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41 Stories by O. Henry
Gathers concise stories about New York City, confidence men, hoboes, the West, South America, and the American South
412 pages, Library Binding
First published January 1, 1984
149 people are currently reading
518 people want to read
About the author
O. Henry
2,911 books1,860 followersSuch volumes as
Cabbages and Kings
(1904) and
The Four Million
(1906) collect short stories, noted for their often surprising endings, of American writer William Sydney Porter, who used the pen name O. Henry.
His biography shows where he found inspiration for his characters. His era produced their voices and his language.
Mother of three-year-old Porter died from tuberculosis. He left school at fifteen years of age and worked for five years in drugstore of his uncle and then for two years at a Texas sheep ranch.
In 1884, he went to Austin, where he worked in a real estate office and a church choir and spent four years as a draftsman in the general land office. His wife and firstborn died, but daughter Margaret survived him.
He failed to establish a small humorous weekly and afterward worked in poorly-run bank. When its accounts balanced not, people blamed and fired him.
In Houston, he worked for a few years until, ordered to stand trial for embezzlement, he fled to New Orleans and thence Honduras.
Two years later, he returned on account of illness of his wife. Apprehended, Porter served a few months more than three years in a penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio. During his incarceration, he composed ten short stories, including A Blackjack Bargainer , The Enchanted Kiss , and The Duplicity of Hargraves .
In 1899, McClure's published Whistling Dick's Christmas Story and Georgia's Ruling .
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he sent manuscripts to New York editors. In the spring of 1902, Ainslee's Magazine offered him a regular income if he moved to New York.
In less than eight years, he became a bestselling author of collections of short stories. Cabbages and Kings came first in 1904 The Four Million, and The Trimmed Lamp and Heart of the West followed in 1907, and The Voice of the City in 1908, Roads of Destiny and Options in 1909, Strictly Business and Whirligigs in 1910 followed.
Posthumously published collections include The Gentle Grafter about the swindler, Jeff Peters; Rolling Stones , Waifs and Strays , and in 1936, unsigned stories, followed.
People rewarded other persons financially more. A Retrieved Reformation about the safe-cracker Jimmy Valentine got $250; six years later, $500 for dramatic rights, which gave over $100,000 royalties for playwright Paul Armstrong. Many stories have been made into films.
His biography shows where he found inspiration for his characters. His era produced their voices and his language.
Mother of three-year-old Porter died from tuberculosis. He left school at fifteen years of age and worked for five years in drugstore of his uncle and then for two years at a Texas sheep ranch.
In 1884, he went to Austin, where he worked in a real estate office and a church choir and spent four years as a draftsman in the general land office. His wife and firstborn died, but daughter Margaret survived him.
He failed to establish a small humorous weekly and afterward worked in poorly-run bank. When its accounts balanced not, people blamed and fired him.
In Houston, he worked for a few years until, ordered to stand trial for embezzlement, he fled to New Orleans and thence Honduras.
Two years later, he returned on account of illness of his wife. Apprehended, Porter served a few months more than three years in a penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio. During his incarceration, he composed ten short stories, including A Blackjack Bargainer , The Enchanted Kiss , and The Duplicity of Hargraves .
In 1899, McClure's published Whistling Dick's Christmas Story and Georgia's Ruling .
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he sent manuscripts to New York editors. In the spring of 1902, Ainslee's Magazine offered him a regular income if he moved to New York.
In less than eight years, he became a bestselling author of collections of short stories. Cabbages and Kings came first in 1904 The Four Million, and The Trimmed Lamp and Heart of the West followed in 1907, and The Voice of the City in 1908, Roads of Destiny and Options in 1909, Strictly Business and Whirligigs in 1910 followed.
Posthumously published collections include The Gentle Grafter about the swindler, Jeff Peters; Rolling Stones , Waifs and Strays , and in 1936, unsigned stories, followed.
People rewarded other persons financially more. A Retrieved Reformation about the safe-cracker Jimmy Valentine got $250; six years later, $500 for dramatic rights, which gave over $100,000 royalties for playwright Paul Armstrong. Many stories have been made into films.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
May 18, 2022
OH O Henry!!! 4.5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ stars rounded up to ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️!!!!!
One of the best things about being in a good book club (and there are many) is that you end up reading books that you may otherwise, never have picked up . Several years ago, we read 41 Stories by O. Henry. I am a bit ashamed to admit that I do not recall having read any of his works previously. Perhaps he came up in High School English, but considering how much I enjoyed this book, I think I would have remembered.
O. Henry was a pseudonym. I did not know this. His real name was William Sydney Porter and he had a most unconventional and, unfortunately, short, life (died at age 47). He did not go to college, but it is said that he read voraciously as a child. His life, itself reads like a novel, including the wide variety of jobs he held. He was a pharmacist (or pharmacist assistant, depending on your source), a sheep rancher, a book-keeper, a draftsman, a columnist, a reporter and cartoonist for a newspaper, and finally a bank teller. As such, he was indicted (or not, again, depending on the source) for the alleged embezzlement of bank funds (it seems more likely that it was mismanagement of funds rather than embezzlement). He was to stand trial, but he fled to New Orleans and then Honduras. Meanwhile he married a woman in spite of her condition, having tuberculosis. They eloped in July 1887 and she died of TB in July 1897, which brought him out of hiding. In the ten years they were married, they had a son in 1888, who died hours after birth, and then a daughter in September 1889. After his wife's death in July, 1897, he was sentenced to five years in jail, It was during his time in prison that he began to write his short stories and had many stories published under pseudonyms (to keep the fact of his imprisonment from publishers and readers). The pseudonym that stuck was "O. Henry".
On July 24, 1901, O. Henry was released from jail after only three years, for good behavior. In 1902 he moved to New York City and proceeded to write 381 short stories in the following 8 years. He remarried in 1907. By 1908 his health was deteriorating as he had begun to drink heavily. His 2nd wife left him in 1909 and he died broke on June 5 1910 of cirrhosis of the liver, as well as other ailments. O. Henry's life story reads like the lyrics of an an old time country music song.
What stands out for me is O. Henry's use of language, his turns of phrase and his vocabulary. I found myself looking up many words, Kindle making it so easy, only to find that some of them appeared to be made up; I am still not sure about "propenquitious"! Not only is his overall vocabulary noteworthy but so are the names he gives his characters. I have to wonder where or how he came up with them. Perhaps they were common in his day, the late 1800's and early 1900's, or maybe he just made them up. For example, Ikey Snigglefritz is the protagonist in the story The Social Triangle. Who could not love this name? I looked it up online and the Urban Dictionary defined it this way: " A snigglefritz is a pink sock which is placed over an erect male sexual organ to keep it warm in times of severe cold". I think it quite possible that O. Henry knew what he was doing giving his characters these quaint, whimsical, and yes, naughty names.
O. Henry is well known for his famous "twist" endings. It seemed to me that he played out his stories within his own mind, in much the same way as he played with language itself. Consequently, the endings of many of his stories are not at all what you would expect and often are, in a manner of speaking, "twisted". OH! O. Henry!
O. Henry's use of language, writing style and the ways that he tells tales are completely individualistic, uniquely his own.
I loved that so many of the stories take place in New York City, often in the Lower East Side. I was able to "hear" the voices of his characters with their Irish, German or Italian accents. I could "see" these stories taking place on Delancey or Hester Street (The Social Triangle) and I always saw them in Black & White.
Here are some examples of delicious language that only O. Henry could create:
flibbertigibbet (The Last Leaf)
Ikey Snigglefritz (The Social Triangle)
execrable ( Schools and Schools)
Cortlandt Van Duychink (The Social Triangle)
Hotel Lotus (Transients in Arcadia)
propinquitous (Hostages to Momus)
celeritous (Hostages to Momus)
Caligula Polk (Hostages to Momus)
cake-walk (Hostages to Momus)
"If you'd take his remarks and set 'em to music, and then take the music away from 'em, they'd sound exactly like one of George Cohan's songs." (Best-Seller)
"I rather like that mulberry-leaf tunic effect, dear; but of course the real fig goods are not to be had over there...I think the caterpillar-holes have made your dress open a little in the back" (Schools and Schools)
"She thrusts hurriedly into your hand an extremely hot buttered roll, flashes out a tiny pair of scissors, snips off the second button of your overcoat, meaningly ejaculated the one word, "parrallelogram!" and swiftly flies down a cross street..." (The Green Door).
"and tossed the feathery ball of conversation" (Transients in Arcadia)
"After Murkison left us me and Andy sat a while pre-pondering over our silent meditations and heresies of reason. In our idle hours we always improved our higher selves by ratiocination and mental thought". (Shearing the Wolf)
"You have a kind nucleus at the interior of your exterior after all" (Shearing the Wolf)
"Quite unseldom I have seen fit to impugn your molars when you have been chewing the rag with me about your conscientious way of doing business" (Shearing the Wolf)
"He was waked up in a yellow pine hotel by the noise of flowers and the smell of birds" (Hostages to Momus)
"Caligula sat on the back of his neck on the porch and studied a newspaper, which was unusual to a man who despised print." (Hostages to Momus)
"supply of the most gratifying and efficient lines of grub that money could buy. I always was an admirer of viands in their most palliative and revised stages. Hog and hominy are not only inartistic to my stomach, but they give indigestion to my moral sentiments." (Hostages to Momus)
_____________________________________________
I was interested to know who the other writers were at the turn of the century, when O. Henry wrote.The majority of the writers mentioned were unknown to me.
Here's the list of those I recognized:
Stephen Crane
Emily Dickinson
L. Frank Baum
Mary Johnson
Jack London
Frank Norris
Edith Wharton
Upton Sinclair
Winston Churchell
Susan B. Anthony
W.E.B. Du Bois
Samuel Hopkins Adams
Ida Tarbell
What was difficult to read was the free and easy use of the term, "nigger", and other references to the racist attitudes of the day. I had taken note of the same thing in F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby in terms of both the racist and anti-Semitic language used without second thought. Not that these two authors were "free thinkers" when it came to racism and prejudice, but I wonder if even those who were free thinkers also used this kind of language because it was so much a part of the culture that no one even considered it. But surely there must have been some who saw it for what it was.
What occurred to me most in reading O. Henry's stories was how much humor there was and how much enjoyment I took in that humor. How very captivating it was to be in the presence of an author who knew the art of story-telling and told those stories in what could be called, "O. Henrian Language"!
One of the best things about being in a good book club (and there are many) is that you end up reading books that you may otherwise, never have picked up . Several years ago, we read 41 Stories by O. Henry. I am a bit ashamed to admit that I do not recall having read any of his works previously. Perhaps he came up in High School English, but considering how much I enjoyed this book, I think I would have remembered.
O. Henry was a pseudonym. I did not know this. His real name was William Sydney Porter and he had a most unconventional and, unfortunately, short, life (died at age 47). He did not go to college, but it is said that he read voraciously as a child. His life, itself reads like a novel, including the wide variety of jobs he held. He was a pharmacist (or pharmacist assistant, depending on your source), a sheep rancher, a book-keeper, a draftsman, a columnist, a reporter and cartoonist for a newspaper, and finally a bank teller. As such, he was indicted (or not, again, depending on the source) for the alleged embezzlement of bank funds (it seems more likely that it was mismanagement of funds rather than embezzlement). He was to stand trial, but he fled to New Orleans and then Honduras. Meanwhile he married a woman in spite of her condition, having tuberculosis. They eloped in July 1887 and she died of TB in July 1897, which brought him out of hiding. In the ten years they were married, they had a son in 1888, who died hours after birth, and then a daughter in September 1889. After his wife's death in July, 1897, he was sentenced to five years in jail, It was during his time in prison that he began to write his short stories and had many stories published under pseudonyms (to keep the fact of his imprisonment from publishers and readers). The pseudonym that stuck was "O. Henry".
On July 24, 1901, O. Henry was released from jail after only three years, for good behavior. In 1902 he moved to New York City and proceeded to write 381 short stories in the following 8 years. He remarried in 1907. By 1908 his health was deteriorating as he had begun to drink heavily. His 2nd wife left him in 1909 and he died broke on June 5 1910 of cirrhosis of the liver, as well as other ailments. O. Henry's life story reads like the lyrics of an an old time country music song.
What stands out for me is O. Henry's use of language, his turns of phrase and his vocabulary. I found myself looking up many words, Kindle making it so easy, only to find that some of them appeared to be made up; I am still not sure about "propenquitious"! Not only is his overall vocabulary noteworthy but so are the names he gives his characters. I have to wonder where or how he came up with them. Perhaps they were common in his day, the late 1800's and early 1900's, or maybe he just made them up. For example, Ikey Snigglefritz is the protagonist in the story The Social Triangle. Who could not love this name? I looked it up online and the Urban Dictionary defined it this way: " A snigglefritz is a pink sock which is placed over an erect male sexual organ to keep it warm in times of severe cold". I think it quite possible that O. Henry knew what he was doing giving his characters these quaint, whimsical, and yes, naughty names.
O. Henry is well known for his famous "twist" endings. It seemed to me that he played out his stories within his own mind, in much the same way as he played with language itself. Consequently, the endings of many of his stories are not at all what you would expect and often are, in a manner of speaking, "twisted". OH! O. Henry!
O. Henry's use of language, writing style and the ways that he tells tales are completely individualistic, uniquely his own.
I loved that so many of the stories take place in New York City, often in the Lower East Side. I was able to "hear" the voices of his characters with their Irish, German or Italian accents. I could "see" these stories taking place on Delancey or Hester Street (The Social Triangle) and I always saw them in Black & White.
Here are some examples of delicious language that only O. Henry could create:
flibbertigibbet (The Last Leaf)
Ikey Snigglefritz (The Social Triangle)
execrable ( Schools and Schools)
Cortlandt Van Duychink (The Social Triangle)
Hotel Lotus (Transients in Arcadia)
propinquitous (Hostages to Momus)
celeritous (Hostages to Momus)
Caligula Polk (Hostages to Momus)
cake-walk (Hostages to Momus)
"If you'd take his remarks and set 'em to music, and then take the music away from 'em, they'd sound exactly like one of George Cohan's songs." (Best-Seller)
"I rather like that mulberry-leaf tunic effect, dear; but of course the real fig goods are not to be had over there...I think the caterpillar-holes have made your dress open a little in the back" (Schools and Schools)
"She thrusts hurriedly into your hand an extremely hot buttered roll, flashes out a tiny pair of scissors, snips off the second button of your overcoat, meaningly ejaculated the one word, "parrallelogram!" and swiftly flies down a cross street..." (The Green Door).
"and tossed the feathery ball of conversation" (Transients in Arcadia)
"After Murkison left us me and Andy sat a while pre-pondering over our silent meditations and heresies of reason. In our idle hours we always improved our higher selves by ratiocination and mental thought". (Shearing the Wolf)
"You have a kind nucleus at the interior of your exterior after all" (Shearing the Wolf)
"Quite unseldom I have seen fit to impugn your molars when you have been chewing the rag with me about your conscientious way of doing business" (Shearing the Wolf)
"He was waked up in a yellow pine hotel by the noise of flowers and the smell of birds" (Hostages to Momus)
"Caligula sat on the back of his neck on the porch and studied a newspaper, which was unusual to a man who despised print." (Hostages to Momus)
"supply of the most gratifying and efficient lines of grub that money could buy. I always was an admirer of viands in their most palliative and revised stages. Hog and hominy are not only inartistic to my stomach, but they give indigestion to my moral sentiments." (Hostages to Momus)
_____________________________________________
I was interested to know who the other writers were at the turn of the century, when O. Henry wrote.The majority of the writers mentioned were unknown to me.
Here's the list of those I recognized:
Stephen Crane
Emily Dickinson
L. Frank Baum
Mary Johnson
Jack London
Frank Norris
Edith Wharton
Upton Sinclair
Winston Churchell
Susan B. Anthony
W.E.B. Du Bois
Samuel Hopkins Adams
Ida Tarbell
What was difficult to read was the free and easy use of the term, "nigger", and other references to the racist attitudes of the day. I had taken note of the same thing in F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby in terms of both the racist and anti-Semitic language used without second thought. Not that these two authors were "free thinkers" when it came to racism and prejudice, but I wonder if even those who were free thinkers also used this kind of language because it was so much a part of the culture that no one even considered it. But surely there must have been some who saw it for what it was.
What occurred to me most in reading O. Henry's stories was how much humor there was and how much enjoyment I took in that humor. How very captivating it was to be in the presence of an author who knew the art of story-telling and told those stories in what could be called, "O. Henrian Language"!
March 29, 2025
The modern short story owes something to O. Henry and today's reader can find plenty of enjoyment in him still. Much of his sensibility and style is deservedly derided, however, and some of his stories are nearly unreadably riddled with extinct allusions and an entire mortgage's worth of ten-dollar words. But the urban stories still hold plenty of weight, and if one appreciates the ironic and uncanny vision found in Paul Auster's novels, O. Henrys like "The Green Door" and "The Enchanted Profile" deserve a look-in. He certainly seems to have had a thorough fixation with fakes, frauds, and shams, which from very early on has been a fruitful subject in American literature.
I have taken notice with regret that few stories worth reading have been written that do not contain drink of some sort.
I have taken notice with regret that few stories worth reading have been written that do not contain drink of some sort.
June 29, 2016
The less said the better.
One star.
One star.
July 11, 2017
This book was a nice collection of touching short stories by O. Henry. Although all of the stories were interesting, the pattern of the plot became a bit repetitive after some time. Not that the plots themselves were predictable--but rather, the fact that there would be an ironic twist at the end made the collection as a whole slightly tedious after a while. I would recommend reading the book in sections, interspersed with other reading in between, to break up the pattern and better appreciate the poignancy of the stories.
April 26, 2022
7/10
Charakterystyczny styl - całkiem to jest dobre. Trzy zdecydowanie najlepsze teksty (7.5-8/10) to "Mirra, kadzidło i złoto", "Arabska noc przy Madison Square" i "Okup wodza czerwonoskórych". Z pozostałych wyróżniają się jeszcze "Zielone drzwi".
Charakterystyczny styl - całkiem to jest dobre. Trzy zdecydowanie najlepsze teksty (7.5-8/10) to "Mirra, kadzidło i złoto", "Arabska noc przy Madison Square" i "Okup wodza czerwonoskórych". Z pozostałych wyróżniają się jeszcze "Zielone drzwi".
March 29, 2024
These short stories were mostly excellent. I remember reading O Henry in high school. A few are memorable. The lingo of the timeframe sometimes is difficult to grasp. I am glad I am familiar with NYC, and the TX-southwest. Not politically correct for the 21st century, but enjoyable.
April 1, 2022
41 Stories
I had fond memories of reading O Henry in high school. Most of it is timeless and holds up well. My problems with these stories were: many of the stories were flat boring, and even with an excellent vocabulary, I felt singularly stupid having to look up words I had never even seen, much less knew what they meant.
There may be a time when I reread and it works better for me. This was not that time.
I had fond memories of reading O Henry in high school. Most of it is timeless and holds up well. My problems with these stories were: many of the stories were flat boring, and even with an excellent vocabulary, I felt singularly stupid having to look up words I had never even seen, much less knew what they meant.
There may be a time when I reread and it works better for me. This was not that time.
June 21, 2011
I got this book over 10 years ago, and absolutely loved O.Henry's stories. They're pretty simple, and probably not the best literary quality all the time, but there are some absolute gems scattered in his writing. Some of the twists are fantastic.
After a while, you come to expect the twist that comes out of every story, but even then they're still good reads.
After a while, you come to expect the twist that comes out of every story, but even then they're still good reads.
July 19, 2015
I greatly enjoyed O. Henry's cleverly written stories. They are filled with sarcasm and wit and always include an unforeseen twist at the end. I am sure there are many examples of this that I unfortunately missed because I don't know my history and am unfamiliar with the culture of O.Henry's time.
I would highly recommend this book.
I would highly recommend this book.
November 14, 2008
I enjoyed the general writing style of O.Henry, but maybe it was reading all 41 stories that casued it to be predictable. After the 5th story, you could predict the ending, thats how formulaic his writing style was. I actually did find a story I enjoyed more than the gift of the maji though.
October 11, 2007
Nobody beats O. Henry. Nobody.
March 28, 2009
best short stories ever..
May 10, 2024
This short story collection took me a year to finish as I would attempt to read one short story a day, only to stop reading for a long of time and return to them here and there. O. Henry, of course, is among of the great American short story writers and these 41 stories show his range and ability to churn so many in his lifetime. That he can write from across a widespan of topics shows how knowledgeable he is.
That being said, I found almost half of the short stories to be compelling. Some of them had me engaged from beginning to end, in particular his most famous short story "The Gift of the Magi," which brought a tear to my eye. But most of his short stories are so specific to the context of which he wrote them that I found it hard to really connect with them. There's no denying that they're well-written, but I couldn't really place myself into them. Thus, I found myself skimming some of the stories or nodding off as I read along to try to get to the next story with the hope that it would be more engaging than the one I had just read.
I do love O. Henry's signature plot twists, which really added to the entertainment value. Just when you think the story dulls, it actually sharpens and I found myself awake and impressed when reading some of them.
This isn't the best short story collection I've read, but it was certainly a better way to spend my time in those minutes that were open and free. Sometimes I had to drag my feet to pick up this collection, but once I forced myself to read them and got lost in them, I ended up feeling glad I did. It's better than masturbating or scrolling through TikTok because I felt productive, even if some of the stories didn't quite register with me.
That being said, I found almost half of the short stories to be compelling. Some of them had me engaged from beginning to end, in particular his most famous short story "The Gift of the Magi," which brought a tear to my eye. But most of his short stories are so specific to the context of which he wrote them that I found it hard to really connect with them. There's no denying that they're well-written, but I couldn't really place myself into them. Thus, I found myself skimming some of the stories or nodding off as I read along to try to get to the next story with the hope that it would be more engaging than the one I had just read.
I do love O. Henry's signature plot twists, which really added to the entertainment value. Just when you think the story dulls, it actually sharpens and I found myself awake and impressed when reading some of them.
This isn't the best short story collection I've read, but it was certainly a better way to spend my time in those minutes that were open and free. Sometimes I had to drag my feet to pick up this collection, but once I forced myself to read them and got lost in them, I ended up feeling glad I did. It's better than masturbating or scrolling through TikTok because I felt productive, even if some of the stories didn't quite register with me.
Read
August 10, 2025I borrowed this because I read The Last Castle a few books ago and O. Henry was a proximal character to the Vanderbilts at Biltmore and I wanted to read the original Gift of the Magi. I did not read the whole collection, I am not a short story person and this drove that home for me. I read nine recommended stories:
The Gift of the Magi - classic but honestly I was underwhelmed, he got self-indulgent at the end and there wasn't enough heft to the story in my opinion
Friends in San Rosario
The Furnished Room
Conscience in Art
The Last Leaf - this was the standout for me, I liked this more than Magi
Shoes
The Green Door
A Retrieved Reformation
Lotus and the Bottle - worst of the bunch for me, all of the sentiment with none of the pithiness
Overall, I'm glad I reached my goal of nine stories. I got a good grasp of O. Henry's style: parable-like with all details ("Chekhov's gun"-like) coming together cumulatively at the end for a clever punch line/message. Entertaining but just not for me. Didn't give a star rating because I read so few.
The Gift of the Magi - classic but honestly I was underwhelmed, he got self-indulgent at the end and there wasn't enough heft to the story in my opinion
Friends in San Rosario
The Furnished Room
Conscience in Art
The Last Leaf - this was the standout for me, I liked this more than Magi
Shoes
The Green Door
A Retrieved Reformation
Lotus and the Bottle - worst of the bunch for me, all of the sentiment with none of the pithiness
Overall, I'm glad I reached my goal of nine stories. I got a good grasp of O. Henry's style: parable-like with all details ("Chekhov's gun"-like) coming together cumulatively at the end for a clever punch line/message. Entertaining but just not for me. Didn't give a star rating because I read so few.
November 30, 2017
This is my first acquaintance with the famous O.Henry and what surprised me most was how modern these stories written more than a century ago, feel. The problems his characters are going through, the choices they make, the issues they deal with - all could be applied to the modern times. The style seems to be outdated, but I have a hunch it was done on purpose for it comes off so funny. Take for example this declaration of one of the characters to another: “Mrs.Brown... I’m going to extend my feet alternately, one after the other, in such a manner and direction that this tenement will recede from me in the quickest possible time.”
O.Henry was prolific, no doubt about it though after a while each story start to resemble the next in that they all have an ironic twist at end. But if you read a just few at a time, they are brilliant.
O.Henry was prolific, no doubt about it though after a while each story start to resemble the next in that they all have an ironic twist at end. But if you read a just few at a time, they are brilliant.
May 2, 2022
I have first read a decent chunk of O. Henry's stories when I was still a teenager, back in Moscow, in the glorious days of USSR. This is the beginning of my not grand quest of rereading his work in original - because the original it always the best! Plus, after living in this great country (and in the Big Apple) for so long, I can understand all the nuances so much better! It's also a delight to not only read the colloquialisms from the end of the nineteenth - beginning of the twentieth century, but to experience America of that time! Aside from that, just rediscovering his basic humanism, sarcasm, sometimes despair, but mostly hope and the ability to see the best even in lowest members of society is an absolute pleasure!
June 5, 2023
This is a super great book for those who like short stories, each story in the book delivers a meaningful message and a unique reading experience. I simply love the unique way Henry writes, his wide range of vocabulary, and his unexpected storyline. Among all these short stories, my favorite one is "the gift of Maji" which mainly talks about a young couple, Jim and Della, who struggle to buy each other a Christmas gift, though they were constrained by their minimal wages. Despite the fact that they don't have enough money, they sell each of their most treasured things in order the buy a present for each other. The story explores more about the theme of love, be-loved, and the true meaning of gift-giving.
July 4, 2017
O. Henry's New York stories about the urban poor, like the famous "The Gift of the Magi," are fantastic - moving and funny and surprising. Unfortunately, they only make up about a fourth of this edition, with half going to Westerns and his stories of the South (which are hit and miss) and the last quarter going to his conman and swindler stories, which are densely written in an 'uneducated man trying to talk fancy' voice and are painfully unfunny and just a lot of work to get through.
March 30, 2020
Quarantine Reading
If you love words you'll love this collection of short stories and if you are like me you might need to look up more than a few! Delightfully funny with twists and turns and quirky characters. It was an excellent way to break from Covid-19 news overload.
If you love words you'll love this collection of short stories and if you are like me you might need to look up more than a few! Delightfully funny with twists and turns and quirky characters. It was an excellent way to break from Covid-19 news overload.
September 5, 2017
Most of the stories are amazing, with surprise and honor and characters who can be seen.
September 16, 2017
31 stories you are going to love. The author has so many stories and such great twists and turns. This is a keeper.
June 25, 2019
It’s just... it’s just so racist, man...
December 4, 2019
Maybe this is harsh but there are really like 10 stories here. the rest are just more versions of the same.
December 9, 2019
Some good, some bad, some boring.
March 25, 2020
I've never doubted this book would be an interesting and involving read. O.Henry is the best author of short stories with plot twists.
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May 3, 2021
Although there are a few gems in this collection, the cumulative effect of the same formula over 41 stories comes across as cynical. Racist language throughout.
December 9, 2021
Though known for his witty humor and obligatory plot twists, there’s a melancholy to a lot of O. Henry’s stories that the other two qualities almost, but not quite, drown out.
January 30, 2024
This collection was the main reason I started writing my own. Short, sweet, simple and yet every story is a captivating trip to another world of rollercoasters.
July 31, 2024
Glad I finally read The Gift of the Magi. Most of the stories are formulaic, but there are a few gems.
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