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lewismillholland's review
3.0
Excellent stories (with a few duds here and there). I don't have the list in front of me but a few standouts were "For the God of Love, for the Love of God" and "Pat+Sam." These stories were considerably short (especially when compared to the Anchor Book of American Fiction I'm concurrently reading). Lent it to Tian on her Africa trip.
elektra_eris's review
3.0
Giving this an overall rating of 3 stars as I think that would be the average of the individual ratings. As a note, I'm typically not a short story reader and as with any anthology, there were some stories I loved and some I didn't.
I've written a full review of the individual stories on my blog: https://writersblockeveryday.wordpress.com/2017/04/15/best-american-short-stories-2016-review/
I've written a full review of the individual stories on my blog: https://writersblockeveryday.wordpress.com/2017/04/15/best-american-short-stories-2016-review/
boureemusique's review against another edition
4.0
A mixed, haunting, poignant collection. The one about the kid who cools on his parents stuck with me the longest, and the last story was a bit jarringly poetic. I love Díaz for his choices and am glad I took the time to read this motley melange of strange and moving talent.
davenash's review
1.0
There were three short stories in the collection that I enjoyed:
"For the love of God, for the love of God" by Lauren Groff - I've enjoyed her other stories as well.
"Wonders of the Shore" by Andrea Barret
"Gifted" by Sharon Solowitz.
What I didn't like about the collection was everything else. I feel like the short story in every issue of the New Yorker is better than most of these and the one New Yorker story they picked wasn't that great. Most of the stories specialty in the front of the Paris Review are better than these. There was nothing avante garde or new about the other stories selected. They were just the product of the work shop process.
"For the love of God, for the love of God" by Lauren Groff - I've enjoyed her other stories as well.
"Wonders of the Shore" by Andrea Barret
"Gifted" by Sharon Solowitz.
What I didn't like about the collection was everything else. I feel like the short story in every issue of the New Yorker is better than most of these and the one New Yorker story they picked wasn't that great. Most of the stories specialty in the front of the Paris Review are better than these. There was nothing avante garde or new about the other stories selected. They were just the product of the work shop process.
an_enthusiastic_reader's review
4.0
This is a collection where I'd read a story every once in a while and then forget about it while I read other work, which is a good way to approach an anthology of stories connected only by the favor of the editors. There are some standouts that include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Apollo; The Bears by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum; Smith Henderson's Treasure State; Lisa Ko's Pat+Sam (pushing The Leavers, Ko's new novel higher up on my tbr); Ben Marcus's Cold Little Bird (what a menacing kid; how callow; cold steel); Caille Millner's The Politics of the Quotidian; Karen Russell's The Prospectors; and especially John Edgar Wideman's Williamburg Bridge, which conjures up the prose of Ralph Ellison, and which in many of the reviews here is considered "a slog," though if you just take the time to see the protagonist's story unfold, you'll see history unfold right along with it.
teaandpirates's review
3.0
Giving this an overall rating of 3 stars as I think that would be the average of the individual ratings. As a note, I'm typically not a short story reader and as with any anthology, there were some stories I loved and some I didn't.
I've written a full review of the individual stories on my blog: https://writersblockeveryday.wordpress.com/2017/04/15/best-american-short-stories-2016-review/
I've written a full review of the individual stories on my blog: https://writersblockeveryday.wordpress.com/2017/04/15/best-american-short-stories-2016-review/
ellenrhudy's review
3.0
Who knows how to rate these, the stories in these collections always range for me from hatred (John Edgar Wideman's story closing the collection) to indifference to loving. The two stories I really liked here:
* Lisa Ko's "Pat + Sam"
* Karen Russell's "The Prospectors"
Sharon Solowitz's "Gifted" -- also liked that one. So as always a nice way to round up some stories I might not have seen otherwise, I'm excited to read more from Lisa Ko since this was my first time encountering her.
* Lisa Ko's "Pat + Sam"
* Karen Russell's "The Prospectors"
Sharon Solowitz's "Gifted" -- also liked that one. So as always a nice way to round up some stories I might not have seen otherwise, I'm excited to read more from Lisa Ko since this was my first time encountering her.
melias6's review against another edition
3.0
Halfway through this year's collection, I thought it was going to be my least favorite since I began reading these annually in 2011. But then a streak of 7 terrific stories (beginning with Lisa Ko's "Pat + Sam" and ending with Sharon Solwitz's "Gifted") pulled the collection out of a slump. (All the more impressive given that each collection is sorted alphabetically, by author, rather than thematically.) Standouts include Ben Marcus' "Cold Little Bird," about a ten-year old's eerie, rational disassociation from his parents; Caille Millner's "The Politics of the Quotidian," concerning a university professor's professional crisis following a student outburst; Karen Russell's "The Prospectors," whose supernatural bent makes it an ideal Halloween read; and the aforementioned "Gifted," which deftly tackles issues of mortality, sibling relationships, and fate. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum have strong contributions in the early going but, in terms of quality, it's the back half that dominates this year's collection.
randyribay's review
4.0
A pretty good mix with an amazing intro from Diaz. My top 3: "The Flower," "Apollo," and "The Great Silence."