Reviews

The Best American Short Stories 2022 by Heidi Pitlor, Andrew Sean Greer

bentohbox's review

5.0

As always, a mix of stories have a mix of qualities. But goddamn are some of these incredible. The many highlights I have attest to that, and the various ways short stories never fail to wring out your heart in a few pages.

samantha_shain's review

4.0

I would say this volume was uneven, but overall, wise and thought provoking. The standout stories for me were:
- The Wind (Lauren Groff) (brilliant use of tense, generations, insight, cw: physical abuse)
- Post (Emily McDermott) (chilling, caring, true to the times, haven't stopped thinking abt it; cw: COVID)
- The Meeting (Alix Ohlin) (brilliant twist, brilliant writing)
- The Beyoglu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra (Kenan Orhan) (satire at its best, cultural commentary, funny and unexpected)

Some stories were timeless, which struck me as an interesting choice. Is that what we want from short stories in 2022? or do we want them to somehow reflect the time we are in?

Either way, I always enjoy reading these volumes and exposing myself to writers and formats that I would otherwise miss. Bravo!

gsanta1's review

2.0

I read:
A Ravishing Sun by Leslie Blanco
The Little Widow from the Capital by Yohanca Delgado
Man of the House by Kim Coleman Foote
The Wind by Lauren Groff
The Hollow by Greg Jackson
Detective Dog by Gish Jen

I enjoyed Delgado story mostly because it was told mostly through cruel gossip and I worried about women afterwards.

I read something similar to the Groff story every week. it had the most amount of tension and terror.

None of the writing stood out to me.

All the stories I read were about a traumatic event, and maybe I’m tired of those stories at the moment.

youthwithouthumor's review against another edition

4.0

Good stories, but none that jumped out at me as “important” or “memorable.”

makeshiftplant's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

sktxaryaw's review against another edition

reflective fast-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

3.0

anthonyk's review

emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

1.0

I think the best ones were the stories that didn't make the cut tbh

favs: man of the house, the wind, foster

amywoolsey_93's review

mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.25

Leslie Blanco's "A Ravishing Sun" floored me with its vivid imagery and graceful movement through time. Otherwise, I found the collection somewhat monotonous, with slight peaks (Greg Jackson's "The Hollow," Karen Russell's "The Ghost Birds," Sanjena Sathian's "Mr. Ashok's Monument") and dips in quality but no real surprises.

elisendemeter's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

logdog42's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

This is my first collection of short stories that I've read; So, either think either one of two things happened here.  Either:
  1. I don't like short stories, and this was a total miss for me. 
  2. Me and Andrew have entirely different tastes in books, and these are not what I would consider to be "the best" short stories.

No matter which way it was, I did not enjoy this reading experience.