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53 reviews for:
The Best Short Stories 2022: The O. Henry Prize Winners
Jenny Minton Quigley, Valeria Luiselli
3.78 AVERAGE
53 reviews for:
The Best Short Stories 2022: The O. Henry Prize Winners
Jenny Minton Quigley, Valeria Luiselli
3.78 AVERAGE
My favorite story in this book is Horse Soup. There are a couple stories in this collection that I loved that made me give it three stars, but overall, I was disappointed with the collection. A lot of the stories were about Covid, which is a reality, but I didn’t want to read about it so much. I also was confused because I realized that all of the stories were originally published in 2020-2021, not 2022. So that was weird to me.
Favorites: "Fish Stories" for its compact emotion and "Apples" for its metafictional twists.
1- “Screen Time,” by Alejandro Zambra: Interesting look at parenting amid covid, and how a child copes when he's not exposed to TV at all, which I think is a hard decision to implement, but I still applaud.
2- “The Wolves of Circassia,” by Daniel Mason: I'm not sure I totally got the symbolism of that ending, but it's another pandemic story, this time through a caretaker taking care of an old man with dementia and his family.
3- “Mercedes’s Special Talent,” by Tere Dávila: well, that was depressing. a woman suffering from hypochondria and the suffering of her family as well.
4- “Rainbows,” by Joseph O’Neill: I see where the author was going with this story of immigrants in the US and assimilation and idolizing people, but it felt fragmented, and the ending didn't feel like an end at all
5- “A Way with Bea,” by Shanteka Sigers: weird and unnerving and yet wholesome in a way? An unnamed teacher and her inner thoughts about her life and a certain student of hers called Bea, and her occasional concern for her and her wanting not to get involvd.
6- “Seams,” by Olga Tokarczuk: A heartbreaking story of an old man dealing with life after his wife's death and he seems to notice weird things, like the seams on his socks or the color of ink in his pens, and these thoughts overwhlem him completely. It's very sad.
7- “The Little Widow from the Capital,” by Yohanca Delgado: read earlier this year in "The Best American Short Stories 2022". my review: What a melancholic story. A widow moves into an apartment building in New York coming from the Dominican Republic and her story turns into a folk tale by her neighbours. loved ths sadness in every word. 5 stars (I discoevered that the story is inspired by a latin american nursery rhyme, and I liked that idea)
8- “Lemonade,” by Eshkol Nevo: not going to read this story.
9- “Breastmilk,” by ‘Pemi Aguda: I don't do well with stories about giving birth. also affairs that go unpunished? and the noosiness of family members after the event of birth, like a woman can't have one minute to herself? but still Liked the story and loved the writing style, it feels sharp and intense. I would love to read more from her.
10- “The Old Man of Kusumpur,” by Amar Mitra: felt like a folktale from Bengal, about an old man embarking on a journey to meet the Big Man he heard about who would solve all of his problems. felt a bit out of place amid these stories.
11- “Where They Always Meet,” by Christos Ikonomou: interresting concept, a journalist encounters a woman, who might be telling the truth or she might be lying, and tells her the story of her life hoping she's publish it: that she's stalin's daughter and that she's followed.
12- “Fish Stories,” by Janika Oza: very short yet packs a punch. a family lost a son and a brother, and how the mother and sister deal with this grief.
13- “Horse Soup,” by Vladimir Sorokin: each collection must have an absurd weird "what the fuck did I just read" story, and this is that one. first of all, it's very long and it's immersive, it had a promising beginning: a men bumps into three youth on the train and becomes obsessed with watching one of them eat, but that relationship becomes more deformed as time goes by, and I think it must have some underlying message about Russia and politics and food and consumerism, but it got too wacky in the end.
14- “Clean Teen,” by Francisco González: Reading this made me sick. trigger warning for a teacher sexually abusing a teenager. it's heartbreaking seeing the progress of the events and what it does to the mind of the teenage boy
15- “Dengue Boy,” by Michel Nieva: a bit of a dystopian story, about a boy who's half bug and he's tormented by everyone around him. had a very gory ending, but also posed a lot of discussions about humanity, pollution and transformation
16- “Zikora,” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: This story felt really ffleshed out, I felt like I really know these characters by the end of it. It revolves around motherhood, family, relationships, a daughter that doesn't understand her mother until she's a mother herself, the decision to have a baby, the experience of Ghanian people in the US. I really need to read a full length novel from this author because it feels really overdue.
17- “Apples,” by Gunnhild Øyehaug: huh. a very meta story, I don't think I've read story more meta than this one. I liked the part aboyt Signe and Sonja the best. but it took some interesting turns for such a short story.
18- “Warp and Weft,” by David Ryan: This was immensely tragic and it made me think of the deaths of all my loved ones. I need to forget this because it really tugged all of my heart strings
19- “Face Time,” by Lorrie Moore: a covid story. brings back all the vivid memories of that horrible times of our life. well written.
20- “An Unlucky Man,” by Samanta Schweblin: read it in the author's collection "Seven Empty Houses". my review: this was really uncomfortable. a pedophile-lolita-type story.
2- “The Wolves of Circassia,” by Daniel Mason: I'm not sure I totally got the symbolism of that ending, but it's another pandemic story, this time through a caretaker taking care of an old man with dementia and his family.
3- “Mercedes’s Special Talent,” by Tere Dávila: well, that was depressing. a woman suffering from hypochondria and the suffering of her family as well.
4- “Rainbows,” by Joseph O’Neill: I see where the author was going with this story of immigrants in the US and assimilation and idolizing people, but it felt fragmented, and the ending didn't feel like an end at all
5- “A Way with Bea,” by Shanteka Sigers: weird and unnerving and yet wholesome in a way? An unnamed teacher and her inner thoughts about her life and a certain student of hers called Bea, and her occasional concern for her and her wanting not to get involvd.
6- “Seams,” by Olga Tokarczuk: A heartbreaking story of an old man dealing with life after his wife's death and he seems to notice weird things, like the seams on his socks or the color of ink in his pens, and these thoughts overwhlem him completely. It's very sad.
7- “The Little Widow from the Capital,” by Yohanca Delgado: read earlier this year in "The Best American Short Stories 2022". my review: What a melancholic story. A widow moves into an apartment building in New York coming from the Dominican Republic and her story turns into a folk tale by her neighbours. loved ths sadness in every word. 5 stars (I discoevered that the story is inspired by a latin american nursery rhyme, and I liked that idea)
8- “Lemonade,” by Eshkol Nevo: not going to read this story.
9- “Breastmilk,” by ‘Pemi Aguda: I don't do well with stories about giving birth. also affairs that go unpunished? and the noosiness of family members after the event of birth, like a woman can't have one minute to herself? but still Liked the story and loved the writing style, it feels sharp and intense. I would love to read more from her.
10- “The Old Man of Kusumpur,” by Amar Mitra: felt like a folktale from Bengal, about an old man embarking on a journey to meet the Big Man he heard about who would solve all of his problems. felt a bit out of place amid these stories.
11- “Where They Always Meet,” by Christos Ikonomou: interresting concept, a journalist encounters a woman, who might be telling the truth or she might be lying, and tells her the story of her life hoping she's publish it: that she's stalin's daughter and that she's followed.
12- “Fish Stories,” by Janika Oza: very short yet packs a punch. a family lost a son and a brother, and how the mother and sister deal with this grief.
13- “Horse Soup,” by Vladimir Sorokin: each collection must have an absurd weird "what the fuck did I just read" story, and this is that one. first of all, it's very long and it's immersive, it had a promising beginning: a men bumps into three youth on the train and becomes obsessed with watching one of them eat, but that relationship becomes more deformed as time goes by, and I think it must have some underlying message about Russia and politics and food and consumerism, but it got too wacky in the end.
14- “Clean Teen,” by Francisco González: Reading this made me sick. trigger warning for a teacher sexually abusing a teenager. it's heartbreaking seeing the progress of the events and what it does to the mind of the teenage boy
15- “Dengue Boy,” by Michel Nieva: a bit of a dystopian story, about a boy who's half bug and he's tormented by everyone around him. had a very gory ending, but also posed a lot of discussions about humanity, pollution and transformation
16- “Zikora,” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: This story felt really ffleshed out, I felt like I really know these characters by the end of it. It revolves around motherhood, family, relationships, a daughter that doesn't understand her mother until she's a mother herself, the decision to have a baby, the experience of Ghanian people in the US. I really need to read a full length novel from this author because it feels really overdue.
17- “Apples,” by Gunnhild Øyehaug: huh. a very meta story, I don't think I've read story more meta than this one. I liked the part aboyt Signe and Sonja the best. but it took some interesting turns for such a short story.
18- “Warp and Weft,” by David Ryan: This was immensely tragic and it made me think of the deaths of all my loved ones. I need to forget this because it really tugged all of my heart strings
19- “Face Time,” by Lorrie Moore: a covid story. brings back all the vivid memories of that horrible times of our life. well written.
20- “An Unlucky Man,” by Samanta Schweblin: read it in the author's collection "Seven Empty Houses". my review: this was really uncomfortable. a pedophile-lolita-type story.
slow-paced
I wondered whether in the final moments a dying person said, "So this is death," or did they say, "So that was life"? - Lorrie Moore, "Face Time"
Many of these are forgettable, but some are pretty good.
Francisco González's "Clean Teen" is a well-written and depressing story of a privileged woman abusing an adolescent boy from the poor, minority community she teaches in.
Samanta Schweblin's "An Unlucky Man" also deals with child abuse. It's deeply uncomfortable to read, as you watch events unfold slowly from the perspective of a girl who is oblivious to their sinister implications.
Michel Nieva's "Dengue Boy" follows a child with a distressing set of mutations: he's essentially an anthropomorphized mosquito. Stories about growing up different from everyone else - or learning to love a child who is different from what you expected - are a common trope, but this takes it to quite an extreme.
I was happy to encounter Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's name again after reading her story "The Thing Around Your Neck" in another collection. Her entry in this collection, "Zikora", follows a woman who is abruptly dumped from a previously wonderful relationship when she announces that she is pregnant. Among other things, it's a cautionary tale about the importance of explicit, unambiguous communication about anything important.
In Eshkol Nevo's "Lemonade", a woman's shitty husband and the economic stress of the pandemic persuade her to make porn for some extra income. This goes wrong in a disturbing, unanticipated way.
The protagonist of 'Pemi Aguda's "Breastmilk" tries to reconcile her willingness to forgive her husband for cheating and her desire to be as fierce and uncompromosing as her feminist activist mother.
Amar Mitra's "The Old Man of Kusumpur" is a little fable about a man embarking on a dubious religious quest.
Yohanca Delgado's "The Little Widow from the Capital" is told in the first-person plural: the women in a tight-knight community of immigrants from the Dominican Republican pry into the life of a new arrival.
Daniel Mason's "The Wolves of Circassia" made me smile with its sweet friendship between a young boy and his dementia-afflicted grandfather.
Vladimir Sorokin's "Horse Soup" sucked me in with its bizarre setup - a man who derives obscene pleasure from watching others eat. For such a long story, though, I would have liked more to be explained.
(crossposted from https://brokensandals.net/reviews/2022/o-henry)
I’m always curious to try out these collections, but the 3 star review reflects how my enjoyment of different authors’ stories and prose varied a lot throughout.
Screen Time:
A story about parenting and screens in the early pandemic. A good if not super memorable story.
The Wolves of Circassia:
Another pandemic story, this one centering a caretaker for an older man during the early pandemic. I quite enjoyed this one; it was very ‘slice of life’ and easy to visualize, which I can’t always do.
Mercedes’ Special Talent:
An odd story about an odd-couple-type husband and wife. Again, good if not super memorable.
Rainbows:
I do not remember anything about this one! Not a favorite.
A Way with Bea:
As a teacher who worries about her own students, I saw myself reflected in this story. I’ve known Bea, and I felt the author captured her well.
Seams:
I was looking forward to this one because I want to read some of Olga Tokarczuk’s work, but I didn’t love it. I’m adjusting my expectations a bit for my first try at her prose in novel form.
The Little Widow from the Capital:
I was always going to love this one! Would fit in with my favorite short story collections by Carmen Maria Machado, Kate Folk, and Julia Armfield.
Lemonade:
Oof. But perhaps that means I was responding to the story?
Breastmilk:
Forgiving the man who cheated on you and hating yourself for it is rough, man.
The Old Man of Kusumpur:
Very different tonally from the rest of the collection! It felt more like a fairytale or folk song than the other short stories, in a good way.
Where They Always Meet:
I think this one went over my head.
Fish Stories:
One of my favorites! Just let yourself experience it.
Horse Soup:
…followed by my least favorite. This one was weird, and I believe intentionally so, but…not for me.
Clean Teen:
More ick, as this story was about a teacher grooming their student. My body felt heavy while reading this one.
Dengue Boy:
Rooting for you girlie!
Zikora:
My other favorite! Chimamada Ngozi Adichie is the only author I had read from before, and I think she’s really effective at writing both novels and short stories.
Apples:
Perhaps the most meta story, and one I would love to return to to mull over some more. I quite liked it!
Warp and Weft:
A series of connected vignettes, which I’m pretty much always going to respond to.
Face Time:
Back to the pandemic, this story is about a daughter calling her sick father in the hospital. I reflected a lot on this one; while I miss my grandparents, I’m glad they died before COVID. There’s such a sense of powerlessness here.
An Unlucky Man:
Who determines the order of the stories? Why choose this one to end on?? Weird weird weird behavior by all men involved, dad included.
Screen Time:
A story about parenting and screens in the early pandemic. A good if not super memorable story.
The Wolves of Circassia:
Another pandemic story, this one centering a caretaker for an older man during the early pandemic. I quite enjoyed this one; it was very ‘slice of life’ and easy to visualize, which I can’t always do.
Mercedes’ Special Talent:
An odd story about an odd-couple-type husband and wife. Again, good if not super memorable.
Rainbows:
I do not remember anything about this one! Not a favorite.
A Way with Bea:
As a teacher who worries about her own students, I saw myself reflected in this story. I’ve known Bea, and I felt the author captured her well.
Seams:
I was looking forward to this one because I want to read some of Olga Tokarczuk’s work, but I didn’t love it. I’m adjusting my expectations a bit for my first try at her prose in novel form.
The Little Widow from the Capital:
I was always going to love this one! Would fit in with my favorite short story collections by Carmen Maria Machado, Kate Folk, and Julia Armfield.
Lemonade:
Oof. But perhaps that means I was responding to the story?
Breastmilk:
Forgiving the man who cheated on you and hating yourself for it is rough, man.
The Old Man of Kusumpur:
Very different tonally from the rest of the collection! It felt more like a fairytale or folk song than the other short stories, in a good way.
Where They Always Meet:
I think this one went over my head.
Fish Stories:
One of my favorites! Just let yourself experience it.
Horse Soup:
…followed by my least favorite. This one was weird, and I believe intentionally so, but…not for me.
Clean Teen:
More ick, as this story was about a teacher grooming their student. My body felt heavy while reading this one.
Dengue Boy:
Rooting for you girlie!
Zikora:
My other favorite! Chimamada Ngozi Adichie is the only author I had read from before, and I think she’s really effective at writing both novels and short stories.
Apples:
Perhaps the most meta story, and one I would love to return to to mull over some more. I quite liked it!
Warp and Weft:
A series of connected vignettes, which I’m pretty much always going to respond to.
Face Time:
Back to the pandemic, this story is about a daughter calling her sick father in the hospital. I reflected a lot on this one; while I miss my grandparents, I’m glad they died before COVID. There’s such a sense of powerlessness here.
An Unlucky Man:
Who determines the order of the stories? Why choose this one to end on?? Weird weird weird behavior by all men involved, dad included.
You’re setting the bar very high with a title like The Best Short Stories of 2022. With every entry I read in this collection, I reflected on the promise of that title – the best short stories of 2022. Were they really the best? Obviously the editor thought so, and they were “best” enough to win the O. Henry prize, but I found myself wondering again and again. To be honest, I’m not sure I really liked any of the stories. Or if I did, it was in sort of a passing way, and now I have trouble recalling them specifically. I did like “Warp and Weft” and “Clean Teen.” I’d say those were my two favorites from the collection. The real nail in the coffin for me was the monstrosity of a short story titled “Horse Soup.” I finished reading that 54-page slog weeks ago now and I’m still mad about it. I also thought lots of other stories in the collection were maybe… saccharine? “A Way With Bea,” “Breastmilk,” and “Zikora” were all similar in vibe in that they felt very sentimental and new-motherhood focused. I was also very tired of the COVID stories. (If I literally cannot escape the hellmouth that is pandemic life, I don’t want an on-the-nose short fiction piece detailing the monotonous misery of pandemic life. At least make it interesting.) That’s not to say I thought they were bad stories or poorly written but more that they were just sort of dull, stylistically. I thought there were some stories in the collection that were doing a lot more with playing with voice and form (to varying degrees of success), but the collection ultimately felt too serious and deadpan to be much fun to read. It probably has to do with the O. Henry prize and whatever criteria the judges are using for that award, but I was a little disappointed with what’s considered the best new literature of the year.