Jeremy’s Reviews > The Best American Short Stories 2025 > Status Update

"Angelo" by Andrew Porter - Great little story about how some times and places seem to exist independently from the rest of life. How we may not recognize these times and places when we're in them, but how we can never stop thinking about them.

5/5

"Till It and Keep It" by Carrie R. Moore. Beautiful story about survivors in the aftermath of the climate apocalypse. 5*

"Seven Stories about Tammy" by Elizabeth McCracken - I hated it at first, then it grew on me. Interesting structure. Good characters. The writing is not difficult but is often hard to interpret or pin down. Is this bad? Maybe. I don't know.

3/5

"The Clean Out" - A very traditional story about a Filipino-American girl dealing with generational trauma and a missing bird. 4/5

"Underwater" by Hannah Kingsley-Ma - 3.5/5. Pleasantly weird. Ambiguous ending. Wife-Husband-Twin love triangle? Genetically-enhanced dog.

"Time of the Preacher" by Bret Anthony Johnston - A man helps his ex-wife with a snake during Covid. Rad ending. 4.5/5

"Gray, Cotton, White Lace Edges" by Isabelle Fang.

5/5 - This story was great. The combination of a quriky, awkward premise (selling used panties) and superb emotional payoff is really smooth. It's also a cool examination of self over the passage of time (among other things).

"Carmen and Maritza" - Good little story about memory, parenthood, love, selfhood, etc. The ending is ambiguous in a way that didn't really work for me.

"Unfathomably Deep" - Grief-fueled obsession. Not my favorite. Tries stuff that mostly works, but...