The Best American Short Stories 2012: Selected from U.s. and Canadian Magazines

by Tom Perrotta (Editor), Heidi Pitlor (Editor)

The Best American Series®
First, Best, and Best-Selling

The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction and nonfiction. Each volume’s series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish. This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected — and most popular — of its kind.

The Best American Short Stories 2012 includes

The last speaker of the language / Carol Anshaw --
Pilgrim life / Taylor Antrim --
What we talk about when we talk about Anne Frank / Nathan Englander --
The other place / Mary Gaitskill --
North Country / Roxane Gay --
Paramour / Jennifer Haigh --
Navigators / Mike Meginnis --
Miracle polish / Steven Millhauser --
Axis / Alice Munro --
Volcano / Lawrence Osborne --
Diem Perdidi / Julie Otsuka --
Honeydew / Edith Pearlman --
Occupational hazard / Angela Pneuman --
Beautiful monsters / Eric Puchner --
Tenth of December / George Saunders --
The sex lives of African girls / Taiye Selasi --
Alive / Sharon Solwitz --
M&M world / Kate Walbert --
Anything helps / Jess Walter --
What's important is feeling / Adam Wilson

 

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Audiobook, Anthologies, Literature, Literary Fiction, Short Story Collection

356 pages, Hardcover

First published October 2, 2012

About the author

Tom Perrotta is the bestselling author of nine works of fiction, including Election and Little Children, both of which were made into Oscar-nominated films, and The Leftovers, which was adapted into a critically acclaimed, Peabody Award-winning HBO series. His work has been translated into a multitude of languages. Perrotta grew up in New Jersey and lives outside of Boston.

Reviews

[Richard Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

These collections are always hit and miss for me. I love reading them because you know that you will find one or two amazing stories, maybe a new voice or two, and run into some surprises. Sometimes you see the "big names" like Saunders and Munro and think, "Oh, they'll be great," and they are. Other years, they disappoint. This year, it was the lesser known authors that blew me away.

I can't stand reading stories about white, upper-class, educated authors or entitled elitists. Please, no more. And enough of the "What We Talk About When We Talk About..." Please. No more.

My favorites:

Carol Anshaw, "The Last Speaker of the Language" was dark, funny and overall, a story that stays with you.

Mary Gaitskill, "The Other Place" is just an amazing story about the darkness that lurks in us all. Loved it, I was not disappointed.

Roxane Gay, "North Country" is possibly my favorite story in here. I first read this story in Hobart, and I'm a big fan of her work, but re-reading it here I was just floored by the raw emotion and honesty.

Mike Meginnins, "Navigators," from the same issue of Hobart, really surprised me, wow. The gaming storyline was fascinating, but what really broke through was the father/son relationship. So good.

Steven Millhauser, "Magic Polish" is a great bit of literary sf/fantasy, contemporary Bradbury, sweet, and sad. Surprising.

Eric Puchner, "Beautiful Monsters" is such a touching bit of near future fable and myth, loved, again, caught me off-guard. Touching.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Corinne for pointing out that the GRL did it again and smushed my review for a story into the anthology where the story is found. Since I didn’t read the story from this anthology, I have no idea what the below review is for. 3 stars for the story, 1 star for the GRL. Which IRL is like -50,000,000 stars. Thanks GRL!

Review for ? below.

Listened to this while alone at work, waiting for the snow and catching up on paperwork. Interesting parallels between the game and the kid's life. Quite sad and the game really was out there. Made me hungry for a PB&J. 3 solid, slightly confused, stars.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't read the George Saunders short story.

"The Last Speaker of the Language" by Carol Anshaw was beautiful. It was a little story about a single lesbian mom and her family life. The details about every life made the novel shine. It was a bittersweet story. Four stars and it reminded me to read her novel, Carry the One.

I started "Pilgrim Life" by Taylor Antrim, but I couldn't stand to read about self-involved, dot-com new money brats. One star.

"What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank" by Nathan Englander was warm and funy and contrasted American Jews with Orthodox Israeli Jews, but found some common ground. It made me want to read his short story collection of the same name. 4 stars

"The Other Place" by Mary Gaitskill was about a man who once tried to kill a woman and see those characteristics in his son. There's little plot, and the topic seemed to be handled in an overwrought manner. I didn't like it. 2 stars (crap story)

"North Country" by Roxane Gay. Oh. Mm. Gee. I loved this story. It's about a black woman who is a structural engineering professor who moves to a very white Northern Michigan University and starts a relationship. It's about emotional, cultural, and in a way physical isolation. It was a beautiful and delicate story. 5 stars (I now read The Rumpus and follow her tumblr)

"Paramour" by Jennifer Haigh. Umm, I forgot what this one was about. I googled it. A woman reflects on a former teacher. It's cliched and boring. 1 star (skipped swaths of that story, still got the gist, and still didn't care.)

"Navigators" by Mike Meginnis. A father and son play a video game that mirrors how their life is falling apart. I found the premise interesting but bluntly executed. Nothing shocking or any interesting insight. I was bored by the language of the story, too. 2 star (he tried)

"Miracle Polish" by Steven Millhauser. It takes a simple speculative fiction plot of a mirror polish that makes everything look better to the protagonist and he becomes obsessive about it to the detriment of his relationship. It an old tired plot and it brought nothing new. Sci-fi and fantasy authors have done it to better use. No profound insight or new plot twist to the story (okay the ending might be interesting if you've never read genre fiction), so I was bored. 2 or 3 stars (I don't care either way)

"Axis" by Alice Munro. She's a great short story writer and this is another gem. A story about to young women in the 1950s who are getting their Mrs degree, but the story isn't focued only on them. 4 stars. Just read it.

"Volcano" by Lawrence Osborne. Mid life crisis in Hawaii and a dreaming story. Well written. 3 stars.

"Diem Perdidi" by Julie Otsuka. Much like her book Buddha in the Attic, it uses second person singular to tell a story about a mother with dementia or Alzheimer and her daughter that stretches back and forth through time. Lovely to read and why I picked up this book. 5 stars.

"Honeydew" by Edith Pearlman. Private boarding school with an affair, drugs, and an anorexic girl. Nothing new here. 2.5 stars

"Occupational Hazard" by Angela Pneuman. A good story about how a co-workers death and his ex-wife's and daughter's return highlight some problem in one guy's marriage. I mangled the plot there, but it's a good story. Long but well paced. 4 stars

"Alive" by Sharon Solwitz. Mom and kid with cancer as viewed by the younger brother. Nothing interesting here. A cathartic story but I didn't care. 3 stars

"M&M World" by Kate Walbert. Mom loses daughter in store mentioned in title and it mirrors how the mother is lost and adrift. Cliched. Okay writing. 3 stars

"Beautiful Monsters" by Eric Puchner. Another great story with a sci-fi premise. Lab created children who will live forever come across a man in the wild. A real injured man. A beautiful and sad story. 5 stars (I want to read more by him.)

"The Sex Lives of African Girls" by Taiye Selasi. Another great story. It was a bit predictable, but the plot and language was beautiful. Great characters. I can't wait for her book Ghana Must Go. 5 stars (following her on twitter)

"Anything Helps" by Jess Walters. A beautiful and sad story about a homeless dad who wants to visit his son. It's so sad. So well written. Funny and dark. 5 stars. I need to read his books.

"What’s Important Is Feeling" by Adam Wilson. Hipster works on a film set in Texas. I've read non-ficiton accounts which tell the same story better. 3 stars because it's set in my state.

In retrospect, I love a story that isn't about upper middle class white people. I love stories about lower class people. It's more relatable when they worry about how to pay bills. Some time travel or being set in another time period is favorite setting. A speculative or genre fiction plot helps, too. Basically, I can understand why some people don't like the insular world of American literary fiction.

[James Renner · Rating 3 out of 5]

According to the New York Times, we’re entering a new Golden Age of short stories due to the explosion of eBook and eReaders and the public’s lazy attitude toward story length. Whatever the reason, I’ve noticed a lot of authors going back to work on their short game. And so this semester, in my Fiction Appreciation class at the University of Akron, we’re reading The Best American Short Stories, 2012. True to its name, there’s some goodies in here. Some stand-outs:

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, reads so very true. A story that takes place almost entirely through small talk, we’re treated to a front-row seat at an awful reunion of suburban despots who decide to play a creepy game of “Who’s the hypocrite.” As in, would you really hide Anne Frank or would you turn her into the Nazi’s?

The Other Place, by Mary Gaitskill, is a mesmerizing account of a would-be serial killer’s first target and how she got away. But it’s also a story about how we fear our children will inherit our worst traits, wink wink, nudge nudge. Interesting this ran in the New Yorker. Would it have been published there if it had been written by a man?

Navigators reads like a prequel to Ernie Cline’s Ready Player One. It’s a touching story about a recently-divorced father and his son as they try to beat an 8-bit video game in which the objective is to lose everything you hold dear.

And fuckin Miracle Polish, man. Like a lost episode of The Twilight Zone. One of the good ones where the devil makes an appearance, offering a gift.

Beautiful Monsters has your post-apocalyptic dystopia fix, this one set in a world of ageless children who encounter an adult.

George Saunders’ Tenth of December is here. Everyone is raving for it. But it’s just an experiment in extreme POV that kind of gets in the way of the narrative.

Is this the best America has to offer, though? Nuh-uh. Not by a long shot. Next year, they should dig deeper. Hell, be proactive and add a couple self-published eBooks.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fifteen of the 20 stories in this anthology were outstanding, taking the reader deeply into a vivid world where people’s relationships cause them to come close to catastrophe but elements of those same relationships guide them out again. What makes these stories great are the writing, which takes the reader quickly into the scene and deeply into minds and hearts of the characters.

One story was about a gay woman, raising a girl child and struggling with her alcoholic and demented mother who fortunately wins a lot of money at a casino. Another story was about a guy in California who falls for a crazy woman and takes her gambling in Nevada, where she accidentally hits a demented man on the road and tells him to leave the car so he won’t be involved in the police investigation. Others are about a boy with cancer who goes skiing with his family; about a recently divorced mom who briefly loses a young daughter in a Manhattan children’s attraction; and about an addict on the street who had to give his son to a foster family.

Each year I read the newest anthology and pick out an author to buy and read a whole book from. This year it is Steven Millhauser, whose story, Miracle Polish, affected me deeply. I think Jennifer Haigh, who wrote Paramour, deserves more of my attention, too.

[Cathryn Conroy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I really enjoy reading short stories, and collections like this one that feature a variety of authors are my favorite. This one is truly extraordinary.

Editors Tom Perrotta and Heidi Pitlor together chose an incredible lineup of 20 stories written by authors unknown to me as well as literary luminaries, including Roxanne Gay, Jennifer Haigh, Alice Munro, Julie Otsuka, George Saunders, and Jess Walter. Initially, Heidi Pitlor read thousands of stories and selected 120 finalists; Tom Perrotta then chose the stories from those 120 finalists that appear in this volume. All were published from January 2011 to January 2012 and culled from a variety of American and Canadian periodicals.

Some of my favorites (in ABC order by the author's last name):
• "Pilgrim Life," by Taylor Antrim: A young 20-something man in San Francisco is working for very low pay at a dream job at a magazine, while his roommate has cashed in the 1990s dot.com millions. The young man needs money—a lot of it—to hire an attorney. He and his new girlfriend, Claire, have done something despicable and illegal—and they got caught.

• "North Country," by Roxanne Gay: A brilliant young black female engineer has escaped to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a place she thinks of as the edge of the world, after a failed love affair with a married man. She is the only woman and the only black professor at the Michigan Institute of Technology. She just wants to be left alone…until she meets Magnus.

• "Miracle Polish," by Steven Millhauser: When a down-and-out traveling salesman comes to a man's front door in a leafy, lovely neighborhood, the man feels sorry for him. He invites him in and quickly buys his product just to get the salesman out of the house. The product is a mirror polish. When he uses it a few weeks later, something most extraordinary and unexpected happens. It could either make his life infinitely better or totally destroy it. Which will happen?

• "Tenth of December," by George Saunders: A friendless, bullied little boy sets out on a fantasy adventure one cold day. When he sees an overcoat laying on a park bench, he decides to retrieve it and find the owner—and be a hero. He realizes that the shortest way to the bench is to walk over the frozen pond…but is it really frozen? The kid falls in. Meanwhile, the owner of the coat is a cancer-ridden man who has decided to die by suicide by freezing to death. Spoiler alert: This is a story about how they save each other.

• "Anything Helps," by Jess Walter: This is a highly imaginative portrayal of a homeless man and his life in and out of shelters, the scourge of drugs and alcohol, and what it feels like to beg for money at a busy intersection. The story is realistic, but has a surprising plot twist that makes even the most unsympathetic of readers realize this man's humanity and what we all have in common.

The only story I didn't enjoy reading was Julie Otsuka's "Diem Perdidi" about her mother's tragic descent into dementia, although I appreciated the literary/artistic approach she took in writing it.

Bonus: Do read the "Contributors' Notes" at the end. In addition to a short bio, each author briefly discusses the origins of the short story. It's fascinating to find out where the ideas come from and how they turn the idea into a story.

If you enjoy reading short stories, this one is a delightful treat.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to "Navigators" by Mike Meginnis (found in the 2012 short story collection book) through the podcast Levar Burton Reads. This short story grew on me, as you start to realize how the title of the story ties in with the narrative. Joshua is a young boy living with his newly divorced father who bond over the RPG "Legend of Silence" they play together every day. The twist in the game is not to level up, but for the heroine to lose her power by the end of the game. This parallels their lives, as father and son are living in diminished circumstances, with unpaid bills and food rationing. You hurt for this little family, for as they pour their attention into navigating the game, they are not navigating real life well. Joshua's mother is not in the story, yet her presence is felt, and you hope that once they reach the conclusion of the game, the father will find some stability for them both.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 4.5
A few words of intro. This was a great, great batch of stories. One of the best I can remember, and I have been reading these collections for more than 10 years. My grades are even more harsh than normal. In order to get some separation I had to be a tough grader. All of these stories are fantastic and worth the read…..something I don’t always feel every year.

The Last Speaker of the Language – Carol Anshaw - 5
Simply wonderful. Amazing depth of characters in such a short time. Creative, original, charming and deeply touching. Sometimes love is about love for today and maybe tomorrow, and next week or next month can wait.

Pilgrim Life – Taylor Antrim – 4
Dense for a short story and fairly dark. Again a story about what one does for love.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank – Nathan Englander – 5
Wow! It took me a little while to get into the story, but it sure packs a wallop! It tackles some very ugly and messy subjects. It has a classic switch between appearances and reality when comparing/contrasting the two marriages. Maybe a touch formulaic, but the formula works for a reason! And the reference to Gogol gets me every time.

The Other Place - Mary Gaitskill – 4
I have been reflecting lately that the line between someone who commits a heinous act like murder and one who does not is blurrier that most people would like to believe it is. 2012 has been a year about violence, and this story tackles the topic well.

North Country – Roxanne Gay – 3.5
Good, but fails to take it to the next level for me.

Paramour – Jennifer Haigh – 4
Good mix of interesting characters and bizarre, yet believable circumstances and a quirk or two. The ending was a little disappointing, and cliché.

Navigators – Mike Meginnis – 4.5
Video games! Wonderful metaphor of how the game symbolized the life of the father & son. It made me wonder why no one ever has made a game like the one in the book where you steadily lose powers in order to make the game harder. Wonderfully original.

Miracle Polish – Steven Millhauser – 5
So enjoyable. Another great metaphor story. Again a story that follows a familiar short story arch, but wonderfully done. Wouldn’t we all want a magic polish that changes our outlook on life?

Axis – Alice Munro 3.5
Well structured with a flashback taking up most of the story. Highlights the silliness that live is set at 22 or 25. There is plenty of time after that to make your life.

Volcano – Lawrence Osborne – 4.5
Very descriptive and colorful. The story has many locations for a short story, and I felt like I was there at each one. Great use of dreams and awake. Martha is believably desperate and despondent.

Diem Perdidi – Julie Otsuka – 4.5
Sad and very moving. The use of the repeated sentence structure works brilliantly.

Honeydew – Edith Pearlman – 4
I felt like I just missed this story, and maybe I will reread it and try to discover it. I really like the bug tie-ins. Some great comparisons. Great sentence structure as well.

Occupational Hazard – Angela Pneuman – 4.5
Beautifully written and structured. A great look into the lives of a slew of characters, all of whom are struggling, messed up, but seem rich and vibrant.

Beautiful Monsters – Eric Puchner – 3
I didn’t really buy into the characters or their actions. Why did the boy find the man so fascinating? Why did the boys and girls feel such hatred of the men and kill them? An interesting concept, but not a complete realization for me.

Tenth of December – George Saunders – 3
A decent story of a chance meeting, but pedestrian and failed to stand out in any way.

The Sex Lives of African Girls – Taiye Selasi – 5
Brilliant. Brilliant story. Brilliant structure. Brilliant characters, deep and rich. So hard to pick a favorite from the many great stories, but this might be it. Selasi captures a place far, far from anywhere I have been and makes me feel like I am there.
Alive – Sharon Solwitz – 3 I failed to connect with the main character, so I failed to connect with the story.

M&M World Kate Walbert – 3.5
The pace of the story does well to mimic the setting of Time Square. I could not tell if Ginny was supposed to be as flighty as she came across.

What’s Important is Feeling – Adam Wilson – 2.5
A miss for me. Maybe if I had been around the movie biz I might have liked it more.

[Brad Hodges · Rating 3 out of 5]

"If a critic suggests that this anthology reads as if it was assembled by a heterosexual Caucasian male born during the Kennedy administration, I would have to plead no contest and throw myself on the mercy of the court," writes guest editor Tom Perrotta in his introduction to this year's collection of Best American Short Stories. Perrotta, who has written some marvelous stories, has chosen several stories that hew close to his style--a kind of drolly humorous look at hapless suburbanish Americans.

This is the third year I've read this recurring series, and I found that while I didn't dislike any of the stories, as I have in past volumes, I wasn't over the moon about as many as I have, either. In baseball parlance, there were a lot singles and a few doubles of the wall, but no strikeouts, and maybe only one home run.

The best story in the collection, by far, is Nathan Englander's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank," a twist on the Raymond Carver story, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," except that it focuses on Jewishness. A secular Jewish couple has an Orthodox couple over for the afternoon, and the resulting tension is deftly sketched out. The story begins with: "They're in our house maybe ten minutes and already Mark's lecturing us on the Israeli occupation. Mark and Lauren live in Jerusalem, and people from there think it gives them the right."

Other strong stories are "The Last Speaker of the Language," by Carol Anshaw, a comic romp through the lives of the desperate and underemployed. "Then, while she is sitting on the toilet, she sinks into the special sorrow of peeing while your mother is out cold on the floor next to you." Mike McGinnis' "Navigators," about a son that bonds through his father through a video game, really hit me as especially sad--I almost teared up while reading it.

There are a couple of vaguely science fiction stories. Stephen Millhauser, who often writes stories that could be made into Twilight Zone episodes, without the ironic endings, writes "Miracle Polish," about a man who buys mirror polish from a mysterious man and then becomes obsessed with looking at his image in mirrors. Eric Puchner's "Beautiful Monsters" concerns a world where aging has been stopped, and people remain as children forever, except for a band of aging adults who live in the wilderness.

Other strong entries are "What's Important Is Feeling," by Adam Wilson, a kind of riff on Truffaut's Day for Night, except the film set is in Corpus Christi, Texas. "Anything Helps," by Jess Walter, is a fascinating look at a homeless man, Kate Walbert's "M&M World" is about a woman who takes her two young daughters to the title store in Times Square, and the second best story is Angela Pneuman's "Occupational Hazard," which concerns a man having to deal with his co-worker's sudden death.

As I said, I didn't dislike any of the stories but a couple didn't really grab me. Taiye Selasi's "The Sex Lives of African Girls" is very long and I found myself confused while reading it, and while I usually like the quirky work of George Saunders, I found "Tenth of December," about a man set to commit suicide forced to save a boy from an icy pond, overwhelmed by style.

Other notable stories are Julie Otsuka's story of a child dealing with a parent's dementia in "Diem Perdidi," told in the second person, Alice Munro's look at women college students in the 1950s with "Axis," and a story of a girl obsessed with insects in Edith Pearlman's "Honeydew." It's a diverse collection, even if it is from a heterosexual white male born during the Kennedy administration.

[Mary Soderstrom · Rating 2 out of 5]

I look forward every year to the new volume of The Best American Short Sires, a fact which my family is well aware of so the current year is always under the Christmas tree. The 2011 collection, chosen by guest editor Geraldine Brooks, was one of the best ones, I think.

But the 2012 version was a big disappointment. Guest editor Tom Perotta's choices are full of bling and video games, which reflects a desire to be on the edge of the next big thing, I think.

To be sure, many of the point of view characters are boys, and perhaps my cool reaction to the stories reflects that fact that I never was a boy and haven't been a kid in a long, long time.

But there are others that seem to have been chosen simply because of their element of surprise. An example is "What We Talk about When We Talk about Anne Frank" by Nathan Englander, which is both precious and false, it seems to me. The author says in a note at the end of the volume that the story has it roots in two things: games that he and his sister played that explored their fears of what might happen to them in a pogrom, and in Raymond Carver's story "What We Talk about When We Talk about Love."

In Englander's story two couples, one "culturally" Jewish and the other Hasidic get to together for an evening of catching up. They drink and the wives, who'd been great friends in adolesence, wonder at their different paths. Then the Hasidic couple bring out some marijuana and the four of them continue talking, getting higher and higher. The denoument comes when the Hasidic wife realizes that she doesn't think her husband would hide her in a pogrom.

Whoof! That's one heck of a discovery, and I'm not saying that it might not happen. But I just can't see any very Orthodox couple smoking dope together with friends. I have at least four varieties of Hasidim as neighbors. and I simply cannot imagine any of them doing that, although the men quite clearly drink a lot on festive occasions. For a while Nathan Englander had a website where he promised to answer questions about his work, but he didn't reply when I asked if he really thought that part of the story was plausible.

Englander's short story collection by the same name has recently been published to glowing reviews. Good for him. But I think that both he and Perotta care far too much about surprise and shock in their stories than they should.

[Andy Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy the author's notes at the end of the collection, but it especially enhanced my understanding of my two favorite stories in the collection

"Anything Goes" is a first account by an alcoholic panhandler who while battling his demons, still saves enough from his panhandling to buy a hardback Harry Potter book for his son in foster care. Jesse Walter later explains that the story was inspired after he gave $10 to a woman who said she needed money to buy groceries for her kids. Walter assumed that she would buy booze with it but later saw her walking with a grocery sack and three young girls

"Alive" is a young boy's story of a ski trip with his mom and older brother who is battling cancer. The younger brother's recklessness on the ski slope leads to a broken leg while the older brother's conservative skiing still leads to exhaustion and admission to the same hospital. The author's note by Sharon Solwitz tells us that she did indeed have two sons, one of whom died of cancer

My other favorites include: "The Last Speaker of the Language" by Carol Anshaw,"The Other Place" by Mary Gaitskill, "North Country by Roxane Gay,"Paramour" by Jennifer Haigh, and "Axis" by Alice Munro

[Myles · Rating 1 out of 5]

(2.3/5.0) Slim pickings, as usual. Highlights include Taylor Antrim's "Pilgrim Life," Mary Gaitskill's "The Other Place," Lawrence Osborne's "Volcano," and "M&M World," by Kate Walbert. The variety of stories makes it inevitable that 10% will appeal to every reader– the rest...well, good luck.

[Jerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the Best American Short Story collections involve authors who grew up before I did, or authors who grew up after I did, and so share different entertainment media touchpoints than I do. Which is natural, because of course most people are either older or younger than I am.

It was, therefore, a little weird seeing a reference smack in the middle of my own college years, Tom Petty’s “Don’t Come Around Here No More”. If you weren’t familiar with it, you wouldn’t recognize it. In fact, 80s music videos are so incredibly strange that if aren’t familiar with them, any reference to them is going to sound like it was completely made up, probably while on LSD, which was not an 80s drug.

And then we’d go to Chet’s house, up to his room, where we’d play loud music and tell dumb jokes and watch music videos in which disgusting things happened; snakes crawled over a little boy’s sleeping face and he woke up being chased by a huge truck; a girl was turned into a pig and then a cake and then the head singer bit off her head.

The snake song is probably Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”, which came out in 1991 and which I had to search for. While I listened to Metallica, I was no longer watching music videos in 1991. Snakes, trucks, interspersed with the band playing the actual song that the video is about. That was standard fare compared to music videos in the eighties, the epitome of which may have been the video accompaniment to Bonnie Tyler’s mostly pedestrian “Total Eclipse of the Heart”. The Literal Video version of Total Eclipse of the Heart is hilarious, but to really get it you have to realize, as over the top as that video is, it wasn’t particularly out of the ordinary.

So some of my enjoyment of these stories is that 2011 may have been the sweet point for hitting cultural references I’ll understand more than in other collections.

Double doors. Open.

From the rise of very specific commercial theme parks—Kate Walbert’s story features “M&M World” in Times Square—to the rise of youth culture symbolized by Eric Puchner’s “Beautiful Monsters” where everyone is under 18 and adults are self-exiled to the wilderness, this collection touches on the civilizational fears of my own generation. Which is that civilization is failing.

Puchner’s was a well-done rendition of a standard science fiction/fantasy theme, a sort of benign Children of the Corn. Steven Millhauser’s “Miracle Polish” is an old school science fiction story: a traveling salesman sells a very unique product that on the one hand revolutionizes the buyer’s life, and on the other, risks destroying it. In Millhauser’s story, the deadly sin used for the metaphor is narcissism. The miracle polish cleans mirrors so well, they reflect a reality better than the original.

The highlights were George Saunders “Tenth of December” and Taiye Selasi’s “The Sex Lives of African Girls”. The former, a shy chubby boy who reads too many comics and dreams of a meaningful heroic life; the latter, a girl living in a world with the trappings of civilization, but trapped in a tribal-style family life.

Both have only mothers; both don’t quite get that the world isn’t treating them as it should, although they’re beginning to learn.

A close third is Puchner’s “Beautiful Monsters”.

Runners up include:

Jess Walter’s “Anything Helps”: It’s a somewhat stereotypical view of the homeless (as well as the foster care system), but within that fictional world it’s still a very touching story and a very insightful exploration of the effects of not knowing how to plan, of imagining (much like Saunders’s December child) very improbable results from poorly-thought plans.

Alice Munro’s “Axis” is in one sense a standard story of two roads taken, in this case by two college friends, both of whom had gone to college in order to find a husband. But it quickly turns into a story about how friends fall apart without meaning too.

Julie Otsuka’s “Diem Perdidi” is an astonishing look at what an elderly mother remembers, as she’s falling into Alzheimer’s or something similar. She remembers this… she remembers that… and through it comes a story of a life that is being slowly lost.

Adam Wilson’s “What’s Important is Feeling” is a really nice Hollywood story set in Corpus Christi, Texas. It’s a real clash of cultures between two cultures that the rest of the United States often think doesn’t have any.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This editions guest editor is Tom Perrotta. In his introduction, Perrotta compares how peoples' opinions of good writing and stories are a matter of individual opinion, just as how people judge their best pizza places. The box tells you it’s the best but lots of pizza places use the same box with the same logo. His personal criteria for judging the stories is the plain language that will be understood by the “average man”, which is the demographic he is in. He turns out to be a pretty good connoisseur of great stories. Reading the introduction was like reading one of the stories in the book. Well worth the read.

Reading the BASS series has introduced me to some pretty good authors I had previously not heard of. As if I need to add more to my TBR list. But it’s an addiction.

My favorites:
The Last Speaker of the Language by Carol Anshaw - A single mom in a hopeless relationship with a married woman and dealing with an alcoholic mother. This is just a slight summary because there is so much more to this story.

North Country by Roxanne Gay – A young black woman in a male-dominated world finds herself rejecting love, not quite sure why.

Miracle Polish by Steven Millhauser – This was reminiscent of a Twilight Zone episode. A man’s dull life is transformed by a mirror polish that makes him see the world in a different light with consequences.

Diem Perdidi by Julie Otsuka – Written in an interesting POV it recounts an elderly woman’s life as she loses her memories.

Honeydew by Edith Perlman – Fortyish headmistress of a private school living a deceitful life bonds with one of her students with anorexia for an odd reason.

The Sex Lives of African Girls by Taiye Selasi – A girl who was sent to live with her Uncle’s family keeps stumbling across scenes she does not quite understand but must keep secret. I loved the last line. “In the peculiar hierarchy of African households, the only rung lower than motherless child is childless mother.”

Alive by Sharon Solwitz – At first I thought this was about a spoiled ten year old who did not appreciate what his family was dealing with because his older brother is battling cancer. But when I read the author’s personal experience that this story came from, it gave me a totally different perspective of the point of the story.

There were at least seven other stories that I gave a good rating. There was no particular story that I disliked. A couple were just not my personal taste of topic but the writing was still really good.

[Tony Walton · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorites:

Carol Anshaw, "The Last Speaker of the Language" was dark, funny and overall, a story that stays with you.

Mary Gaitskill, "The Other Place" is just an amazing story about the darkness that lurks in us all. Loved it, I was not disappointed.

Roxane Gay, "North Country" is possibly my favorite story in here. I first read this story in Hobart, and I'm a big fan of her work, but re-reading it here I was just floored by the raw emotion and honesty.

Mike Meginnins, "Navigators," from the same issue of Hobart, really surprised me, wow. The gaming storyline was fascinating, but what really broke through was the father/son relationship. So good.

Steven Millhauser, "Magic Polish" is a great bit of literary sf/fantasy, contemporary Bradbury, sweet, and sad. Surprising.

Eric Puchner, "Beautiful Monsters" is such a touching bit of near future fable and myth, loved, again, caught me off-guard. Touching.

[Jay C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Been reading these off and on since 2014. Finished the last one today. As usual, several exceptional stories, a lot of good ones and a couple duds. My favorites:

Diem Perdidi - Julie Otsuka
Tenth of December - George Saunders
Anything Helps - Jess Walter
Axis - Alice Munro
North Country - Roxane Gray
The Other Place - Mary Gaitskill

I've blogged about a few of these:

https://bibliophilica.wordpress.com/2...

https://bibliophilica.wordpress.com/2...

https://bibliophilica.wordpress.com/2...

https://bibliophilica.wordpress.com/2...

https://bibliophilica.wordpress.com/2...

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very good short stories- because I am reading these so long after they are published, I can see the early successes of later well-known authors- like George Saunders, whose story the 10th of December was later part of a well-received short story collection. I will read his firs full length book next- Lincoln in the Bardo!

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 - some really nice ones in here but the first half got off to a shallow start

[Chunyang Ding · Rating 4 out of 5]

More good stories than bad. Navigators, Diem Perdido, and Anything Helps we're particularly appealing. Definitely check out the author's notes at the end of the book - very intriguing.

[Faruk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't believe this is the best of the year. A few did stand out. Jess Walter's Anything Helps, and Miracle Polish by Steven Millhauser. Seriously, though, I had to push myself to finish this collection. It did not make me feel good about the world of letters in 2012.

[May͛a · Rating 3 out of 5]

You never know exactly where Munro is going to go with a story, and yet you trust that all the pieces will somehow connect or enhance the story, straight down to the “Axis”.

“Axis” is a story that begins about 50 years ago when two girls are attending college. The entire story spans the many years to old age. Grace and Avie are two history majors. They’re carrying books home for vacation, although they will never read them. One, because that is the nature of a vacation; two, because an education is not their primarily goal in college. They enrolled in hopes of finding someone to marry. That's right, you heard me.

“They understood — everybody understood — that having any sort of job after graduation would be a defeat. Like the sorority girls, they were enrolled here to find somebody to marry. First a boyfriend, then a husband. It wasn’t spoken of in those terms, but there you were. Girl students on scholarships were not usually thought to stand much of a chance, since brains and looks were not believed to go together. Fortunately, Grace and Avie were both attractive.”

Both girls have potential, and both girls are seeing people. Avie is dating Hugo, but to be honest, she’d rather be with Grace’s boyfriend, Royce, a veteran of World War II. Royce isn't used to Grace being a virgin (this fact covers 80% of the story I ain't kidding) and Avie is scared she might get pregnant. Avie also has weird dreams, one in which she has two children with Hugo; one she has locked away in the basement, the other is lively and loved.

Munro never wastes her time on scraps once the stage is set (happens in every one of her stories). We move forward in time to see Royce getting on a bus to visit Grace. On the vehicle, he looks out of the window and catches a glimpse of Avie. He thinks "dang, she cute". Royce is tempted to get off the bus and ask Avie out, but he doesn’t. (Wasn't he dating Grace though?) He arrives at Grace’s home and suffers through the manners (strict, strict dainty rules) of the family. Oh, they spend the whole day making strawberry jam. In the end, he kind of...gets kicked out of the house by her family. He does not take Grace with him, despite her pleas.

At this point I felt like the climax of the story has passed — certainly there has almost been a climax — but Munro is not through with these characters. She moves on to Avie and Hugo (who?), through their long years together with six children, and finally to a time in old age when Avie and Royce meet again. Avie is widowed and Royce tells her about the day he saw her on the bus. He asks her whether or not she would've gone out with him had he asked. She answers yes. (But again, wasn't he dating Grace though??????)

I mean, there was no climax. Or there was a small one.


Royce and Avie appear to be the somewhat heartless survivors of the story and Grace the victim of their abandonments. She’s a sorry figure from their views — one aspect of the baby Avie dreams she’s abandoned in the basement. Just one of many possible mothers of the babies Royce dreams he has somewhere. I think Munro wanted our initial feelings to wrap around Grace who is in the end, abandoned by Avie and Royce. They appear to be the strong survivors who found their way. But Grace, upon reflection, is the only real actor and the central event is of her construction.

It is the gaps between these incidents that occur over time which the reader is left to fill in for her/himself — and this process is what makes Munro such a talented short story-writer.

Whatever happened to Grace? Who knows, maybe she became… Alice Munro.



Just kidding. Munro never disappoints.

I think I just became Sparknotes. Literally.

[Antoine Bandele · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have this five stars because I really liked the premise of the fictional RPG father and son play in this short story. The themes that come out of it are unique and thought-provoking. It reminded me of my childhood gaming experiences with my father and brother, and even my mother on occasion.

Found this through the Levar Reads podcast.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently bought Best American Short Stories 2012 and 2011 as my first ever ebook purchases. I have print copies of the 2009 and 2010 editions, which I read in piecemeal for creative writing classes, but I wanted to start fresh.

I read both of series editor Heidi Piltor's introductions first--in 2011 she lamented that so many American and Canadian short story writers were setting stories provincially in kitchens and other local areas without challenging themselves and addressing broader world issues. I can't really form a personal opinion yet as I haven't read the volume, but in 2012 she was far more upbeat about the geographical diversity of stories, and I think it showed in the collection.

Guest editor Tom Perrotta invoked a childhood story where he learned that many pizza parlors--not just his favorite--used the tag line "You've Tried the Rest, Now Try the Best!" to craftily suggest that we all have different tastes when it comes to fiction, and this is just a sampling of what he personally thinks is best. I liked most of the stories--also for their writing as well as their range--so no complaints here!

A list of my favorites:

"The Last Speaker of the Language" by Carol Anshaw (from New Ohio Review.) Subtle mixing of a middle-aged lesbian story arc with a woman and her brother caring for their alcoholic, swindling mother.

"What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank" by Nathan Englander (from The New Yorker.) Two married couples and friends, ultra-Orthodox and secular, share pot and basically whittle down 75% of contemporary Jewish talking points in a succinct-to-emotional manner.

"North County" by Roxane Gay (from Hobart.) Nice thematic language where an African American woman moves to a snowy, white-washed Midwestern town where she slowly accepts a boyfriend while getting over a loss.

"Axis" by Alice Munro (from The New Yorker.) The shifting relationships and identities of four people first in college and then in middle age, featuring an interesting foreshadowing dream.

"Diem Perdidi" by Julie Otsuka (from Granata.) A lyrical narrative about a Japanese-American woman seemingly suffering from dementia.

"Beautiful Monsters" by Eric Puchner (from Tin House.) A slow-revealing dystopia about a boy and a girl, engineered not to grow old, sheltering an outcast, naturally born and aging man.

"The Sex Lives of African Girls" by Taiye Selasi (from Granata.) A second-person POV novella about a young girl in Ghana sent to live with her affluent uncle and his household.

[AsimovsZeroth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Navigators is a wonderful short story about a single father and his son, as they bond over a strange video game, the likes of which they’ve never seen before. Mike Meginnis is another author I would likely never have stumbled upon without the Levar Burton Reads Podcast. I loved this story. I loved the relationship between the two characters. I loved the concept of a video game that hobbles you as you progress. I loved the philosophical questions that the characters confront through the game and their differing reactions. It’ll tug at your heartstrings.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like any anthology, this one had its ups and downs, though the primary sin of the clinkers wasn't that they were mawkish, just ephemeral. I found myself gravitating toward the hooky stories with unusual conceits, such as Mike Meginnis' "Navigators," about a father and son playing an existential video game; Steven Millhauser's "Miracle Polish," which makes mirrors not just brighter, but enhances the appearance of anyone that looks into them; and Eric Puchner's "Beautiful Monsters," about a society in which people no longer age, and their interactions with those on the fringe of town, who still do.

Other notables: Alice Munro's "Axis," a nice bit of relationship-building, simulating the span of ages in just a few pages; Mary Gaitskill's "The Other Place," a short and shocking confession of inherited mental illness; and Taiye Selasi's "The Sex Life of African Girls," which was much less brutal than I was expecting considering that the first two lines of the story are, "It starts, inevitably, with Uncle" and "You are eleven." Jess Walter's "Anything Helps" and Adam Wilson's "What's Important Is Feeling" were entertaining diversions. Nathan Englander's hotly anticipated "What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank" was just as Raymond Carver-y as the title might suggest, with the big, emotional trainwreck ending that's both unexpected but inevitable. I didn't read George Saunders' "The Tenth of December" as I just bought his anthology of the same name, and will look forward to reading it later.

This was my first time reading an anthology of this sort -- I'm sure the content varies wildly from year to year depending on the guest editor. I found it in a bargain bin at a bookstore in Wisconsin. It was about worth the seven bucks I put down for it.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the past four or five years, you've known what you're going to get with the Best American Short Stories series: a few stand-out stories from new geniuses; some solid work from the old stand-bys; and some absolute garbage tossed in for good measure. It's fair to say that 2012 read the operating procedures dutifully.

This year's editor, Tom Perrotta, set a vision in his introduction of a darker world shrouded in clean language. He said he loved stories that were concise, filled with emotion but also had a sense of humor to them, dark or not. And there's certainly a lot of that to be found here.

The real stunners include Carol Anshaw's "The Last Speaker of the Language," Nathan Englander's dark "What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank," Mike McGinnis's video-game age journey "Navigators," Steven Millhauser's exotic "Miracle Polish," Angela Pneuman's tense "Occupational Hazard," unsurprisingly, George Saunders's candid "Tenth of December," and Kate Walbert's beautifully imagined "M&M World." Most of these stories strike a fair balance of darkness, humor, fluidity, and degrees of fantasy. It's clear this is what Perrotta was aiming for, and he hit the middle of the target here.

Other stories have points of interest, but many of the rest are too one-dimensional or caught up in themselves. Not to say they still aren't good in their own ways, but the real stars sit above.

[Jillwilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to write at length about this collection but read it early in the year and so it has faded in my memory. This collection is always a stand-out. I usually read it over Christmas, eking it out at a story or two a day. It is such a wonderful guide to contemporary American fiction. I love it as much as I love the New Yorker Fiction podcast. (https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/n...)

There were three stand-outs for me in the collection:
Carol Anshaw, “The Last Speaker of the Language”
Nathan Englander, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank”
Mary Gaitskill, “The Other Place”

I can’t write as well about the twenty stories in Best American Short Stories as can Charles E May who does a forensic dissection of them every year. I don’t always agree with him but he’s most definitely put effort and expertise into thinking about short stories and how they work. Read him after you’ve read the collection. Five stars. To both the collection and his blog: Reading The Short Story:
Thoughts on reading and studying the short story by a guy who's read and written about a lot of short stories. (http://may-on-the-short-story.blogspo...

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice compilation of short stories recently published in magazines like The New Yorker, Hobart, Ploughshares, American Short Fiction, Tin House, McSweeney's, and others. The collection also includes George Saunders short story Tenth of December which is included in his recent collection of short stories by the same name.

Several of the stories stood out for me including North Country, Miracle Polish, The Sex Lives of African Girls, and Anything Helps.

From sensual and sexy to bizarre and 'Twilight'-esque, the themes and topics range considerably, still, the quality of writing managed to give this collection a sense of cohesiveness. Out of the almost two dozen stories, only one story did not work for me.

I've read that e-publishing is helping to revive the short story and this type of collection certainly does its part. I'd recommend this to anyone who is a fan of the short story or is looking to sample the short story, as it features the style and talent of many different writers.

[Carol N · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a real fan of short stories. It's been a long time since I have stopped to read a collection. Today's contemporary short stories are not like the "classics plot driven story of Twain, London, Poe, or O'Henry. I certainly agree with other reviewers who think that the contemporary stories seem to be more "a slice of life” and leaves more room for you, the reader, to insert conjecture and react.

I totally loved "Anything Helps," told from the point of view of a homeless person trying or maybe not trying too hard to get his shit together – I thought it was funny, sad and kind of moving at the same time.

Another telling of a parent’s love, Sharon Solwitz’s “Alive,” chronicles an impromptu ski trip of a mother and her two young sons, one of whom is on a break from chemotherapy and blood transfusions for his cancer.

[Sonya · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me about a year to go through this especially strong collection of 2012's stories. The stories I'll remember most include: Carol Anshaw's The Last Speaker of the Language; What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander; The Other Place by Mary Gaitskill (ultra-violent underpinnings, like a lot of Gaitskill); Roxane Gay's North Country; Miracle Polish by Steven Millhauser; Alice Munro's Axis; Volcano by Lawrence Osborne; Diem Perdidi by Julie Otsuka; Angela Pneuman's Occupational Hazard; and Tenth of December by George Saunders.