Reviews

The Best Short Stories 2021: The O. Henry Prize Winners by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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afrokristie's review

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I like the stories that Chimamanda chose for this edition, although the theme of grief is heavy in most of the stories. this made it harder to go through because I was not dealing with grief.

This is a really good collection. If you like short stories, there are some gems in here, and all of them are worth reading.

The collection begins with “Brown Girls” by Daphne Palasi Andreades, a short evocative piece using the collective voice to describe what it’s like for brown girls growing up in Queens. After that, there’s a very subtle love story, “Two Nurses, Smoking”, by David Means. Then “Malliga Homes”, by Sindya Bhanoo, about a woman in an old folks’ home in India, surrounded by all the people whose grown children have emigrated to other countries.

Then there’s a story by Crystal Wilkinson, “Endangered Species: Case 47401”, which starts, “All black women got this thrumming thing inside us but don’t nobody notice.” It’s a powerful piece about a woman just trying to get through her day in a new house, and dealing with intrusive white neighbors, and eventually the police. After this is Alice Jolly’s story, “From Far Around They Saw Us Burn”, about a fire in an Irish orphanage. This is also written in the collective voice, and it’s yearning and sorrowful.

Then comes “Things We Worried About When I Was Ten”, by David Rabe, which is brave and sometimes funny. After this, “Scissors”, by Karina Sainz Borgo, a short piece about surviving in Venezuela. This affected me a lot, given my own history with that country. Then “Witness”, by Jamel Brinkley, a man writing about his complicated relationship with a sister. Then “The Other One”, by Tessa Hadley, an intricate story about memory.

The next story is “Becoming the Baby Girl”, by Adachioma Ezeano. This is really powerful and sad, about a young Nigerian girl who is trying to get an education, but is inexorably slotted into a degrading social role. There are ten more stories, all good, and the writers include Anthony Doerr, Tiphanie Yanique, Joan Silber, Emma Cline, Asali Solomon, and Sally Rooney.

spiderwyrm's review

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4.0

One of the more impressive anthologies I've read.

stu_smith's review

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4.0

Amazing variety of stories. Even had a story told from the perspective of Harvey Weinstein.

leilabp4's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

katiilahti's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

As someone who loves short stories, I was incredibly excited to read this book – and it did not disappoint. A collection of twenty prizewinning works ranging from the political to the deeply personal, it is emotionally charged, shocking, beautiful – and at times painful to read. Among the standouts is the lyrical, evocative 'Two Nurses, Smoking', which I still find myself thinking about three years down the road. Another highlight: 'Endangered Species: Case 47401', a powerful, gut-punching look at racism and displacement. I also really enjoyed the authors’ notes at the end of the book, which added further depth to the stories. Selected by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and featuring brilliant writers like Sally Rooney and Crystal Wilkinson, 'The Best Short Stories 2021' is easily one of my favorite literary anthologies.