Reviews

The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories by Ben Marcus

servemethesky's review

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4.0

This was an excellent short story anthology! Ben Marcus's introduction is fantastic and offers helpful and moving thoughts on the short story as a form. The stories he selected for this anthology are so wide-ranging, it's like a wine tasting of stories. There's something for everyone! It was so interesting to see the variety of styles presented here. Lots of amazing writing, and some stuff that just wasn't for me.

Absolute favorites included:
-Sea Oak by George Saunders (had read this one before)
-Do Not Disturb by A.M. Homes (this one was SO GOOD. the language was so sharp! The story slayed me).
-The Old Dictionary by Lydia Davis (need to read more of her)
-Histories of the Undead by Kate Braverman (got Virginia Woolf vibes with the lovely stream of consciousness)
-When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine (had read before)
-All American by Diane Williams (so punchy and fierce! Wished it was longer)
-Tiny, Smiling Daddy by Mary Gaitskill (brilliant and heartbreaking. Need to read more of her work!)
-The Sound Gun by Matthew Derby (surreal and fun)
-Field Events by Rick Bass (a pleasant surprise, moving and lovely)

Also enjoyed:
-The Caretaker by Anthony Doerr (beautiful)
-The Paperhanger by William Gay (creepy and well done)
-X Number of Possibilities by Joanna Scott (intriguing)

Deeply horrifying:
-Two Brothers by Brain Evenson (gory but fantastic writing)
-The Father's Blessing by Mary Caponegro (super well written, but WTF)
-You Drive by Christine Schutt (WHY WHY WHY. incest for the sake of incest, seemingly?)

Just didn't get or particularly like:
-I'm Slavering by Sam Lipsyte
-Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace
-Short Talks by Anne Carson
-Letters to Wendy's by Joe Wenderoth

katiea714's review

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challenging dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

toystory242's review

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3.0

So I had to read a few of these short stories for a class and decided "eh, why not, I'll read them all." I was both pleased and displeased with this decision. I really loved a few short stories in this collection, but honestly for the most part I felt like they were trying too hard to be *unique* and *thought-provoking* and *literary* that they just came across as grotesque or stupid and uggghhh. I hated that. The only reason this book is 3 stars is for the few stories in here that were, like, life-changing.

Alright! Here we go, from least favorite to favorite:

29. The Father's Blessing by Mary Caponegro 1/5: This was stupid and dumb and it didn't make any sense and it was creepy and I hated it yayaa
28. Two Brothers by Brain Evenson 1/5: Basically the same thing as above
27. Scarliotti and the Sinkhole 1.5/5: WTF was this?? I seriously don't know what some of these authors were DOINGGGGGG
26. People Shouldn't Have to be the Ones to Tell You by Gary Lutz 2/5: None of this made sense.
25. I'm Slavering by Sam Lipsyte 2/5: I actually had to read another one of his works for the class and luckily I liked it much more but this one just didn't make any coherent sense so I couldn't even begin to actually fathom what it was about.
24. You Drive by Christine Schutt 2/5: THIS DIDN'T MAKE SENSE!!!! I didn't LIKE IT!!
23. The Life and Work of Alphonse Kaunders by Aleksander Hemon 2/5: This was stupid and grotesque just for the sake of being so.
22. Someone to Talk to by Deborah Eisenberg 2.5/5: I felt like this was trying to be deep but it didn't really go anywhere? I didn't get the point of this one. The only thing going for it was the dialogue.
21. Short Talks by Anne Carson 2.5/5: This DIDN'T MAKE SENSEEEEEEEEEEASFASLDKFL
20. Gentleman's Agreement by Mark Richard 2.5/5: This was just short, weird, and sad. And gross. I just. Why???
19. All American by Diane Williams 2.5/5: I literally remember nothing about this one other than it was really short and I didn't really like it. There's like incest all up in these stories and I really could have just done without it.
18. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace 2.5/5: This actually started off kind-of interesting (I mean, in a bad way, but kinda, IDK), but it just went off in a totally different direction that didn't connect to what was being talked about and it, again, DIDN'T MAKE SENSE. Why does something have to not make sense in order to qualify as stellar literary fiction??? I don't GET IT.
17. The Sound Gun by Matthew Derby 3/5: This was interesting, I guess. I don't really have anything to say about it.....
16. The Paperhanger by William Gay 3/5: This was good in a way, but I just didn't like the subject matter that was being talked about at allllll.
15. Histories of the Undead by Kate Braverman 3/5: I liked this one! But it was just okay. Hheh.
14. Letters to Wendy's by Joe Wenderoth 3/5: This one also didn't make sense but it was in a different format of not making sense so I guess I just accepted it.
13. Up the Old Goat Road by Dawn Raffel 3/5: I wish this one was longer, because I think it could've gone somewhere.
12. Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower 3/5: This was interesting, but IDK it just didn't have enough in it for me.
11. Do Not Disturb by A.M. Homes 3/5: This was interesting, but it made me depressed and mad at humanity, so.
10. The Girl in the Flammable Skirt by Amiee Bender 3/5: This was pretty disjointed, but still had some really cool imagery.
9. The Old Dictionary by Lydia Davis 3.5/5: Also shoulda been longer.
8. Down the Road by Stephen Dixon 4/5: This one is literally almost the same as the other road one except a tiny bit longer and I guess I liked the writing more.
7. X Number of Possibilities by Joanna Scott 4/5: I actually really liked this one; I thought it was super interesting and really wanted to know more.
6. Where I Work by Ann Cummins 4/5: I also really liked this one! It was realistic! Not gross! Amazing!
5. Tiny, Smiling Daddy by Mary Gaitskill 4/5: Ughhhh this one was heartbreaking.
4. Field Events by Rick Bass 4.5/5: I loved this one. I was so worried something bad was going to happen to these beautiful characters but they were okay and I loved them. They all deserve happiness forever.
3. When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine 5/5: Amazing. I was so sad at the end. Gosh. Help.
2. Sea Oak by George Saunders 5/5: Started off hella strong. I loved this SO much. I had to read another story of his for class as well and just. Wonderful and weird. It was really strange but for some reason the characters were so endearing and I want to read everything this man has written.
1. The Caretaker by Anthony Doerr 5/5: I can see why this guy is so famous. What a beautifully sad/happy story. Reading all that mayhem at the bottom of this list was worth it for this story.

lewismillholland's review

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3.0

Tourists stay in the city so on our trip to San Francisco we slept in Oakland. The friends we stayed with worked from home but still worked so Tian and I had a full day on our own to metro into the city to eat and shop. We had some pretty alright meals of pizza and smoothies in the morning but by late afternoon we were warming up and Tian especially was winding down. There's a bookstore I went into with my dad seven-ish years ago we dipped into to buy books. Tian bought one she'd heard of before, vaguely, called "The Good Immigrant." It's a collection of short stories but they were either too first-gen or too black for her to fully feel the effects. I also got a short story anthology but not one I'd ever heard of called "The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories."

The editor Ben Marcus never explains what an anchor book means exactly but I could get the picture. Like all short story collections some are gold and some are god-awful and some are monotonous to the point of being worse than the god-awful ones. A couple standouts: "I'm Slavering," "The Sound Gun," "Field Events." Another one, "The Life and Work of Alphonse Kauders" was beautiful and confusing in a way similar to "I'm Slavering" but it didn't make me reread it twice in a way the latter one did. "I'm Slavering" is a damn good piece. Read that one.

Maybe my favorite part about the whole collection is the clothy pages. It's not printer paper and it's not card-stock, something that folds but doesn't crease if that makes sense. It felt good to turn each page.

But really my favorite part is owning the book and taking notes of the stories in the table of contents. I can say "OK" or "Good" if that's all I want or I can add a little tidbit of information that doesn't give away the story but reminds me of a thought or a way to think about it after I finish. If you want to read this book ask me to borrow my copy with all the notes. I hope you'd like it.

itsroryo's review

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adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

nickanderson's review

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5.0

Perfect. An amazing sample or modern writing of different styles. Its definitely influenced both what I'm writing and what I'm reading.

gwimo's review

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4.0

nice stories :) "The Paperhanger" and "Gentleman's Agreement" are possibly my favorite.

meganmilks's review

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4.0

excellent anthology of contemporary short stories for beginning writers; nice range of styles/schools of writing, though admittedly much of the representation is of the mcsweeney's/tin house variety (aimee bender, george saunders, david foster wallace, etc)
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