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zarazuck's review against another edition
3.0
"Findings and Impressions" and "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" are great
avitalgadcykman's review against another edition
4.0
When I fist bought it, I only read Roy Kesey's delightful story, Wait. Now, I finally got to reading the others and discovered gems like Josepgh Epstein's My Brother Ali, Lauren Groff's I.DeBard and Aliette: A Love Story, and Jim Shaepard's Sans Farine.
rsurban's review against another edition
Only half way through, but this collection, though my hero Stephen King edited it, is not terribly impressive
grumples's review against another edition
4.0
I was a bit skeptical of Stephen King being the guest editor, but really, the man is funny--I forgot just how funny he can be. Usually I have to skip the guest editor's introduction because it is so dull. Not Mr. King! He does a great job introducing a wonderful selection of stories. There was only one that puzzled me on its inclusion in this anthology. I particularly enjoyed Barth, Boyle, Groff and Russell (to the degree that I went straight out and bought her collection of short stories). This is an anthology I look forward to obtaining every fall, and it has never disappointed me. They redid the packaging this year, and switched from a paperback to a hardcover. I'm not sure I approve--seems like a marketing ploy to be fancier, and therefore to be taken more seriously. I believe it has always stood alone on its own merits.
disreputabledog's review against another edition
2.0
I asked a friend if he had read anything by Karen Russell and he responded by giving me two of the Best American Short Stories anthologies, one of which is this one from 2007. Unfortunately, most of the stories in here are pretty bland. I don't know if that's due to Stephen King being a poor editor or 2007 just being a mediocre year for short stories; either way, most of the stories in this collection are not bad but not astounding, either.
The problem with this anthology is that almost all of the stories deal with death in some way, ranging the gamut from suicide to murder to simply dying of old age. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it gets a little tiring to read story after story about death. There are very few lighthearted stories here, which only reinforces this prevalent notion in literature that in order to be a good writer you have to talk about Very Serious themes such as death. I'm sure Stephen King's role as editor and his predisposition towards the macabre had something to do with this as well.
The few stand-outs in this collection:
TC Boyle, "Balto" - a 13 year old girl has to drive her father and sister home when her father is too drunk to drive. On the way she hits a boy on a bike and is faced with the decision of whether or not to lie and say that she wasn't driving to prevent her sister and her from being taken away from her father.
William Gay, "Where Will You Go When Your Skin Cannot Contain You?" - a man dealing with his grief after the death of the woman he loved
Roy Kesey, "Wait" - the only outright humorous story in this anthology, "Wait" shows how people deal with being stuck in an airport after a fog prevents the plane from taking off.
Alice Munro, "Dimension" - a woman coming to terms with the death of her three children at the hands of their father.
Karen Russell, "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" - this is exactly what you'd expect from the title.
The problem with this anthology is that almost all of the stories deal with death in some way, ranging the gamut from suicide to murder to simply dying of old age. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it gets a little tiring to read story after story about death. There are very few lighthearted stories here, which only reinforces this prevalent notion in literature that in order to be a good writer you have to talk about Very Serious themes such as death. I'm sure Stephen King's role as editor and his predisposition towards the macabre had something to do with this as well.
The few stand-outs in this collection:
TC Boyle, "Balto" - a 13 year old girl has to drive her father and sister home when her father is too drunk to drive. On the way she hits a boy on a bike and is faced with the decision of whether or not to lie and say that she wasn't driving to prevent her sister and her from being taken away from her father.
William Gay, "Where Will You Go When Your Skin Cannot Contain You?" - a man dealing with his grief after the death of the woman he loved
Roy Kesey, "Wait" - the only outright humorous story in this anthology, "Wait" shows how people deal with being stuck in an airport after a fog prevents the plane from taking off.
Alice Munro, "Dimension" - a woman coming to terms with the death of her three children at the hands of their father.
Karen Russell, "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" - this is exactly what you'd expect from the title.
alexctelander's review against another edition
4.0
THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2007 EDITED BY STEPHEN KING: International bestselling author Stephen King takes the stage with a different kind of performance: instead of being the creator and writer, he is the director, selected as the editor for the 2007 edition of the ever popular Best American Short Stories series. But don’t pick this book up expecting to find blood and gore, or a sense of horror and a feeling of terror that you are more used to when reading the editor’s own work; in this collection, King has select works he finds most fascinating, the stories that “make his blood curdle” but in an emotional and moving way, as opposed to a terrified one. Nevertheless, this collection has something to offer everyone, with twenty unique stories that were selected and deemed the best during the year 2006 by Stephen King and Best American Series ongoing editor, Heidi Pitlor.
King kicks off the collection with his own entertaining introduction, as he sets the scene for his discovering these special stories: bending down, ass in the air, going through the dusty and ignored journals shelf of a big-chain bookstore in Florida, and then making his way to the surprised cashier with this mighty pile of rarely bought materials. While it is humorous, King is making the clear point here that short stories are in some ways a dying art, for they are not being read by many, and in most cases, simply by other writers. And yet it is a crucial stepping stone for many aspiring writers. King sets out to show to the reader that while there were a lot of mediocre and not so good stories published in 2006, there were also some great ones, appearing in this collection, showing that the art of writing short stories is still alive and well.
The 2007 collection features stories by well known authors like John Barth, T. C. Boyle, Alice Munro and Richard Russo, to name a few. Here there are stories about everything, satisfying every reader’s taste in some way, whether it be “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves,” which is exactly what it sounds like; to an enchanting and memorable Lolitaesque story about an Olympic swimmer and a young girl with Polio who have a love a fair set with the backdrop of the 1918 flu epidemic in Lauren Groff’s “L DeBard and Aliette: A Love Story”; to “My Brother Eli” by Joseph Epstein featuring a famous writer who can never accept that he has done what he set out to achieve; to the wonderfully haunting “Sans Farine” by Jim Shepard, where the history and invention of the guillotine is revealed in gruesome detail while the French Revolution spirals out of control.
The beauty of a short story collection such as this is that with so much good material, if one is not immediately satisfied, one can just skip to the next story; and by the same token one can also slowly read and savor each story. Stephen King has certainly shown that he has some interesting and appreciative reading habits, proving his job as a good editor for today’s short stories. The Best American Short Stories 2007 is an ideal gift for anyone who has read all of Stephen King and wants something different, or simply loves to read books for what they are: an escape from reality into a world of the fantastic.
For more book reviews, and author interviews, go to BookBanter.
King kicks off the collection with his own entertaining introduction, as he sets the scene for his discovering these special stories: bending down, ass in the air, going through the dusty and ignored journals shelf of a big-chain bookstore in Florida, and then making his way to the surprised cashier with this mighty pile of rarely bought materials. While it is humorous, King is making the clear point here that short stories are in some ways a dying art, for they are not being read by many, and in most cases, simply by other writers. And yet it is a crucial stepping stone for many aspiring writers. King sets out to show to the reader that while there were a lot of mediocre and not so good stories published in 2006, there were also some great ones, appearing in this collection, showing that the art of writing short stories is still alive and well.
The 2007 collection features stories by well known authors like John Barth, T. C. Boyle, Alice Munro and Richard Russo, to name a few. Here there are stories about everything, satisfying every reader’s taste in some way, whether it be “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves,” which is exactly what it sounds like; to an enchanting and memorable Lolitaesque story about an Olympic swimmer and a young girl with Polio who have a love a fair set with the backdrop of the 1918 flu epidemic in Lauren Groff’s “L DeBard and Aliette: A Love Story”; to “My Brother Eli” by Joseph Epstein featuring a famous writer who can never accept that he has done what he set out to achieve; to the wonderfully haunting “Sans Farine” by Jim Shepard, where the history and invention of the guillotine is revealed in gruesome detail while the French Revolution spirals out of control.
The beauty of a short story collection such as this is that with so much good material, if one is not immediately satisfied, one can just skip to the next story; and by the same token one can also slowly read and savor each story. Stephen King has certainly shown that he has some interesting and appreciative reading habits, proving his job as a good editor for today’s short stories. The Best American Short Stories 2007 is an ideal gift for anyone who has read all of Stephen King and wants something different, or simply loves to read books for what they are: an escape from reality into a world of the fantastic.
For more book reviews, and author interviews, go to BookBanter.
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