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jeremymorrison's review against another edition
These short stories include: a father abandons the family trailer leaving behind a high school senior; after seven years of imprisonment, Curtis Smith watches his friend's son; a grandfather with dementia cares for his grandson; Alice, an employee at a clothing store, looks for an additional revenue source; a lost brother remains are found in an unmarked grave; Claire's pic of herself in a confederate bikini goes viral; a woman returns to a family reunion while harboring a secret about her father; a fourteen year old boy explores his sexuality with Rio, his mother's friend's son; a mother searches for her son while in detention for immigration; a girl angles to sleep near Esau Abraham on a museum overnight; a professor admits his paternity and explains his racial experiment in a letter to his son; Leonel calls his brother to assist their abusive father in performing magic for the town and the dead mayor; a nomadic sitar player rents a room near his adult daughter; through his father's cancer, a man meets Wayne, a mortician and hunter of fallen elk antlers; Gunter, a distrusted local, seeks a baptism from Reverend Yates; a father bets his daughter to never return home when she turns 18; Kristen follows online cooking celebrity Lucy Hendrick with antipathy; a mother reunites with her trans daughter, Luciana; and Wendy Change enters a psychiatric hospital for an evaluation on election day.
tina94's review against another edition
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
4.5
I just love short stories. My personal highlight was Alicia Elliott's "Unearth", and I did skip over/dnf'ed two, so that's why it isn't a 5*.
mklong's review against another edition
4.0
I knew that Roxane Gay would be great as the editor of this year’s Best American Short Stories, and she didn’t let me down. The stories here represent voices from diverse backgrounds but maintain a common theme of family dynamics and generational and cultural expectations. My favorites were “Good With Boys” and “A Big Truth.”
karencarlson's review against another edition
5.0
This year's volume is a wonderful edition; I had to work hard to keep my "favorites' list down to a reasonable 8 stories, though it could have easily been 15.
Posts on each story available at my personal blog A Just Recompense. As an added attraction, this year, my blogging buddy Jake Weber is doing his own take on each story at his blog so there’s twice as much fun, as we’ve so far found different things to focus on in each story.
Posts on each story available at my personal blog A Just Recompense. As an added attraction, this year, my blogging buddy Jake Weber is doing his own take on each story at his blog so there’s twice as much fun, as we’ve so far found different things to focus on in each story.
lillielainoff's review against another edition
5.0
As a short story writer, I really enjoy this anthology series, from both a reader's and writer's perspective. But BASS 2018? This is my favorite year by far. Roxane Gay doesn't choose stories based on the magazine they are published in. There's even a piece or two of genre fiction (weeks later, I am still haunted by The Brothers Brujo. That first paragraph. THAT FIRST PARAGRAPH. It should be taught in every writing class about how to write a first paragraph.)
I'm not surprised by some of the commentary I've read about the anthology. Disappointed, yes, but not surprised. I've read reviews centering on how people don't think these stories deserve the title "best of" because they are too political, because they are not written like other good short stories are, because they sound different, and, of course, because 'the only reason these stories were chosen was because Roxane Gay wanted to choose political stories.'
Here is what I say to those readers: being political and being good are NOT mutually exclusive. And, furthermore: most of these stories aren't overtly political. Having diverse characters does not equal a polemic against the current administration.
This is the first of the "Best of" series where I wasn't completely overwhelmed by the male, able-bodied WASPiness of it all. BASS 2018 is not about what IS traditionally considered "good" literary fiction. It is about what SHOULD be considered good literary fiction. It is about stories and voices that are glorious and beautiful but have been overlooked again and again by literature as a collective. The stories here experiment with structure, with voice, with point of view and with subject matter.
Most of the time, I end up enjoying between 1/3 and 1/2 of the stories per BASS collection.
This year, I enjoyed all but two or three, and that was mostly because they just weren't the style I enjoy reading – stepping back as a reader, from a craft standpoint they were quite strong.
I strongly encourage readers and writers alike to pick up this anthology. It is perfect for teaching craft, and showcases a variety of voices and POVs: great for classrooms with a wide range of writerly sensibilities.
I'm not surprised by some of the commentary I've read about the anthology. Disappointed, yes, but not surprised. I've read reviews centering on how people don't think these stories deserve the title "best of" because they are too political, because they are not written like other good short stories are, because they sound different, and, of course, because 'the only reason these stories were chosen was because Roxane Gay wanted to choose political stories.'
Here is what I say to those readers: being political and being good are NOT mutually exclusive. And, furthermore: most of these stories aren't overtly political. Having diverse characters does not equal a polemic against the current administration.
This is the first of the "Best of" series where I wasn't completely overwhelmed by the male, able-bodied WASPiness of it all. BASS 2018 is not about what IS traditionally considered "good" literary fiction. It is about what SHOULD be considered good literary fiction. It is about stories and voices that are glorious and beautiful but have been overlooked again and again by literature as a collective. The stories here experiment with structure, with voice, with point of view and with subject matter.
Most of the time, I end up enjoying between 1/3 and 1/2 of the stories per BASS collection.
This year, I enjoyed all but two or three, and that was mostly because they just weren't the style I enjoy reading – stepping back as a reader, from a craft standpoint they were quite strong.
I strongly encourage readers and writers alike to pick up this anthology. It is perfect for teaching craft, and showcases a variety of voices and POVs: great for classrooms with a wide range of writerly sensibilities.
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