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The Best American Short Stories 2005
The Best American Series First, Best, and Best-Selling
The Best American series has been the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction since 1915. Each volume's series editor selects notable works from hundreds of periodicals. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the very 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 2005 includes
Dennis Lehane • Tom Perrotta • Alice Munro • Edward P. Jones • Joy Williams • Joyce Carol Oates • Thomas McGuane • Kelly Link • Charles D'Ambrosio • Cory Doctorow • George Saunders • and others
Michael Chabon, guest editor, is the best-selling author of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Wonder Boys, A Model World, and, most recently, The Final Solution. His novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000.
The Best American series has been the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction since 1915. Each volume's series editor selects notable works from hundreds of periodicals. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the very 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 2005 includes
Dennis Lehane • Tom Perrotta • Alice Munro • Edward P. Jones • Joy Williams • Joyce Carol Oates • Thomas McGuane • Kelly Link • Charles D'Ambrosio • Cory Doctorow • George Saunders • and others
Michael Chabon, guest editor, is the best-selling author of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Wonder Boys, A Model World, and, most recently, The Final Solution. His novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000.
411 pages, Paperback
First published October 5, 2005
27 people are currently reading
640 people want to read
About the author
Michael Chabon
145 books8,935 followersMichael Chabon is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, D.C., he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1984. He subsequently received a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine.
Chabon's first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988), was published when he was 24. He followed it with Wonder Boys (1995) and two short-story collections. In 2000, he published The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a novel that John Leonard would later call Chabon's magnum opus. It received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001.
His novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union, an alternate history mystery novel, was published in 2007 and won the Hugo, Sidewise, Nebula and Ignotus awards; his serialized novel Gentlemen of the Road appeared in book form in the fall of the same year. In 2012, Chabon published Telegraph Avenue, billed as "a twenty-first century Middlemarch", concerning the tangled lives of two families in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004. He followed Telegraph Avenue in November 2016 with his latest novel, Moonglow, a fictionalized memoir of his maternal grandfather, based on his deathbed confessions under the influence of powerful painkillers in Chabon's mother's California home in 1989.
Chabon's work is characterized by complex language, and the frequent use of metaphor along with recurring themes such as nostalgia, divorce, abandonment, fatherhood, and most notably issues of Jewish identity. He often includes gay, bisexual, and Jewish characters in his work. Since the late 1990s, he has written in increasingly diverse styles for varied outlets; he is a notable defender of the merits of genre fiction and plot-driven fiction, and, along with novels, has published screenplays, children's books, comics, and newspaper serials.
Chabon's first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988), was published when he was 24. He followed it with Wonder Boys (1995) and two short-story collections. In 2000, he published The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a novel that John Leonard would later call Chabon's magnum opus. It received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001.
His novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union, an alternate history mystery novel, was published in 2007 and won the Hugo, Sidewise, Nebula and Ignotus awards; his serialized novel Gentlemen of the Road appeared in book form in the fall of the same year. In 2012, Chabon published Telegraph Avenue, billed as "a twenty-first century Middlemarch", concerning the tangled lives of two families in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004. He followed Telegraph Avenue in November 2016 with his latest novel, Moonglow, a fictionalized memoir of his maternal grandfather, based on his deathbed confessions under the influence of powerful painkillers in Chabon's mother's California home in 1989.
Chabon's work is characterized by complex language, and the frequent use of metaphor along with recurring themes such as nostalgia, divorce, abandonment, fatherhood, and most notably issues of Jewish identity. He often includes gay, bisexual, and Jewish characters in his work. Since the late 1990s, he has written in increasingly diverse styles for varied outlets; he is a notable defender of the merits of genre fiction and plot-driven fiction, and, along with novels, has published screenplays, children's books, comics, and newspaper serials.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews
October 27, 2011
I think I finally have to admit to being a fan of the short-story. I'm about half-way through this volume now, and like previous years, this one is filled with excellent writing. ... so why do I like the short story? maybe because sometimes I don't want to commit to entering into a long-term relationship with a book. ... I think, also, there is something about the short story that feeds the voyeur in me. ... In the same way I love walking around neighborhoods at night when you can see into people's houses - just a snippet as you walk by, ...a painting hanging on the wall, a brightly painted room, the reflection of a t.v. on the window... you catch a glimpse of another life and another world in the short story. I go walking, at night, when I need to think, when I need to step outside of my life for a while, when I need a breath of fresh, cool, dark air. Short-stories provides a similar perspective - questions are unanswered, the motivation of characters often unclear - and yet somehow, at the end of the walk or the end of the story, I always come back to my life feeling more settled, like what I have seen/read has touched my heart deeply and made me more human.
October 13, 2020
This short story anthology series will always be on my TBR list. I am trying to catch up to the current year by reading a couple of past issues each year.
This year's guest editor is Michael Chabon. I have not read any of his books although he won the Pulitzer in 2001 for [book:The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay|3985. I'm not sure if I will put that on my already super long TBR list. My favorites:
Until Gwen by Dennis LeHane
Eight Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon
First Four Measures by Nathaniel Bellows
The Scheme of Things by Charles D’Ambrosio
The Cousins by Joyce Carol Oates
Justice Shiva Ram Murthy by Rishi Reddi
There seemed to be a few with the point of view of a young boy or adolescent. Those always grip my emotions.
In any case, I found most of Mr. Chabon's selections to be terrific.
This year's guest editor is Michael Chabon. I have not read any of his books although he won the Pulitzer in 2001 for [book:The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay|3985. I'm not sure if I will put that on my already super long TBR list. My favorites:
Until Gwen by Dennis LeHane
Eight Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon
First Four Measures by Nathaniel Bellows
The Scheme of Things by Charles D’Ambrosio
The Cousins by Joyce Carol Oates
Justice Shiva Ram Murthy by Rishi Reddi
There seemed to be a few with the point of view of a young boy or adolescent. Those always grip my emotions.
In any case, I found most of Mr. Chabon's selections to be terrific.
Currently reading
October 24, 2016I bought this book because a couple of anthologies edited by Michael Chabon for McSweeney's remain among my all-time favorite books. So far, though, these stories remain lighter on genre, something I loved about those two collections. Or, when they are genre stories, like "Until Gwen", they don't strike a chord with me. I've just read 3 stories so far and one is a re-read, so maybe I need to dig deeper before I form an opinion.
June 27, 2010
Yikes. Aside from the Munro and the Tom Perrotta story, I don't agree with Chabon at all.
February 18, 2019
I read a lot of books of short stories. I make a practice of at least reading a few pages of each one, and then if I dont like it, I skip it. In this book, I enjoyed every short story.
August 23, 2021
Sometimes it's fun to dive into short stories. They go by quickly. You don't have to try to remember details that happened 100 pages ago. These 19 stories were a varied collection of different genres, topics, and styles. My favorites:
1. "The Smile on Happy Chang's Face" (Tom Perrotta) about an umpire who was trying to rise above family troubles. The ump totally didn't see the final pitch of a game where Lori Chang was pitching, and doing a very good job.
2. "8 Pieces for the Left Hand" (J. Robert Lennon), which were eight distinct little micro-stories, all of them cute, with a little twist in the plot!
3. "Simple Exercises for the Beginning Student" (Alix Ohlin) -- see a theme here around piano-playing? Kevin is 8 years old, has no friends, and announces to his parents that he wants to start taking piano lessons. Parents refuse to provide a keyboard, so he makes one out of paper. The different behaviors towards Ken on the part of the parents -- mom Rachel is too permissive, dad Brian is too tough -- was interesting, especially with how the story ended.
4. "The Cousins" (Joyce Carol Oates), which was told entirely via letters between two women. One is a memoirist, Freyda, who wrote about surviving Theresienstadt during the Holocaust, the other, Rebecca, is convinced she is related to her. At first, Freyda is not at all convinced, and tells Rebecca many times to bug off. Rebecca becomes the "tenacious American cousin." I was charmed by her persistence, while being very polite and respectful, and by Freyda's eventual warming.
5. "Hart and Boot" (Tim Pratt), a cool merging of Western and fantasy! Pearl Hart is an outlaw. A man literally emerged from a hole in the ground, clad only in very nice boots. Pearl could use some company, so she dubbed the guy "John Boot," arranged for some clothes for him, and taught him to rob stagecoaches. They end up in separate jail cells, and John Boot can mysteriously appear in Pearl's cell. The ending is fun -- of course John Boot can't stay in this life forever, and eventually makes his last appearance. Pearl ends up in a semi-clean life, making a living as a traveling lecturer! Perfect!
6. "Justice Shiva Ram Murthy" (Rishi Reddi), a fish-out-of-water story about a judge from India who emigrates to Boston. He regularly has lunch with another Indian immigrant, Manu. On Christmas Day the only open place they can find serves Mexican fast food. The clerk/manager there can't understand the judge's heavy accent, and gives him a beef burrito instead of bean. The judge is outraged, and insists on suing the establishment, dragging a reluctant Manu along as a witness. They eventually meet with a female lawyer, who tries to explain to the judge that he has no case, and the judge is incensed that Manu doesn't back him up. The judge terminates the friendship, but a few weeks later, backs down and meets Manu for lunch again because "we Indians have to stick together."
7. "Bohemians" (George Saunders) about some neighborhood kids and two old widows, one who is very nice, Mrs. H, and the other who is an old, cranky, bat, Mrs. P. A developmentally disabled boy, called Eddie the Vacant, innocently approaches Mrs. P, asking for a charitable donation. She has him arrested for trying to enter her house. The kids retaliate by bashing in her windows. The narrator's parents go away on a vacation, and he has to stay with Mrs. P! But he discovers that she's really not so bad, and exposes Mrs. H as a liar. The narrator tells the kids about this, and they believe him.
1. "The Smile on Happy Chang's Face" (Tom Perrotta) about an umpire who was trying to rise above family troubles. The ump totally didn't see the final pitch of a game where Lori Chang was pitching, and doing a very good job.
2. "8 Pieces for the Left Hand" (J. Robert Lennon), which were eight distinct little micro-stories, all of them cute, with a little twist in the plot!
3. "Simple Exercises for the Beginning Student" (Alix Ohlin) -- see a theme here around piano-playing? Kevin is 8 years old, has no friends, and announces to his parents that he wants to start taking piano lessons. Parents refuse to provide a keyboard, so he makes one out of paper. The different behaviors towards Ken on the part of the parents -- mom Rachel is too permissive, dad Brian is too tough -- was interesting, especially with how the story ended.
4. "The Cousins" (Joyce Carol Oates), which was told entirely via letters between two women. One is a memoirist, Freyda, who wrote about surviving Theresienstadt during the Holocaust, the other, Rebecca, is convinced she is related to her. At first, Freyda is not at all convinced, and tells Rebecca many times to bug off. Rebecca becomes the "tenacious American cousin." I was charmed by her persistence, while being very polite and respectful, and by Freyda's eventual warming.
5. "Hart and Boot" (Tim Pratt), a cool merging of Western and fantasy! Pearl Hart is an outlaw. A man literally emerged from a hole in the ground, clad only in very nice boots. Pearl could use some company, so she dubbed the guy "John Boot," arranged for some clothes for him, and taught him to rob stagecoaches. They end up in separate jail cells, and John Boot can mysteriously appear in Pearl's cell. The ending is fun -- of course John Boot can't stay in this life forever, and eventually makes his last appearance. Pearl ends up in a semi-clean life, making a living as a traveling lecturer! Perfect!
6. "Justice Shiva Ram Murthy" (Rishi Reddi), a fish-out-of-water story about a judge from India who emigrates to Boston. He regularly has lunch with another Indian immigrant, Manu. On Christmas Day the only open place they can find serves Mexican fast food. The clerk/manager there can't understand the judge's heavy accent, and gives him a beef burrito instead of bean. The judge is outraged, and insists on suing the establishment, dragging a reluctant Manu along as a witness. They eventually meet with a female lawyer, who tries to explain to the judge that he has no case, and the judge is incensed that Manu doesn't back him up. The judge terminates the friendship, but a few weeks later, backs down and meets Manu for lunch again because "we Indians have to stick together."
7. "Bohemians" (George Saunders) about some neighborhood kids and two old widows, one who is very nice, Mrs. H, and the other who is an old, cranky, bat, Mrs. P. A developmentally disabled boy, called Eddie the Vacant, innocently approaches Mrs. P, asking for a charitable donation. She has him arrested for trying to enter her house. The kids retaliate by bashing in her windows. The narrator's parents go away on a vacation, and he has to stay with Mrs. P! But he discovers that she's really not so bad, and exposes Mrs. H as a liar. The narrator tells the kids about this, and they believe him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 8, 2019
It’s been a while since I’ve read an anthology of short fiction—never before, I think, without the spur of some academic requirement. The point was that short narratives were where you honed your ability to produce/appreciate long narratives; because they were so much simpler, short narratives had to (and could) be perfect. All of the work here is polished—some of it perfectly so—but what strikes me is how so much of it feels a reflection of Flannery O’Connor, by way of Raymond Carver. We study/workshop short fiction because it is so much simpler than trying to evaluate small pieces of longer narratives, but maybe short fiction is something that needs to be discovered—as a stand-alone in an otherwise boring publication, or as the gathering of more concise works from a single author whose longer narratives we’ve come to appreciate. The attraction would be the pleasure of discovery, or a deeper look into the author’s development.
March 18, 2017
A solid, enjoyable collection.
Favorites
Perrotta - The Smile of Happy Chang's Face
Lehane - Until Gwen
Lennon - Eight Pieces for the Left Hand (Short fiction!)
Bellows - First Four Measures
Williams - The Girls
Oates - The Cousins (unsettling epistolary!)
Good but Reminiscent of Others/Other Things/Typical Tropes
D'Ambrosio - The Scheme of Things
Ohlin - Simple Exercises for the Beginning Student
Mean - The Secret Goldfish
Bezmozgis - Natasha
What I expected and not much more [I wonder if this is because of genre?]
Link - Stone Animals
Doctorow - Anda's Game
Super Star I'd Read Anything and Everything Else
Munro - Silence
Saunders - Bohemians
Skipped Due to Content or Style Not My Jam
Bissell - Death Defier
Jones - Old Boys, Old Girls
Pratt - Hart and Boot
Reddi - Justice Shiva Ram Murthy
Favorites
Perrotta - The Smile of Happy Chang's Face
Lehane - Until Gwen
Lennon - Eight Pieces for the Left Hand (Short fiction!)
Bellows - First Four Measures
Williams - The Girls
Oates - The Cousins (unsettling epistolary!)
Good but Reminiscent of Others/Other Things/Typical Tropes
D'Ambrosio - The Scheme of Things
Ohlin - Simple Exercises for the Beginning Student
Mean - The Secret Goldfish
Bezmozgis - Natasha
What I expected and not much more [I wonder if this is because of genre?]
Link - Stone Animals
Doctorow - Anda's Game
Super Star I'd Read Anything and Everything Else
Munro - Silence
Saunders - Bohemians
Skipped Due to Content or Style Not My Jam
Bissell - Death Defier
Jones - Old Boys, Old Girls
Pratt - Hart and Boot
Reddi - Justice Shiva Ram Murthy
June 19, 2024
The 2005 edition of The Best American Short Stories series is, mostly, stellar. Unlike most of the other BASSes, the entries here are NOT arranged alphabetically according to author's last name, but are presented in scattered order, so we begin with a story by Tom Perrotta ("The Smile on Happy Chang's Face") and end nearly 400 pages later with George Saunders ("Bohemians"). The selections by guest editor Michael Chabon and series editor Katrina Kenison are eclectic, surprising, and fresh (though one or two never rose to the level of Full Engagement for this reader). The stories I loved the best from this collection: the aforementioned Perrotta, "Eight Pieces for the Left Hand" by J. Robert Lennon, "Stone Animals" by Kelly Link, "First Four Measures" by Nathaniel Bellows and "Natasha" by David Bezmozgis.
December 31, 2019
I'm not familiar with Michael Chabon, so can't comment on how this selection complements his vision as an author. I found it worth the read, but came away vaguely disquieted at how dark the overall tone seemed to be. As I noted in another recent review of a short story collection, it seems a great many authors have given up on having their protagonists learn and evolve, at least within the short story format. But maybe that's literary fashion now, a means of distinguishing that form from the novel or dramatization.
This is, however, a great way to reacquaint yourself with short stories in general, with Americana in particular, and with the vast panoply of modern philosophies wafting their way over the American landscape.
This is, however, a great way to reacquaint yourself with short stories in general, with Americana in particular, and with the vast panoply of modern philosophies wafting their way over the American landscape.
September 10, 2020
Overall this was a very enjoyable collection of short stories. I found all but one to be very entertaining and a third of them to be extremely powerful – intellectually captivating and/or emotionally destabilizing.
Of the latter were: “A Taste of Dust” by Lynne Sharon Schwartz; “Death Defier” by Tom Bissell; “The Girls” by Joy Williams; “Simple Exercises for the Beginning Student” by Alix Ohlin; “Old Boys, Old Girls” by Edward P. Jones; “The Secret Goldfish” by David Means; “The Cousins” by Joyce Carol Oates; and “Bohemians” by George Saunders.
Of the latter were: “A Taste of Dust” by Lynne Sharon Schwartz; “Death Defier” by Tom Bissell; “The Girls” by Joy Williams; “Simple Exercises for the Beginning Student” by Alix Ohlin; “Old Boys, Old Girls” by Edward P. Jones; “The Secret Goldfish” by David Means; “The Cousins” by Joyce Carol Oates; and “Bohemians” by George Saunders.
April 16, 2020
A higher-than-average hit rate on the short stories in this collection. Standouts include: Tom Perrotta's The Smile on Happy Chang's Face; Lynne Sharon Schwartz's A Taste of Dust; and Alix Ohlin's Simple Exercises for the Beginning Student. I'm not sure why I didn't get around to reading this 2005 collection until 2020. . .
May 17, 2022
Varied selection of stories, though each one showing murky and sad aspects of modern American society. Reading short stories is like allowing the author to lower you down a cliff face, your heart is in their hands and most seem to use their limited word count to paint such depressing scenarios as apparently that is more interesting!
October 15, 2017
As with any anthology, I enjoyed certain stories while not enjoying others. Overall this selection fell short for me and I'm not totally sure why. I did enjoy my used copy, though, because the previous owner had written some interesting notes in the margins.
May 19, 2019
I like to have a short story collection in case I don't feel like reading much before sleep. Picked this one up because it was edited by Michael Chabon. Some good, some meh. I will probably pick up another of these.
Read
December 30, 2024i first read this during beach week of senior year, and i liked all the stories so much i ended up ordering my own copy nearly two years later. since spring 2023, i’ve picked up this collection countless times, and the stories have started to feel like old friends.
October 24, 2025
Many great stories in this one. 2005 must’ve been a good year for stories. Some favorites were Tom Perrotta’s “The Smile on Happy Chang’s Face,” J. Robert Lennox’s “Eight Pieces for the Left Hand,” and Nathaniel Bellows “First Four Measures.” Great curating, Mr. Charon!
Read
October 24, 2019Many of these were rather dark.
February 13, 2020
Worth it for "Until Gwen" alone.
June 26, 2020
Frankly found very few of the stories compelling or interesting. A couple of winners, but a bit disappointing overall
Read
December 21, 2024I did not like most of these. Yet I like Michael Chabon. Was his selection at fault or was it a bum year?
August 7, 2008
Noteworthy/memorable:
The Smile on Happy Chang's Face is just a great story about how you can never really know the motivations for other people's actions (and maybe not even your own). It's about other things too, but this idea is explored well, and I like the title for how it fits into this theme. The story also has a great ending.
Stone Animals by Kelly Link held me spellbound from beginning to end. I had never read anything like it before, and when I was done I couldn't stop thinking about it. It literally haunted me. There's a lot I want to say about this book...which I expand on in the review for Magic for Beginners.
I don't want to spoil it too much. For now, suffice to say that the blending of fantasy and reality was awesome - I can see why Michael Chabon picked the story because he kinda does the same thing in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier %26 Clay. I can only anticipate reading her other work.
Anda's Game was a weird find considering I had just been reading about Cory Doctorow a few days before in an unrelated way. In the notes he admits that the story is a take on Ender's Game, and indeed a lot of the mannerisms are the same. But it's a good exploration of the themes and politics, and being a gamer I have to give it a thumbs-up.
Simple Exercises for the Beginning Student is, I don't know, a fairly simple story but the description makes the characters engaging and the ending is perfect.
Hart and Boot is a compelling read that is actually based somewhat in fact. The nonfactual parts are what make the interpretation of this particular history interesting. Like the daemons in His Dark Materials, the use of a tulpa as foil and mirror to the real characters in the story is very effective.
Honorable mentions:
Until Gwen, Eight Pieces for the Left Hand, Silence, Death Defier, Natasha
Take-home message:
Michael Chabon is not only a great writer but an excellent editor. One of the best in the series.
The Smile on Happy Chang's Face is just a great story about how you can never really know the motivations for other people's actions (and maybe not even your own). It's about other things too, but this idea is explored well, and I like the title for how it fits into this theme. The story also has a great ending.
Stone Animals by Kelly Link held me spellbound from beginning to end. I had never read anything like it before, and when I was done I couldn't stop thinking about it. It literally haunted me. There's a lot I want to say about this book...which I expand on in the review for Magic for Beginners.
I don't want to spoil it too much. For now, suffice to say that the blending of fantasy and reality was awesome - I can see why Michael Chabon picked the story because he kinda does the same thing in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier %26 Clay. I can only anticipate reading her other work.
Anda's Game was a weird find considering I had just been reading about Cory Doctorow a few days before in an unrelated way. In the notes he admits that the story is a take on Ender's Game, and indeed a lot of the mannerisms are the same. But it's a good exploration of the themes and politics, and being a gamer I have to give it a thumbs-up.
Simple Exercises for the Beginning Student is, I don't know, a fairly simple story but the description makes the characters engaging and the ending is perfect.
Hart and Boot is a compelling read that is actually based somewhat in fact. The nonfactual parts are what make the interpretation of this particular history interesting. Like the daemons in His Dark Materials, the use of a tulpa as foil and mirror to the real characters in the story is very effective.
Honorable mentions:
Until Gwen, Eight Pieces for the Left Hand, Silence, Death Defier, Natasha
Take-home message:
Michael Chabon is not only a great writer but an excellent editor. One of the best in the series.
March 20, 2010
I really like short stories, how a writer can boil down such angst in less than 20 pages, and I can try new subjects or styles without getting too time-invested. Some of Joyce Carol Oates books I can give or take, but I love her short story in here!
(copied review) Chabon reaches out toward genre fiction—after all, he writes, a story's delights "all boil down to entertainment, and its suave henchman, pleasure"—but he doesn't go so far as to alienate fans of more traditional stories in the lively latest volume of this venerable series. He begins with a Little League baseball story by Tom Perotta ("The Smile on Happy Chang's Face"), arguably a character study but a rousing sports piece too, and Dennis Lehane's "Until Gwen" follows—"Your father picks you up from prison in a stolen Dodge Neon, with an 8-ball of coke in the glove compartment and a hooker named Mandy in the back seat"—to stir things up a little. Kelly Link contributes an elegant haunted house tale, and Cory Doctorow serves up a "piss-take" on Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" with his story of online gaming, "Anda's Game." Stories by Edward P. Jones, Tim Pratt, Charles D'Ambrosio and Tom Bissell skirt genre, too, though Chabon doesn't forget such Best American stalwarts as Alice Munro, Joy Williams, Joyce Carol Oates and newer writers in the more traditional vein. In the big pile of Best Ams, this one holds its own, even if—yawn—six of the stories come from the august New Yorker.
(copied review) Chabon reaches out toward genre fiction—after all, he writes, a story's delights "all boil down to entertainment, and its suave henchman, pleasure"—but he doesn't go so far as to alienate fans of more traditional stories in the lively latest volume of this venerable series. He begins with a Little League baseball story by Tom Perotta ("The Smile on Happy Chang's Face"), arguably a character study but a rousing sports piece too, and Dennis Lehane's "Until Gwen" follows—"Your father picks you up from prison in a stolen Dodge Neon, with an 8-ball of coke in the glove compartment and a hooker named Mandy in the back seat"—to stir things up a little. Kelly Link contributes an elegant haunted house tale, and Cory Doctorow serves up a "piss-take" on Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" with his story of online gaming, "Anda's Game." Stories by Edward P. Jones, Tim Pratt, Charles D'Ambrosio and Tom Bissell skirt genre, too, though Chabon doesn't forget such Best American stalwarts as Alice Munro, Joy Williams, Joyce Carol Oates and newer writers in the more traditional vein. In the big pile of Best Ams, this one holds its own, even if—yawn—six of the stories come from the august New Yorker.
November 21, 2016
The average enjoyment that I received from these short stories is probably about the same as the other collections; while there were no amazing standouts, there also weren’t any that I especially disliked. Tim Pratt’s Hart and Boot, based, as they say, on a true story but with the supernatural thrown in, was the most memorable, and in a very good way. It tells the unreal story of real-life Pearl Hart and her accomplice John Boot, including their time at the Yuma Territorial Prison, and some of the stories I heard when I visited it a few years ago (it’s worth visiting if you’re in the area).
Alice Munro’s Silence, about a woman wondering what happened to her daughter—sort of—is also memorable, and worth searching out.
As is often the case, I preferred the stories with a bit of fantasy in them, such as Tim Pratt’s, and Kelly Link’s Stone Animals about a very odd, almost Jacksonian, haunting.
And there’s a good Dennis Lehane, and a weird Tom Perotta here as well. This collection probably has the highest percentage of writers I’ve already heard of; besides those two and Alice Munro, it also has Cory Doctorow and Joyce Carol Oates, the latter a sad—or possibly moralistic—story about two potential cousins and their shifting relationship after one escaped the Nazi death camps and one did not.
Generally worth picking up, as most of these collections have been so far.
Alice Munro’s Silence, about a woman wondering what happened to her daughter—sort of—is also memorable, and worth searching out.
As is often the case, I preferred the stories with a bit of fantasy in them, such as Tim Pratt’s, and Kelly Link’s Stone Animals about a very odd, almost Jacksonian, haunting.
And there’s a good Dennis Lehane, and a weird Tom Perotta here as well. This collection probably has the highest percentage of writers I’ve already heard of; besides those two and Alice Munro, it also has Cory Doctorow and Joyce Carol Oates, the latter a sad—or possibly moralistic—story about two potential cousins and their shifting relationship after one escaped the Nazi death camps and one did not.
Generally worth picking up, as most of these collections have been so far.
March 30, 2010
Plenty of good stories in this one. I especially liked "Until Gwen" by Dennis Lehane, "Silence" by Alice Munro, "Death Defier" by Tom Bissell, "The Girls" by Joy Williams, "Old Boys, Old Girls" by Edward P. Jones, and "Bohemians" by George Saunders.
Of note in "Death Defier" is the analysis by the main character of the two kinds of people in the world: Chaos People and Order People. "No judgment; it was a purely empirical matter.... The next necessary division of the world's people took place along the lines of whether they actually knew what they were. The Japanese were Order People and knew it. Americans and English were Chaos People who thought they were Order People. The French were the worst thing to be: Order People who thought they were Chaos People. But Afghans, like Africans and Russians and the Irish, were Chaos People who knew they were Chaos People, and while this lent the people themselves a good amount of charm, it made their countries berserk, insane. Countries did indeed go insance. Sometimes they went insane and stayed insane. Chaos People's countries particularly tended to stay insane."
Of note in "Death Defier" is the analysis by the main character of the two kinds of people in the world: Chaos People and Order People. "No judgment; it was a purely empirical matter.... The next necessary division of the world's people took place along the lines of whether they actually knew what they were. The Japanese were Order People and knew it. Americans and English were Chaos People who thought they were Order People. The French were the worst thing to be: Order People who thought they were Chaos People. But Afghans, like Africans and Russians and the Irish, were Chaos People who knew they were Chaos People, and while this lent the people themselves a good amount of charm, it made their countries berserk, insane. Countries did indeed go insance. Sometimes they went insane and stayed insane. Chaos People's countries particularly tended to stay insane."
January 24, 2013
So I've now read a bunch of these short story collections. And, after a while, all the stories begin to feel the same. I know that there's supposed to be no unifying aesthetic for our literary time, that we've now become a multitude of voices from different walks of life and that this excludes any consensus. But the stories all follow the same narrative arc. They're like a section taken from a novel. Drop the reader in, spend a long time piecing the character's emotional life and personality together, build up to a scene (often an event of daily life, like a dinner) that has far reaching emotional significance and cut it off, leaving the reader feeling the desired feeling and leaving the actual ending of the events ambiguous. I don't have any problem with that style, it just seems to be the only style featured. I thought reading a bunch of these with different editors would feature vastly different collections but that doesn't seem to be true. They all read the same after a while.
April 29, 2010
I had a harder time getting into this collection than I did the previous one I read from another year. I am wondering if a lot of the styles of the stories depends on the editor. When I started, I didn't like any of them until about 2/3rds of the way through. I was wondering if it was possible to read an entire book of short stories and not really like any of them? Luckily, that did not happen. I kept plugging along on these stories, and by the time I reached the end, there were several I liked.
The Cousins
Bohemians
Hart and Boot
Those were my favorites.
I am looking forward to start the 2001 collection now, and comparing them. I'm still really enjoying my short story phase! This was edited by Michael Chabon. I have not read any of his books. I might Google him up and see what I can find out.
The Cousins
Bohemians
Hart and Boot
Those were my favorites.
I am looking forward to start the 2001 collection now, and comparing them. I'm still really enjoying my short story phase! This was edited by Michael Chabon. I have not read any of his books. I might Google him up and see what I can find out.
December 28, 2008
Lots of hits and misses here. I was glad to see a couple of entries from previous short story collections that I have read, including Kelly Link's "Stone Animals" and Alice Munro's "Silence." The one story that really haunted me is Dennis Lehane's "Until Gwen." It's about a father and son who are criminals. The son has just got out of jail, and his dad is on a hunt to find the diamond they stole before he got caught. It has one of those endings that gives you the shivers and makes you think about for days after. Another favorite is "The Scheme of Things" by Charles d'Amrbosio, about a young couple scamming their way through the mid-west and the lonely, elderly couple who befriends them.
August 29, 2012
While I find the O.Henry Pen collections more consistent, what I love about the BASS series is how they reflect the editor -- in this case one of my favorite writers, Michael Chabon. There were several top notch tales in this collection. Stellar authors include Dennis Lehane, Tom Perrotta, Alice Munro, Edward P. Jones, Joyce Carol Oates,Thomas McGuane, Kelly Link, Charles D'Ambrosio, Cory Doctorow, and George Saunders.
"The Smile on Happy Changs Face" by Perotta is fantastic. The more of his work I read, the more I want to read. Thomas McGuane's story about the reuniting of old yuppie friends who can't stand one another is also great. George Saunders "Bohemians" with a fake holocaust survivor and a group of misfit kids was a perfect ending to this collection.
"The Smile on Happy Changs Face" by Perotta is fantastic. The more of his work I read, the more I want to read. Thomas McGuane's story about the reuniting of old yuppie friends who can't stand one another is also great. George Saunders "Bohemians" with a fake holocaust survivor and a group of misfit kids was a perfect ending to this collection.
July 21, 2018
Whiplash-inducingly uneven. Chabon attempts to open the doors to genre fiction—the cause du jour of the mid-'00s literary world, as I recall—but unfortunately, just about all of the genre works he chose for this collection were resolutely middlebrow and unedifying. That misstep aside, there was plenty to enjoy here, as usual. My favorites of the bunch, in rough order of preference:
* George Saunders - "Bohemians" (wow!)
* Charles D'Ambrosio - "The Scheme of Things"
* David Means - "The Secret Goldfish"
* Joyce Carol Oates - "The Cousins"
* Alice Munro - "Silence"
* Edward P. Jones - "Old Boys, Old Girls"
And some honorable mentions:
* Joy Williams - "The Girls"
* Lynne Sharon Schwartz - "A Taste of Dust"
* David Bezmozgis - "Natasha"
* George Saunders - "Bohemians" (wow!)
* Charles D'Ambrosio - "The Scheme of Things"
* David Means - "The Secret Goldfish"
* Joyce Carol Oates - "The Cousins"
* Alice Munro - "Silence"
* Edward P. Jones - "Old Boys, Old Girls"
And some honorable mentions:
* Joy Williams - "The Girls"
* Lynne Sharon Schwartz - "A Taste of Dust"
* David Bezmozgis - "Natasha"
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