The Best American Short Stories 2022

by Heidi Pitlor, Andrew Sean Greer

Genres: Short Stories

1 pages, Audio CD

Published November 1, 2022

About the author

Heidi Pitlor has been the series editor of The Best American Short Stories since 2007. She is the author of the novel, The Birthdays. Her second novel, The Daylight Marriage, is forthcoming in May, 2015.

Reviews

[Rusty · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, a mixed bag. I have the entire "Best Short Stories of..." going all the way back to 1970! And there are always a few stories that get a star or two, a few new authors for me to look up and research (and read all their work) and a few stories that make me wonder, "How did THAT story get selected for the Best of...collection?"

Lauren Groff's "The Wind" was the clear standout and I have already requested a book by her from my local library. Just stunning. Alice McDermott, always a favorite, scores with "Post." And I adored the whimsical "Beyoglu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra" which managed to be both silly ("Today, I am the trash" made me laugh) and frightening in this era of Mothers for Liberty censorship. I'm looking forward to Kenan Orhan's upcoming story collection. All in all, mostly well chosen with the interesting stories outnumbering the lesser ones.

[Richard Jespers · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author of the novel, Less, editor Greer has selected twenty engaging and sometimes unique and quirky stories. One masterful writer employs a granddaughter who wasn’t even around when the action took place to the narrate one story. There are several COVID stories that reveal to us what we already know but in ways that are different, too; otherwise, why bother? Greer, who is gay, in the final narrative, includes one story with a gay couple who are attempting, while fostering a cat, to foster their own relationship into something deeper.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorites:
A ravishing sun by Leslie blanco (new letters)
The little widow from the capital by Yohanca Delgado (paris review)
The hollow by Greg Jackson (New Yorker)
Bears among the living by Kevin Moffett (mcsweeneys)
The ghost birds by Karen Russell (New Yorker)
Elephant seals by Meghan Louise Wagner (Agni)