spanish and one from Danish) and two first published in English in other countries (one Irish author and one Zambian).

Notes on the individual stories:

“Office Hours” by Ling Ma: A whammy of a beginning: lots of layers and interpretations, excellent writing. An isolated film studies professor discovers a unique way of handling the impossibility of the demands placed on her. I was left with so many questions: did Marie do this on purpose? What will her life look like from here? What will she do about the obnoxious colleague? Part of Ma’s collection (which I really need to read) for those seeking more. Arguably the best of the whole anthology.

“Man Mountain” by Catherine Lacey: This story is so bonkers I laughed aloud on finishing it. The author’s note is very helpful—it has serious themes, such as the stifling patriarchy that has the protagonist identifying as a “human spider” rather than a woman—but it’s also gleefully weird.

“Me, Rory and Aurora” by Jonas Eika: The first translated story, and I seem to be in the minority for loving it: it’s strange, almost dreamlike, yet compelling, about a down-and-out young person becoming part of a threesome with a married couple. It has a thematic and emotional resonance I can’t quite explain.

“The Complete” by Gabriel Smith: Very experimental and meta, and did less for me than the first three, but I found it intriguing and funny and appreciated its boldness. The author’s note is useful here also.

“The Haunting of Hajji Hotak” by Jamil Jan Kochai: A great, emotionally resonant story of the life of a Muslim-American family, from the perspective of someone spying on them. I at first assumed the second-person narrator was a ghost, but in the end I think they’re supposed to be a government spy—though their level of omniscience seems beyond anything a real spy could achieve. It’s an affecting portrayal of a family, with a great mix of sympathy and realism.

“Wisconsin” by Lisa Taddeo: Ironically—or maybe not, given its content—this story about a love affair is where my love for the anthology began to cool. It’s a dead-mom story that might’ve fit well into this year’s BASS (though the frankness about sex pushes the limits a bit), and the protagonist taking revenge via sex on a guy she found out after the fact had broken her mom’s heart before she was even born didn’t quite compute for me.

“Ira & the Whale” by Rachel B. Glaser: This is a well-written story about the approach of death under truly bizarre and fantastical circumstances, which just isn’t a subject I enjoy. I do think it does a good job with the lives of gay men, and it is resonant and succeeds at the effect it’s trying to achieve.

“The Commander’s Teeth” by Naomi Shuyama-Gómez: The first story I thought just not very good. It’s a common short-story subject: an encounter between two people who would never ordinarily meet, in this case a new-minted dentist in 90s Colombia and a rebel commander. But nothing really changes as a result, and I didn’t understand the decision to intersperse that situation with boring scenes from the dentist’s sex life, rather than digging deeper into either her history with FARC or her sexuality. Both topics seemed potentially interesting but we didn’t see enough to make me care about either.

“The Mad People of Paris” by Rodrigo Blanco Calderón: Another least favorite. Maybe I just don’t know enough French history to get much out of this (other than that the narrator himself is definitely mad), but this didn’t make a lick of sense to me.

“Snake & Submarine” by Shelby Kinney-Lang: A complex story about a writer following the blog of a former classmate dying from cancer, and writing a story with a much happier ending, featuring a character based in part on the classmate and in part on another woman he once dated. I’m not sure I fully understand the connections or why this is all so important to the narrator, but it was well-written enough that I would like to read some commentary.

“The Mother” by Jacob M’hango: Another reviewer called this a folktale with pieces missing and that seems exactly right to me. It’s very elliptical, skips out on most of the actual events and keeps the reader distant from the characters. I read the end as a twist the sister was a witch after all! and was somewhat surprised by the author’s note suggesting the story is about environmentalism, which is only briefly mentioned.

“The Hollow” by ‘Pemi Aguda: Invites comparison to the previous, as both are African stories about violence against women. This one is much stronger, exploring trauma through the lives of a couple of characters and a magical house. It didn’t do much for me emotionally but I can see it working for others.

“Dream Man” by Cristina Rivera Garza: This translated story is long, almost 50 pages, and I’m on the fence about whether it was worth it. It certainly leaves the reader with a lot to figure out: are Irena and Mariana sirens, and if so, are they inevitably killing Alvaro and possibly his family? Is Alvaro a figment of Irena’s imagination, let loose in the world and picked up by Fuensanta? Is everyone a figment of everyone else’s imagination because we all project our ideas of people onto them? I also wonder about the title: at first glance Alvaro doesn’t seem superlative enough to be a dream man, but perhaps for Irena he is, because he makes himself available when she wants him and scarce when she doesn’t, all without reproach. Fuensanta seems like a man’s dream woman, but at the end Alvaro thinks she’s really more of a man? Presumably this is here because it’s so mind-bending.

“The Locksmith” by Gray Wolfe LaJoie: A short but effective tale of the inner and outer lives of someone overlooked by society, but far more complex, intelligent and kind than people might assume. Completely believable and not saccharine. See a good full-length review here.

“After Hours at the Acacia Park Pool” by Kirstin Valdez Quade: Vivid storytelling, but I liked this less than other stories from this author. The coming-of-age story feels very standard. I was pissed at the way the mom exploited her daughter’s labor and then gaslit her about her outrage: for all her sanctimony about sacrificing to help others, the mom sure didn’t do so herself. Of course Laura is a minor so her mom would’ve been within her rights to just order her to babysit the neighbor’s kids for free, but instead she tricks and manipulates her while being hypocritically self-righteous. The mother impliedly doesn’t work herself so could’ve pitched in, and the parents also have the money to pay Laura themselves if they think the neighbor can’t afford it, rather than forcing all the sacrifice on her. How to Raise your Daughter to Undervalue her Work 101.

“Happy is a Doing Word” by Arinze Ifeakandu: A well-written story about the lives of two friends as they grow from boys to young men. A good exploration of how homophobia can deform someone’s psyche and their life, and I tend to like stories that successfully encapsulate so much time in so few pages. Not sure I understand the title, though.

“Elision” by David Ryan: A brief story juxtaposing geological and interpersonal upheaval. Its ambiguity and not striking a particular emotional chord with me meant I did not get much out of it.

“Xífù” by K-Ming Chang: A great monologue by a Taiwanese-American mother to her daughter, on the perfidies of mothers-in-law. Really a pitch-perfect, earthy, very believable voice.

“Temporary Housing” by Kathleen Alcott: My second Alcott story, and they seem to do much less for me than for others. The writing is good but for me the many disparate elements never came together, and little observations clearly meant to be insightful just confused me. It’s a story of a woman looking back on a less successful high school friend, with the implication that the narrator overdoses at the end, just as her friend did.

“The Blackhills” by Eamon McGuinness: This is really good, a strong end to the anthology. It’s a sort of matter-of-fact minimalism that leaves the reader figuring it out as you go. Suspenseful and best read without prior information. The great twist only a third of the way through left me expecting another, but thankfully no, that was all. The rest of the story shows us the protagonist’s life as a family man, helping us infer why he’d go to such lengths to protect his niece. It’s fun to end the collection with a late-night story about a man taking out the trash, though after Groff’s discussion at the beginning of anthology-wide themes, I wondered about so much writing about violence against women ending in a story where the victim is never seen or heard—even if we are satisfied that the perpetrator found his just desserts.

In the end there are probably still elements I’m missing about this anthology as a composition. Someone suggested doubles as a theme, which I agree with; I’d say gendered violence in its various forms is another, though it’s much more of a literary than an issues-based collection. While the whole book didn’t live up to the expectations set by the first five stories, I’m glad to have read it and appreciate Groff’s taste in stories. For those deciding between BASS 2023 and this anthology, I’d say this one contains much more experimentation with style, fantastical elements, sexuality, and queerness. BASS focuses on more straightforward and traditional literary stories, though both volumes are quite diverse. Overall I was pleased with both.

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

So painfully boring. Each new short story another chance to disappoint. It took me so long to push my way through this slow, tedious, grind of short stories. They have no arch, no meaning, a few had a some decent writing styles but none that made up for the total lack of story. I do not know how anyone could choose to put these stories together into a collection they would be proud to get other to read. Save your self the time, not worth the read.

[Matthew Wilcox · Rating 2 out of 5]

It would be a miracle for a collection of assorted contemporary literature to get anything above three stars, so all things considered this wasn't bad. The best story here was "The Locksmith"; the worst was "The Complete." At the beginning they let you know that the stories were chosen partially based on how well they stayed with the editor after she read them. Well, with "The Complete," you could tell that the guy was really throwing every cheap novelty he could out there in the hopes that you'd remember it. He told jokes, he mentioned Reddit, he typed out lol... and I guess it worked because I remember it against my will.

[Jill S · Rating 5 out of 5]

i guess they really meant it when they said "the best" short stories.

my faves:
"Ira & The Whale" by Rachel B. Glaser
"Snake & Submarine" by Shelby Kinney-Lang
"The Hollow" by 'Pemi Aguda
"Dream Man" by Cristina Rivera Garza
"After Hours at the Acacia Park Pool" by Kirstin Valdez Quade
"Happy is a Doing Word" by Arinze Ifeakandu
"Xífù" by K-Ming Chang
"The Blackhills" by Eamon McGuinness

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

This year's guest editor, Lauren Groff, wrote one of my favourite short stories of all time (Delicate Edible Birds). Unfortunately most of her selections for this anthology did not appeal to me - I thought they were too strange.
I had four favourites: Temporary Housing by Kathleen Alcott and Wisconsin by Lisa Taddeo, for emotional complexity; The Commander's Teeth by Naomi Shuyama-Gomez and The Blackhills by Eamon McGuinness, for suspense.

[Rebecca Petrilli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of course Lauren Groff picked the most unsettling and bizarre short stories. Loved this so much. I had already read the Ling Ma and Kathleen Alcott ones, and it was nice to revisit those in this collection.

I’ll read anything Lauren Groff’s name is on. I think that’s the essence of this review.

[Yiying Zhao · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it’s the limitation of the genre, the stories tend to be very self conscious and deeply emotional with a restricted view. I wish they were more imaginative and grand.

[elena bw · Rating 3 out of 5]

honestly leaning 3.5, but rounded down bc it’s more like 3.4
the stories i liked were SO GOOD but a lot of them i didn’t like so idk

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writers are so good at writing

[Jessica Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

I struggle to get into short stories, but enjoyed almost every story in this collection!

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the standouts are "Office Hours" (previously in the New Yorker) and "Man Mountain."

My favorites in the collection were "After Hours at the Acacia Park Pool" (coming of age) and "Temporary Housing" (reflection of "wild" youth from an older perspective).

[Katie Goodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this collection, was fun to pick it up every so often and knock out one story.

Was SO Lauren Groff-y, ie very weird stories. Amor Towles edited the 2024 prize and I’m excited to see how different those are.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting collection of short stories. I loved some of them (The Haunting of Hajji Hotak, Wisconsin, Snake & Submarine, Xifu), really didn’t love some of them (Ira & the Whale, Me Rory and Aurora), and felt generally positively towards the rest of the collection and the collection as a whole. Made for very interesting book club discussion!

[Ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only got through half the collection before I had to return it to the NYPL. Office Hours and Man Mountain are standouts.

[Matthew Bettencourt · Rating 5 out of 5]

have you ever read a story so good it made you want to throw up? have you ever read 20 in a row?

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe a little disappointed after reading Lauren Groff's exceptional introduction as it seemed despite her expressed criteria there was a bit of an agenda in the selections, but maybe that comes from the series editor's preliminary screening. I struggled through all but 8 of these stories. A few were exceptional and I look forward to reading more from those writers. The first story that grabbed me was the sixth, "Wisconsin" by Lisa Taddeo, which was recognizably human in that it took the character on an unexpected experience through loss, trauma, and healing. So it was enlarging in that sense. It didn't try to veil the human experience in allegory or metaphorical activity. Seemed more about dealing with life than trying to be an artifact of writing—and yet it is highly crafted. 'Pemi Agoda's story "The Hollow" is another story dealing with trauma. Dense, beautiful, unique language and a threaded structure which uses architecture and musings on "what is a house?" to discover meaning. "After Hours at the Acacia Park Pool" by Kirsten Valdez Quade is a coming of age story with a detailed exploration of the character's inner consciousness that explores a wide range of emotions. There's a stunning objective correlative that elevates the climactic scene. The story has a tight arc based on an emotional journey, yet overflows from the welter within. "Temporary Housing" by Kathleen Alcott is an intense story of a painful relationship and painful addictions that is full of private language, or language that is evocative but non-specific. Language stating emotion, but in a more poetic and literary way that is indirect, distancing, yet also recognizable. Just wish it weren't a suicide story. "Ira and The Whale" by Rachel B. Glazer is a surreal story set in the belly of a whale but it is all character-based and life-reflecting. The setting is used to bring out character stuff that would be too on the nose if set in a more "realistic" situation. The tactile descriptions inside the whale's belly are fabulous.

[Horaz100 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not for me!
When it comes to short stories I'm a novice. The only ones I'm familiar with are from Stephen King. To me he is a fantastic short story writer and I'm sure that if his genre wasn't horror, he would get much more praise for his work.
Having this in mind I spontaneously picked up this collection and wanted to read it while it was still fresh.
Alas, had I just sticked to my Stephen King. This selection was absolutely not for me and I'm not giving it 1 star because I think that the problem may be me and not the stories.
The editor used three criteria to help her choosing the stories:
"They had to show some sort of thrill or risk in terms of language or structure or plot or enigma"
"Each of the stories had to subvert my expectations"
"I had to remember it weeks and months after I first read it"
I can safely say that there is exactly one story which ticks the first and third box for me: "The Blackhills" from Eamon McGuiness. It's the only story I do remember fondly and I was very impressed by the author's meticulous description of the character and their actions. It was like a movie deploying in your head.
All the other stories - I can't say forgotten, because I do remember some for the wrong reason. "Ira & The Whale" for example came with high expectations as the name is promising for a "Moby Dick" enthusiast. Unfortunately it left me with the question why would someone invest time to write something like this. Being open to fantastic stories and loving the work of Kafka, I have no idea what this one was about or what it wants to tell the reader.
I'll stop here as I fear it may be too insulting for the other stories.
Would I read it again? - No.

[Briley Rossiter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, most of the stories didn’t hit for me, but a few of them stood out:

‘The Haunting of Hajji Hotak’ by Jamil Jan Kochai - through a unique second-person pov the reader takes on the role of quasi-omniscient spy observing an afghan family living in the us. Voice driven, striking, and dramatic. Immediately added kochai’s full collection to my tbr!!

‘Wisconsin’ by Lisa Taddeo - a daughter discovers her late mother’s former lover and travels to wisconsin to meet him. The characters pulled me in (though I’m still know sure if I like any of them) and there’s some interesting commentary about love/sex/womanhood

‘The Hallow’ by ‘Pemi Aguda - a beautiful metaphor for the way male violence gets passed on through generations, in the same way that female wisdom and survival does. “Still, the house stood strong, stubborn in its principles, in the duty breathed into its foundations so many years before by the woman who needed it, and refused to crumble around the woman who resented it” (183)

‘Locksmith’ Grey Wolfe Lajoie - a lovely and mysterious story that I could’ve read much more of.

[Maddy Quach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely stunning 3 story run at the end of the book. Still reeling from Temporary Housing and The Blackhills

Favorites: Office Hours - Ling Ma (read this last year in Bliss Montage but the reread held up), Dream Man - Cristina Rivera Garza, Xífù - K-Ming Chang, Temporary Housing - Kathleen Alcott, The Blackhills - Eamon McGuinness

[P K · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was perhaps the weakest of the O. Henry Prize Winners collections I've read so far. Groff seems quite enamored with heavy handed metaphor (like a literal useless mountain of men). The one about the guys stuck inside a whale had some funny dialogue. Over all, I didn't flag any of the stories as ones I wanted to read more of from that author, which is the main thing I use these collections for. I'd skip this one.

[Chris Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal favorites were “Office Hours,” “Dream Man,” & “The Blackhills”

[Hayes Averill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to read Bliss Montage now

[RH Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short fiction continues to mutate into amazing creatures that I can barely recognize. I don’t even know if I finished this or not.

[laurie ♡︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favs off the top of my head:
- The Commander’s Teeth
- The Hallow
- After Hours at the Acacia Pool
- The Haunting of Hajji Hotak
- Ira & the Whale

[Molly Adelman · Rating 5 out of 5]

i liked these a lot! some more than others ofc, favs include:
the hollow
man mountain
the haunting of hajji hotak
dream man
the blackhills

💘 took me like a year and a half to read tho