Reviews

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

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.

joanneadams54's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Great collection of short stories

thenovelnikki's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

3.25

Some standout 5 star stories, a few 4 stars, but as an aggregate, this is a 3 star read for me

birdsnest's review

medium-paced

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

3.75

cosmiccloudbird's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

abbyreads8's review

5.0

"The Best American" Series release time is always the bookish highlight of my year, and this year's The Best American Short Stories was no exception. This collection of stories was well-rounded and diverse, exploring a range of topics and themes. There are several that I find myself thinking about again and again.

Thanks to Mariner Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

mohginreads's review

4.0

⭐️ finished: 12/4/22
⭐️ rating: 7/10
⭐️ takeaway: While I enjoy short stories, I don’t usually seek them out on my own. I picked this collection up because it’s edited by Andrew Sean Greer, author of Less and Less is Lost, both of which I enjoyed very much for their wit as much as for their reflections on writing. Here were my favorites out of the collection of 20:
Detective Dog (Gish Jen)
Bears Among the Living (Kevin Moffett)
The Beyoğlu Municipality Waste Management Orchestra (Kenan Orhan)
Ten Year Affair (Erin Somers)
The Sins of Others (Héctor Tobar)
Foster (Bryan Washington)

mandareads1690's review against another edition

adventurous reflective 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

3.5

austinburns's review

3.25

less outright gems in this than other anthologies of 2022, but “Ten Year Affair” is an absolute banger

rebonky's review

emotional funny reflective medium-paced