Scan barcode
eranehreads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
☁️🌃👮 The Skylight Room and other stories 👮🌃☁️
Have you read O'Henry works?
Fun fact: You might have read one in your childhood since most of his works are short stories that are both enjoyable with a touch of great humour which will leave you with a great laugh.
American author William Sydney Porter, better known by his pen name O'Henry was a prolific short-story writer. Adept at handling comic and tragic themes, he used to great effect, both sentiment and surprise endings in his stories. Many of these trace the lives of ordinary new Yorkers who yearn for romance, passion and adventure, brilliantly capturing in the process The rhythms of American life at a time when slavery and the Indian Wars were a raw and recent memory. In his first book, he brought to life a colourful cast of characters whose stories unravel against a Honduran setting. This collection, featuring some of O'Henry’s best stories—‘the gift of the Magi’, ‘the last leaf’, ‘the Skylight room’, ‘a municipal report’ and ‘the making of a new Yorker’ - showcases his mastery over the medium and the sheer range of his themes.
What can I as a reader say about 50 different stories among which few were awesome, few were good and rest few were also quite forgettable?
You might ask me- Why Rishabh why are few of them forgettable?
My answer would be indirect as in I might say that yeah some were so boring that mind couldn't catch the vibe of it while hiding the fact that my naive mind might have failed to understand this level of literature.
So keeping this points in mind I would like to share with you some of my naive thoughts like the story pacing, the character development in various stories and few of my favourite stories of this wonderful classic collection of short stories.
The story pacing is quite slow, considering all of these 50 stories are short ones you might think that these stories would be fast paced but would be surprised that O'Henry took all the time to set up these stories and the characters. That's why you might get bored during the initial two three pages of each story because of the dive which the writer makes us to take into the situation of the characters and the social setup of the society. The character development is great, most of the characters get into funny situations which would leave you having a good laugh while few characters suffer a lot leaving you shocked and heartbroken.
So better be prepared for a journey that would both be heartwarming and also heartbreaking 🥹.
Now to talk about few of the stories I loved, my favourite thing to do, hihihahahahaha.
1 The furnished room - Dive into this if you like overthinking and probably like being left bewildered
2 The gift of magi - This one leaves you confused that whether should you be happy or be sad.
3 Conscience in art - Interesting story
4 The caballero's way - Gives you wild west vibes.
5 The last leaf - Leaves you wondering whether it had a happy ending or a sad one
6 Law and order - Hilarious in how people twist laws
7 The last of troubadours - Dive in if you like twists, naah not simple twists I am talking about mind boggling twists.
8 The confessions of a humorist - How small deeds you do just for the sake of leaving impression can alter your life.
9 The tale of a tainted tenner - wonderful story about dollar bills which talked.
10 The Pimienta Pancakes - Bruhh! Read this one, you would either laugh so much that your stomach would ache or you would stay thinking for hours that wth just happened.
11 Friends in San Rosario - an engrossing tale of two friends who holds each other's back
12 Two thanksgiving day gentlemen - What a story! Two men suffering in order to keep a tradition they created alive and later suffering because of the same.
13 While the auto waits - a short and hilarious story
14 The passing of black eagle - nice short read of a man who fakes to be brave.
I WOULD JUST SAY TRY IT, JUST READ ONE SMALL STORY EACH DAY AND I BET EACH OF THESE STORIES WOULD LEAVE AN EVERLASTING IMPRESSION ON YOU!
Have you read O'Henry works?
Fun fact: You might have read one in your childhood since most of his works are short stories that are both enjoyable with a touch of great humour which will leave you with a great laugh.
American author William Sydney Porter, better known by his pen name O'Henry was a prolific short-story writer. Adept at handling comic and tragic themes, he used to great effect, both sentiment and surprise endings in his stories. Many of these trace the lives of ordinary new Yorkers who yearn for romance, passion and adventure, brilliantly capturing in the process The rhythms of American life at a time when slavery and the Indian Wars were a raw and recent memory. In his first book, he brought to life a colourful cast of characters whose stories unravel against a Honduran setting. This collection, featuring some of O'Henry’s best stories—‘the gift of the Magi’, ‘the last leaf’, ‘the Skylight room’, ‘a municipal report’ and ‘the making of a new Yorker’ - showcases his mastery over the medium and the sheer range of his themes.
What can I as a reader say about 50 different stories among which few were awesome, few were good and rest few were also quite forgettable?
You might ask me- Why Rishabh why are few of them forgettable?
My answer would be indirect as in I might say that yeah some were so boring that mind couldn't catch the vibe of it while hiding the fact that my naive mind might have failed to understand this level of literature.
So keeping this points in mind I would like to share with you some of my naive thoughts like the story pacing, the character development in various stories and few of my favourite stories of this wonderful classic collection of short stories.
The story pacing is quite slow, considering all of these 50 stories are short ones you might think that these stories would be fast paced but would be surprised that O'Henry took all the time to set up these stories and the characters. That's why you might get bored during the initial two three pages of each story because of the dive which the writer makes us to take into the situation of the characters and the social setup of the society. The character development is great, most of the characters get into funny situations which would leave you having a good laugh while few characters suffer a lot leaving you shocked and heartbroken.
So better be prepared for a journey that would both be heartwarming and also heartbreaking 🥹.
Now to talk about few of the stories I loved, my favourite thing to do, hihihahahahaha.
1 The furnished room - Dive into this if you like overthinking and probably like being left bewildered
2 The gift of magi - This one leaves you confused that whether should you be happy or be sad.
3 Conscience in art - Interesting story
4 The caballero's way - Gives you wild west vibes.
5 The last leaf - Leaves you wondering whether it had a happy ending or a sad one
6 Law and order - Hilarious in how people twist laws
7 The last of troubadours - Dive in if you like twists, naah not simple twists I am talking about mind boggling twists.
8 The confessions of a humorist - How small deeds you do just for the sake of leaving impression can alter your life.
9 The tale of a tainted tenner - wonderful story about dollar bills which talked.
10 The Pimienta Pancakes - Bruhh! Read this one, you would either laugh so much that your stomach would ache or you would stay thinking for hours that wth just happened.
11 Friends in San Rosario - an engrossing tale of two friends who holds each other's back
12 Two thanksgiving day gentlemen - What a story! Two men suffering in order to keep a tradition they created alive and later suffering because of the same.
13 While the auto waits - a short and hilarious story
14 The passing of black eagle - nice short read of a man who fakes to be brave.
I WOULD JUST SAY TRY IT, JUST READ ONE SMALL STORY EACH DAY AND I BET EACH OF THESE STORIES WOULD LEAVE AN EVERLASTING IMPRESSION ON YOU!
mark_lm's review against another edition
4.0
The stories that I liked least were pretty good and the best ones were very good, and I wouldn't ask more from a collection like this. In keeping with modern times, many of these were depressing. Humor or an uplifting story is rare here.
dil's review against another edition
4.0
The standouts for me were (in the order in which they appear in the book) Crystal Wilkinson's Endangered Species: Case 47401, Alice Jolly's From Far Around They Saw Us Burn, Adachioma Ezeano's Becoming the Baby Girl, Tiphanie Yanique's The Living Sea, Caroline Albertine Minor's Grief Garden, and Jianan Qian's To the Dogs.
crispymerola's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Pretty solid collection - To The Dogs and From Far Around They Saw Us Burn are the big standouts for me. I quite enjoyed Brown Girls, Grief's Garden, and Two Nurses, Smoking as well.
White Noise is trying so hard to be an incisive and timely look at Harvey Weinstein but fails on the details, can't believe the literati got hoodwinked by such an outsider piece.
Really dug the intro where the picking criteria was explored, as well as the q&a section with each of the authors.
On the whole, something about these picks feel overly considered, somehow both cheeky and self-important - awards tend to be that way, in any medium or industry.
White Noise is trying so hard to be an incisive and timely look at Harvey Weinstein but fails on the details, can't believe the literati got hoodwinked by such an outsider piece.
Really dug the intro where the picking criteria was explored, as well as the q&a section with each of the authors.
On the whole, something about these picks feel overly considered, somehow both cheeky and self-important - awards tend to be that way, in any medium or industry.
bribreads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
kayode's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
entwederoda's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
zahramclin's review against another edition
2.0
most of these stories ruined my day. so much antisemitic and pedophilic content. even harvey weinstein fanfiction!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Xenophobia, Cancer, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Antisemitism, Ableism, Terminal illness, and Drug use
reading_rainbow_with_chris's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
“The Best Short Stories 2021: The O. Henry Prize Winners” edited by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
The O. Henry Prize short story anthologies are one of my two reliable annual collections that I go to for some amazing short stories. That is why this particular collection was slightly disappointing. To be clear, there are some excellent works in here and I think Adiche did a remarkable job of capturing a range of diverse voices. But something about the stories collected here didn’t entice me. I was missing the kind of verve in them that motivates me to keep reading. Although I could objectively point out each story being good, I had trouble keeping interest, hence the very long journey to completion. I think ultimately this is not a reflection on the quality of the collection and more a statement that this particular collection didn’t speak to me as much. Standout stories for me included “Endangered Species: Case #74701,” “Becoming the Baby Girl,” “Freedom from Want,” “Fisherman’s Stew,” and “Delandria.”
The O. Henry Prize short story anthologies are one of my two reliable annual collections that I go to for some amazing short stories. That is why this particular collection was slightly disappointing. To be clear, there are some excellent works in here and I think Adiche did a remarkable job of capturing a range of diverse voices. But something about the stories collected here didn’t entice me. I was missing the kind of verve in them that motivates me to keep reading. Although I could objectively point out each story being good, I had trouble keeping interest, hence the very long journey to completion. I think ultimately this is not a reflection on the quality of the collection and more a statement that this particular collection didn’t speak to me as much. Standout stories for me included “Endangered Species: Case #74701,” “Becoming the Baby Girl,” “Freedom from Want,” “Fisherman’s Stew,” and “Delandria.”