Reviews

The Best American Short Stories 2007 by Heidi Pitlor, Stephen King

davidabrams's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.5

Scan the table of contents and you'll find an all-star line-up of literary heavy-hitters: Louis Auchincloss, John Barth, Ann Beattie, T. C. Boyle, William Gay, Mary Gordon, Lauren Groff--the list goes on, you get the idea. They skimmed the most delicious cream from the top of the cream! It's hard to pick the standouts in a collection that contains so many short masterpieces. I will say this: two very memorable stories involve cutting: "Bris" by Eileen Pollack and "Sans Farine" by Jim Shepherd--the latter about an executioner during the French Revolution--both of these stories will cut you to the quick. So to speak.

One other note: the 2007 edition of the annual series is perhaps the longest in its decades-long history--400 long pages of short fiction. Some selections border on novellas--but I don't begrudge their inclusion.

jeanabreu's review

3.0

A pretty good collection, Alice Munro and Jim Shepard were the best.

vorpalblad's review

3.0

I try to read this book every year and I have to say that this year was the first time it did not absorb my attention completely. The early stories were the best, but also the most depressing. "The Toga Party" was a good example of this. Alice Munro and and Stellar Kim also gave good solid material. In fact a lot of it was "good" and "solid" without being page-turning. I had trouble caring about many of the characters.

alundeberg's review

3.0

This was an impulse buy (what? me have an impulse buy at a bookstore?! Never!) in order to find some short stories for my class. I've read six of the stories so far, and I'm not THAT impressed. Maybe I need someone to explain to me why they are the "Best". I will keep reading....

kandicez's review

3.0

I really liked some of these, but not all of them were my type. I think I'll have to review my favs when I have more time. Great for a trip when you can only read in dribs and drabs.

deepfreezebatman's review

4.0

I guess this quenched my thirst for experiencing some contemporary "literature." I don't know why people have a problem with Steve...he selected an interesting and entertaining variety, what more could you ask for? People just like to complain.

I noticed that a lot of the selected stories had pandemic themes. Who doesn't like stories about a good ol' pandemic?

My favorites would have to be:

"Pa's Darling" - Louis Auchingloss
"Toga Party" - John Barth
"Balto" - T.C. Boyle
"Wait" - Roy Kesey
"The Boy in Zaquitos" - Bruce McAllister
"St Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" - Karen Russell


I did not enjoy "Riding the Doghouse" by Randy DeVita because to me it seemed like a lamer version of Duel and that Joy Ride movie.

libbydmccarthy's review

I didn't think the first story was that amazing, and I had to abandon the second after too much bad language. I just don't look forward to reading it and after 3 nights of nursing and me decided to read blogs instead, I think I'll put it aside for awhile and try again later.

lindseyloeper's review

4.0

I love short stories and I was looking forward to picking up this book. I don't know if it's because Stephen King is this year's guest editor, or if the world in general is just feeling a little down, but every story in this book is kind of a bummer. Some are sweet and sad, some are funny and sad, some are scary and sad, etc and sad. But all fantastically written! Great contribution from on of my favorite authors, Alice Munro.

cosmiccloudbird's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

teachocolateandbooks's review

2.0

Normally, I love the Best American ____. This was an edition that I had difficulty in getting through most of the stories. I tried to read the stories and normally gave up midway through most of them. Not my favourite by far.