The Picador Book of Contemporary American Stories

by Tobias Wolff (Editor)

Book by

Genres: Short Stories

724 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Tobias Jonathan Ansell Wolff is a writer of fiction and nonfiction.

He is best known for his short stories and his memoirs, although he has written two novels.

Wolff is the Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University, where he has taught classes in English and creative writing since 1997. He also served as the director of the Creative Writing Program at Stanford from 2000 to 2002.

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a hard one to review which is why I didn't already. It's like a Gillian Welch album, yeah, okay and all, but I think I'm missing something. That urgent edge, the hand on the shoulder, the cry from a doorway, I don't know. Something.

But I'm rereading all my favourite short stories right now so it resurfaced, like the dead guy in Deliverance.

These are the good ones and the good ones are great, so, you know, get this from a library and forget the rest, these are the ones:

Dorothy Allison, "River of Names" - a fantastic emotional one-two, hick lit at its finest, a story which gives you just a glint of something you never really thought about and now you do

Richard Bausch, "All the Way in Flagstaff, Arizona" - the family picnic, the dad with the bottle of Jim Beam stashed underneath the spare tyre, the day she decides to leave him; this is how short stories can work.

Amy Hempel, "In the Cemetery where Al Jolson is Buried" - I realise I'm picking all the three-handkerchief stories! boo hoo! hoo! - in this one she's finally visiting her best friend in the cancer ward; lots of that lorriemoore-ish gallows humour we like so much

Thom Jones, "The Pugilist at Rest" - I've raved about him elsewhere. Where did you go, Thom?

David Quammen, "Walking Out" - a very good indication why hunting is a bad idea - you can get shot, ha ha, and then your little son has to lug you home with you bleeding all over him, not so nice, so just don't do it.

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

River of names / Dorothy Allison --
*The Hammer Man / Toni Cade Bambara --
*All the way in Flagstaff, Arizona / Richard Bausch --
A vintage Thunderbird / Ann Beattie --2
Talk of heroes / Carol Bly --2
The darling / Scott Bradfield --
Tall tales from the Mekong Delta / Kate Braverman --1
Cathedral / Raymond Carver --2
Midair / Frank Conroy --2
The fat girl / Andre Dubus --3
Hot ice / Stuart Dybek --2
*Scales / Louise Erdrich --
Rock Springs / Richard Ford --2
A romantic weekend / Mary Gaitskill --
*Minor heroism / Allan Gurganus --
*Testimony of Pilot / Barry Hannah --
Wickedness / Ron Hansen --3
In the cemetery where Al Jolson is buried / Amy Hempel --3
Nobody's fool / Mary Hood --
*Exchange value / Charles Johnson --
Emergency / Denis Johnson--3
*The pugilist at rest / Thom Jones--
*Departures / John L'Heureux --
*Men under water / Ralph Lombreglia --
The flowers of Bermuda / D.R. MacDonald --
All my relations / Christopher McIlroy --
*The story of a dead man / James Alan McPherson --
*Murderers / Leonard Michaels --
Accident / Susan Minot --
*Like life / Lorrie Moore --
Where are you going, where have you been? / Joyce Carol Oates --3
The things they carried / Tim O'Brien --2
*Aunt Granny Lith / Chris Offutt --
Cody's story / Robert Olmstead --
*Home / Jayne Anne Phillips --
Walking out / David Quammen --
*Pretty ice / Mary Robison --
*Lawns / Mona Simpson --
*Helping / Robert Stone --
*Rules of the game / Amy Tan --
Dog Heaven / Stephanie Vaughn --
Train / Joy Williams--2

[Tom Guernier · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Picardor Book of Contemporary American Stories is an excellent collection of short stories edited by Tobias Wolff and with contributions by many well known American authors. The categories this book fits into are A book of short stories and A book that teaches you about a different culture. The stories reflect the many cultures and settings within America. Although the stories all date from 1990 or earlier, the social conflicts and situations are still relevant. Most of the short stories are in a modern setting, although several of the stories feature flashbacks or are completely in a historical setting. I noticed that many of the short stories had a dark aspect to them and quite a few of the stories focused on lower members of society.

I think that the this book has many exemplary stories within it. The themes are very thought-provoking and interesting. A memorable story was All the Way in Flagstaff, Arizona which had very interesting characters and a lasting central conflict. I think I enjoyed about 95% of the stories within.