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The Granta Book of the American Short Story #2
The New Granta Book of the American Short Story
In 1992, Richard Ford edited and introduced the first Granta Book of the American Short Story . It became the definitive anthology of American short fiction written in the last half of the twentieth century—an “exemplary choice” in the words of The Washington Post —with stories by Eudora Welty, John Cheever, Raymond Carver, and forty others demonstrating how much memorable power can lie in the briefest narration. In the years since, Ford has been reading new stories and rereading old ones and selecting new favorites. This new collection features more than forty stories, including some he regretted overlooking the first time around, as well as many by a new generation of writers—among them Sherman Alexie, Junot Díaz, Deborah Eisenberg, Nell Freudenberger, Matthew Klam, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Z. Z. Packer. None of the stories (though a few of the writers) were in the first volume. Once again, Ford’s introduction is an illuminating exposition of how a good story is written by a master of the craft.
736 pages, Paperback
First published November 10, 2007
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583 people want to read
About the author
Richard Ford
237 books1,653 followersRichard Ford, born February 16, 1944 in Jackson, Mississippi, is an American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel The Sportswriter and its sequels, Independence Day, The Lay of the Land and Let Me Be Frank With You, and the short story collection Rock Springs, which contains several widely anthologized stories. Comparisons have been drawn between Ford's work and the writings of John Updike, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway and Walker Percy.
His novel Independence Day won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1996, also winning the PEN/Faulkner Award in the same year.
His novel Independence Day won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1996, also winning the PEN/Faulkner Award in the same year.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
April 13, 2015
This did not knock me out but lemme tell you it would’ve if it had fell from the top shelf and caught me a curt blow upon the cranium. It’s a whopper. I think my reviewing career would have come to a sudden halt. I read it over about four years and finished it this week.
Well of course I would like to spin some grand theory about The Short Story And Its Vastly Underappreciated Importance but who has the time. Not you, not me. What I can say is that now – right now – is a golden age, specifically in America. I could name you six or seven brilliant practitioners of the art of the literary 45 rpm, only one of whom is in this vast volume. So we need a New New Granta Book. The recent stuff is wilder, rantier, less judicious, no more the freezing psychological insights and ironed lapels of 70s and 80s, just the weep and the woof and the weft and the raving madness of the life we try to lead now. They are my pied pipers and I am a very willing rat.
Well of course I would like to spin some grand theory about The Short Story And Its Vastly Underappreciated Importance but who has the time. Not you, not me. What I can say is that now – right now – is a golden age, specifically in America. I could name you six or seven brilliant practitioners of the art of the literary 45 rpm, only one of whom is in this vast volume. So we need a New New Granta Book. The recent stuff is wilder, rantier, less judicious, no more the freezing psychological insights and ironed lapels of 70s and 80s, just the weep and the woof and the weft and the raving madness of the life we try to lead now. They are my pied pipers and I am a very willing rat.
October 1, 2008
Any collection of short stories by different authors is going to have its highs and lows. There are plenty of lows in this, but about one-third of the stories resonated with me. Among my favorites were:
- John Cheever's "Reunion," which managed, in probably only 1,000 words, to give us everything we needed to know about the history between a father and son -- and did so with much humor.
- Tom Franklin's "Grit," which managed to toe the catwalk between darkness and roller coaster throughout its ending -- which, as every good story should be, was shocking yet inevitable.
- George Saunders' rollicking "CivilWarLand in Bad Decline," which reminded me of how a ghost story written in the spirit of Chuck Palahniuk might sound like. This story was unlike any other in the collection and, combined with Richard Ford's spectacular introduction (which lays out a sound philosophy for short story writing), is worth the price of at least the paperback version of this collection.
Other notable stories for me included:
- Bharati Mukherjee's "The Management of Grief" (though that may be because I remember the Pan Am Lockerbie disaster so well);
- Stuart Dybek's "The Palatski Man" (what can I say ... I'm a Chicagoan);
- Tobias Wolff doing what he does best -- writing about childhood -- in "Firelight;"
- Ann Beattie's "The Rabbit Hole as Likely Explanation," where the character comes to grips with her mother's age-induced loss of reality;
- Kevin Canty's edgy "Blue Boy," a coming-of-age tale with a sense of danger that kept me turning pages;
- Jhumpa Lahiri's beautiful "A Temporary Matter," capturing a couple's communication issues in a unique way;
- Nathan Englander's "The Tumblers," showing a fresh take on one sliver of the Holocaust;
- Adam Haslett's quiet, desperate "Devotion," recalling the best moments of the early scenes from Atonement;
- ZZ Packer's "The Ant of the Self," which takes a lot longer than Cheever to build a similar father-son relationship but keeps itself moving briskly; and
- Julie Orringer's "Stars of Motown Shining Bright," which takes the overused trick of adding a gun to the story and really makes it work in its favor.
I've been taking short story writing classes recently and so have been immersing myself in this art, and taking on this book right now -- with all its disappointments and its high points -- has really helped put me in the right frame of mind for the work I'm doing.
- John Cheever's "Reunion," which managed, in probably only 1,000 words, to give us everything we needed to know about the history between a father and son -- and did so with much humor.
- Tom Franklin's "Grit," which managed to toe the catwalk between darkness and roller coaster throughout its ending -- which, as every good story should be, was shocking yet inevitable.
- George Saunders' rollicking "CivilWarLand in Bad Decline," which reminded me of how a ghost story written in the spirit of Chuck Palahniuk might sound like. This story was unlike any other in the collection and, combined with Richard Ford's spectacular introduction (which lays out a sound philosophy for short story writing), is worth the price of at least the paperback version of this collection.
Other notable stories for me included:
- Bharati Mukherjee's "The Management of Grief" (though that may be because I remember the Pan Am Lockerbie disaster so well);
- Stuart Dybek's "The Palatski Man" (what can I say ... I'm a Chicagoan);
- Tobias Wolff doing what he does best -- writing about childhood -- in "Firelight;"
- Ann Beattie's "The Rabbit Hole as Likely Explanation," where the character comes to grips with her mother's age-induced loss of reality;
- Kevin Canty's edgy "Blue Boy," a coming-of-age tale with a sense of danger that kept me turning pages;
- Jhumpa Lahiri's beautiful "A Temporary Matter," capturing a couple's communication issues in a unique way;
- Nathan Englander's "The Tumblers," showing a fresh take on one sliver of the Holocaust;
- Adam Haslett's quiet, desperate "Devotion," recalling the best moments of the early scenes from Atonement;
- ZZ Packer's "The Ant of the Self," which takes a lot longer than Cheever to build a similar father-son relationship but keeps itself moving briskly; and
- Julie Orringer's "Stars of Motown Shining Bright," which takes the overused trick of adding a gun to the story and really makes it work in its favor.
I've been taking short story writing classes recently and so have been immersing myself in this art, and taking on this book right now -- with all its disappointments and its high points -- has really helped put me in the right frame of mind for the work I'm doing.
January 24, 2011
Anthologies are a dicey thing. You may either get some real good works and some new authors you have never heard of or if the editor is not up to the mark, you get some listless collection of works by the usual well known names. I have been lucky in this regard several times, I read Juan Rulfo the first time in one such latin american anathology. The Granta Anthology is a a collection of 44 stories written in the second half of the 20th century by American writers. Since the editor 'Richard Ford' himself is no mean short story writer, I picked this one up. I got the second volume of this anthology. The first was apparently published in 1992. Ford has added some new writers in this collection released some years ago again.
The collection has the usual suspects like Updike, Cheever, Annie proulx. Some like me, who is in India does not have immediate access to the latest emerging writers, even if I read about someone in the net or in some magazine, it is pretty difficult to get their books here. This collection also introduced to me several writers whom I have missed for so long. The writers who affected me most were 'George Saunders', 'Ann Beattie', 'Sherman Alexie' and 'Deborah Eisenberg'. The crazy thing about Ann Beattie is that, the day I purchased this book, I also saw the complete collection of Ann Beattie's works. Since I had not heard of her, I passed the book. The next time I went to the store, the book was not there. :(. This is another problem with collections, you read something by a writer and start wanting to read his/her complete works, but infuriatingly they are not available. That sucks.
The collection offers a solid cross sectional view of the American short story form and even the American society over the years, across the various geographical locations, lifestyles. There is a story by Cheever, which has it's resonance in another story written by ZZ Packer nearly 40 years later.
But I would not say it is exhaustive since for e.g. there is only 1 story by a native american (Sherman Alexie). Even afro-americans are not represented much. This is not much surprising considering whatever I have read about the subjugation of native americans and afro americans. But I would have expected a much better representation of them. There are also a couple of writers of Indian origin, 'Jhumpa Lahiri' and ' Bharathi Mukherjee', which is actually a bit surprising considering the representation of native and afro americans. I personally would not go in for reading either of their works in future, but hey, that's just me. Maybe someone with a better knowledge of the american society and literary history over the years would be able to answer this better.
Overall this is a fulfilling collection of short stories 700 pages long . I was not disappointed totally with any of them. One of the best books that I have read in the last 2 years.
The collection has the usual suspects like Updike, Cheever, Annie proulx. Some like me, who is in India does not have immediate access to the latest emerging writers, even if I read about someone in the net or in some magazine, it is pretty difficult to get their books here. This collection also introduced to me several writers whom I have missed for so long. The writers who affected me most were 'George Saunders', 'Ann Beattie', 'Sherman Alexie' and 'Deborah Eisenberg'. The crazy thing about Ann Beattie is that, the day I purchased this book, I also saw the complete collection of Ann Beattie's works. Since I had not heard of her, I passed the book. The next time I went to the store, the book was not there. :(. This is another problem with collections, you read something by a writer and start wanting to read his/her complete works, but infuriatingly they are not available. That sucks.
The collection offers a solid cross sectional view of the American short story form and even the American society over the years, across the various geographical locations, lifestyles. There is a story by Cheever, which has it's resonance in another story written by ZZ Packer nearly 40 years later.
But I would not say it is exhaustive since for e.g. there is only 1 story by a native american (Sherman Alexie). Even afro-americans are not represented much. This is not much surprising considering whatever I have read about the subjugation of native americans and afro americans. But I would have expected a much better representation of them. There are also a couple of writers of Indian origin, 'Jhumpa Lahiri' and ' Bharathi Mukherjee', which is actually a bit surprising considering the representation of native and afro americans. I personally would not go in for reading either of their works in future, but hey, that's just me. Maybe someone with a better knowledge of the american society and literary history over the years would be able to answer this better.
Overall this is a fulfilling collection of short stories 700 pages long . I was not disappointed totally with any of them. One of the best books that I have read in the last 2 years.
June 30, 2016
This is a splendid read. In a boring, didactic introduction, the editor bangs on about the shortest of the stories, tempting the reader to ignore all the others, which would be a shame. The stories are all well crafted, though they vary considerably in content and style. Inevitably, not all will be to every reader’s taste, and though I found a few distasteful, I was happy enough to be forced out of my comfort zone for a short time. In several, I was struck by how surprisingly different the USA is from Europe; indeed, one or two made it seem more alien than cyberpunk. Now that I’ve finished this hefty volume, I’ll be down my local Library to look for more by many of its authors.
September 24, 2009
As far as variety goes, this book has it. But the choices within did not impress me. I like short stories, but I think that I am not a fan of modern short stories. I want closure and most of these stories lacked closure. They did not even read like a story, but more like an exercise in wriitng and cleverness.
April 22, 2018
Read in 2008 with Dad.
What a behemoth of a book for us to have picked for our challenge. As you may remember, we wound out spreading this one out and reading it in both July AND October and even then it was touch and go whether we’d finish this one as it’s just too darn big for me to carry around (and I do apparently almost all my reading in transit).
There were a few oldies thrown in at the beginning, where I thought “what is this one doing here?” (i.e., given the composition of the rest of the choices), but for the most part I thought these were good stories.
My favorites were “The Pugilist at Rest” by Thom Jones, “Firelight” by Tobias Wolff, “Blue Boy” by Kevin Canty, “Anthropology” by Andrea Lee and “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline” by George Saunders. And my least favorite was the Mary Gaitskill next to which I wrote just “Ick.”
What a behemoth of a book for us to have picked for our challenge. As you may remember, we wound out spreading this one out and reading it in both July AND October and even then it was touch and go whether we’d finish this one as it’s just too darn big for me to carry around (and I do apparently almost all my reading in transit).
There were a few oldies thrown in at the beginning, where I thought “what is this one doing here?” (i.e., given the composition of the rest of the choices), but for the most part I thought these were good stories.
My favorites were “The Pugilist at Rest” by Thom Jones, “Firelight” by Tobias Wolff, “Blue Boy” by Kevin Canty, “Anthropology” by Andrea Lee and “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline” by George Saunders. And my least favorite was the Mary Gaitskill next to which I wrote just “Ick.”
May 31, 2019
Following an inspiring Introduction by editor Richard Ford, I was disappointed by the early selections in this collection. Perseverance paid off, however, as I was pleased to later encounter over a dozen excellent stories I had not yet read in other anthologies. These included: “The Artificial Nigger” by Flannery O’Conner; “Oh, Joseph, I’m So Tired” by Richard Yates; “Killings” by Andre Dubus; “Helping” by Robert Stone; “Get Some Young” by Barry Hannah; “Ancient History” by Richard Bausch; “The Rabbit Hole as Likely Explanation” by Ann Beattie; “A Romantic Weekend” by Mary Gaitskill; “Two Dogs” by Steve Yarbrough; “People Like That Are the Only People Here: Canonical Babbling in Peed Onk” by Lorrie Moore; “Aurora” by Junot Díaz; “The Tumblers” by Nathan Englander; “Devotion” by Adam Haslett; “The Ant of the Self” by Z.Z. Packer; and “Lucky Girls” by Nell Freudenberger.
January 18, 2020
This massive collection gets a 60:40 like:dislike ratio from me. The stories that stood out the most for a variety of reasons, and authors I plan to read into:
- Ship Island: The Story of a Mermaid, Elizabeth Spencer
- The Half-Skinned Steer, Annie Proulx
- Get Some Young, Barry Hannah
- The Rabbit Hole as Likely Explanation, Ann Beattie
- Work, Denis Johnson
- Nothing to Ask For, Dennis McFarland
- Blue Boy, Kevin Canty
- The Plague of Doves, Louise Erdrich
- People Like That Are the Only People Here: Canonical Babbling in Peed Onk, Lorrie Moore
- The Toughest Indian in the World, Sherman Alexie
- Aurora, Junior Díaz
- Devotion, Adam Haslett
- Ship Island: The Story of a Mermaid, Elizabeth Spencer
- The Half-Skinned Steer, Annie Proulx
- Get Some Young, Barry Hannah
- The Rabbit Hole as Likely Explanation, Ann Beattie
- Work, Denis Johnson
- Nothing to Ask For, Dennis McFarland
- Blue Boy, Kevin Canty
- The Plague of Doves, Louise Erdrich
- People Like That Are the Only People Here: Canonical Babbling in Peed Onk, Lorrie Moore
- The Toughest Indian in the World, Sherman Alexie
- Aurora, Junior Díaz
- Devotion, Adam Haslett
May 5, 2023
I have never been what you would call a fan of short stories. There have always been a few that resonated with me, but I think I love characterisation in a story, on a level that few short stories have space to deliver. For this reason I have tended to read few collections like this. However, I have been studying the form and come to a new appreciation for the them. There are some excellent short stories in this collection, and some others that had me thinking "meh". All in all, though, it is a well curated collection with wide representation and well chosen stores from many excellent writers. If you are going to study short stories, this is a good collection to work with.
July 21, 2020
Finally finished this book. There were some good stories. Very few. Most of them were ghastly. Why do people need sex and profanity to tell a story? I am used to stories that actually make sense and teach a lesson. After reading some of them, I would shake my head and say, "What exactly did I just read?" I really need to be more picky with my reading choices. I do not recommend this book to my friends.
April 12, 2024
Another wonderful collection from Richard Ford, with both established and newer writers. There might not have been a story that blew me away as The Things They Carried did in the first book, but it is the consistency that impresses. Yes, there are some stories which I might have preferred but that doesn’t mean that I couldn’t see the quality of them all.
December 20, 2019
An amazing anthology of American short stories, nothing short of magic in effective storytelling.
September 14, 2021
**read for class**
The closest I can get to Pilgrims by Julie Orringer. The Pilgrims was a rollercoaster. I wish this was an actual novel.
The closest I can get to Pilgrims by Julie Orringer. The Pilgrims was a rollercoaster. I wish this was an actual novel.
August 9, 2022
Over a 12 month period I kept trying to enjoy reading these short stories, but I struggled. I gave up 70pct into the book. It might be me that has the problem :)
July 23, 2016
Richard Ford's Introduction - 2 stars
John Cheever's Reunion - 3 stars
Grace Paley "Friends" -- 2 1/2 stars - strong content but the lack of quotation marks and the avoidance of reader friendly exposition (for too long I had no idea who was who and what was going on) are annoying.
Richard Yates "Oh, Joseph, I'm So Tired" - 1 star
Updike "Natural Color" - 3 - the last thirteen words ruin the ending and make the story seem more of an exercise than it actually is.
Andre Dubus "Killings" - 4
Bharati Mukherjee "The Management of Grief" - 1
Richard Bausch "Ancient History" - 3
Tobias Woolf "Firelight" - 4
Deborah Eisenberg "The Custodian" - 3 - beautifully written but no transformation occurs making the flawless telling seem pointless. or rather, the transformation is the remaking of the magical into the mundane. i will revisit this story someday.
Dennis Johnson "Work" - 5
Kevin Canty "Blueboy" - 5
Mary Gaitskill "A Romantic Weekend" - 3
Lorrie Moore "People Like That Are the Only People Here" - 1
Matthew Klam "Issues I Dealt with in Therarpy" - 5
Jhumpa Lahiri "A Temporary Matter" - 2
Adam Haslett "Devotion" - 1 1/2
Julie Orringer "Stars of Motown Shining Bright" - 2 1/2
Nell Freudenberger "Lucky Girls" - 1
John Cheever's Reunion - 3 stars
Grace Paley "Friends" -- 2 1/2 stars - strong content but the lack of quotation marks and the avoidance of reader friendly exposition (for too long I had no idea who was who and what was going on) are annoying.
Richard Yates "Oh, Joseph, I'm So Tired" - 1 star
Updike "Natural Color" - 3 - the last thirteen words ruin the ending and make the story seem more of an exercise than it actually is.
Andre Dubus "Killings" - 4
Bharati Mukherjee "The Management of Grief" - 1
Richard Bausch "Ancient History" - 3
Tobias Woolf "Firelight" - 4
Deborah Eisenberg "The Custodian" - 3 - beautifully written but no transformation occurs making the flawless telling seem pointless. or rather, the transformation is the remaking of the magical into the mundane. i will revisit this story someday.
Dennis Johnson "Work" - 5
Kevin Canty "Blueboy" - 5
Mary Gaitskill "A Romantic Weekend" - 3
Lorrie Moore "People Like That Are the Only People Here" - 1
Matthew Klam "Issues I Dealt with in Therarpy" - 5
Jhumpa Lahiri "A Temporary Matter" - 2
Adam Haslett "Devotion" - 1 1/2
Julie Orringer "Stars of Motown Shining Bright" - 2 1/2
Nell Freudenberger "Lucky Girls" - 1
January 5, 2009
Not the author's fault, but nonetheless the amount of scanner errors in this book is unacceptable. Substitution of exclamation points for lower case t's transforms everyday statements into ecstatic slang, yes, but it's annoying.
Most of the stories are excellent, but a couple have no qualification save for, apparently, the usage of unfamiliar ethnic words.
I understand most of the United States and the rest of the world is upset with the second Bush presidency -- I'm no fan -- but how immature to shoehorn partisan jibes into the preface! Forgiveable if they're funny, but when they aren't -- as here -- one is only whining.
Most of the stories are excellent, but a couple have no qualification save for, apparently, the usage of unfamiliar ethnic words.
I understand most of the United States and the rest of the world is upset with the second Bush presidency -- I'm no fan -- but how immature to shoehorn partisan jibes into the preface! Forgiveable if they're funny, but when they aren't -- as here -- one is only whining.
March 22, 2016
A marvelous collection here. I have a few favourites but I think that Robert Stone's short story, "Helping" is just magic. Again we have the bumbling middle aged alcoholic, the cynical Vietnam veteran who is never far from shooting his neighbour just for the hell of it. He is the perfect metaphor for that generation of men who came of age in the 1960s America of free love and drugs and who left their youthful dreams behind in the jungles of Vietnam. There are so many others here. For the short story fans this is a great read/reread.
December 20, 2007
It's hard to read an anthology, despite the draw of Richard Ford's presence here as editor. A role he takes up with aplomb, providing an authoritative introduction on the short story, even as it brings out his bitterness toward the solipsism and weakness he associates with academic creative-writing courses. Gaitskill, Moore, Lee, and Cheever are great. Others suffer from the pointlessness of surreal thought, where things just happen.
April 11, 2010
By and large, an excellent collection. Plus, the intro by Ford is a must read for anyone interested in the aesthetics of the contemporary short story. He also writes a beautiful intro to Barry Hannah's AIRSHIPS. Ford really can write brilliantly from a theoretical stance; he impresses me more for this than through his own creative efforts, though I haven't tackled ROCK SPRINGS yet. Perhaps I'll revise my opinion then.
January 4, 2008
I have been only been able to read a story here and there, so my rating isn't on the entire collection, but I love what I have read so far! John Cheever is the man. I dig how this collection combines the "old school" with new gen. writers. This will def come with me on the plane for spring break, even though it weighs a few pounds (no kidding).
April 10, 2008
Not a terrific collection - probably because the editor was bent on including a cross-section of what has been written recently. I would much preferred that he'd concentrated on using excellent stories rather than those representative of different styles.
April 20, 2008
I've only read three stories and I was surprised to find that they while I think a lot of Welty and Bartheleme, I didn't fall in love with these. But I like the range of authors covered and the selection of old and new... my rating may yet change.
August 12, 2008
I've only read about half the stories in this massive book, and if I had to pinpoint a theme it might be sexual violence. Not like assault but more like violence that is sexy and sex that is a replacement for or simulacrum of violence. sortof the soul of america i guess.
December 18, 2009
At over 700 pages, I didn't finish every story, but I did read a lot: some old, some new and enjoyed most of them. Including The Yellow Wallpaper by Perkins Gilman--one of my very favs--a holdover from high school (wait, it must've been college--my h.s. wasn't that sophisticated!ha!).
January 5, 2012
Such variety, such resonance. Every story a glimpse into another world. An anthology this big is hard work because it demands so much of the reader, with so many different styles and experiences. But there are many glittering jewels of stories in this book and I strongly recommend it.
August 21, 2015
As with the first collection, this is a decent collection of short stories from some of America's finest writers. If you use it (like I did) to take in a broad sample of writers from a field you were hitherto unfamiliar with then you are unlikely to be disappointed also.
October 23, 2014
There are some 5 star stories in here, some really talented and incredible writers who make this the almost (but not quite) perfect book of short stories. A huge variety of styles and characters, I highly recommend this to any aspiring writer looking for his or her voice.
June 15, 2015
My wife has fleas ... ahem ... am I right folks? Hey, they can't all be winners. Did I mention CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, A Temporary Matter, and People Like That Are The Only People Here? Yeah, game over.
December 6, 2007
Many great stories, some okay, but a vastly better percentage than the usual anthology.
December 17, 2021
Meh. This time through I was not loving this one.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews