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cedickie's review against another edition
2.0
I'm giving this two stars not because all the stories are bad, but because the collection as a whole is disappointing. I've read through a couple PEN/O.Henry Prize Stories books in the past and been impressed with its creative selection of stories. Sure there would be some stories I didn't care for as much, but I appreciated them for making the rest stand out all the more. Here, most of the stories have a similar feel and are mostly unmemorable. The stories I enjoyed the most were those that conveyed that sense the best or maybe deviated from it a bit.
My favorites/the stories I'll probably remember tomorrow: "Rothko Eggs" by Keith Ridgway, "Kindness" by Yiyun Li, "The First Wife" by Christine Sneed," "The Deep" by Anthony Doerr, "Corrie" by Alice Munro, and "East of the West" by Miroslav Penkov.
My favorites/the stories I'll probably remember tomorrow: "Rothko Eggs" by Keith Ridgway, "Kindness" by Yiyun Li, "The First Wife" by Christine Sneed," "The Deep" by Anthony Doerr, "Corrie" by Alice Munro, and "East of the West" by Miroslav Penkov.
rocketiza's review against another edition
2.0
About 16/20 stories here are well written but so devoid of a voice or emotion they could have been by the same person despite the contributor being of very different races, religions and sexes.The editors seemed to greatly admire form over style, and despise imagination. Thankfully, a couple late entries that felt completely out of place from the rest of the works came the rescue from a one star review in the end, but I am no longer taking the PEN/O. Henry Prize as a positive endorsement of literature after reading this.
klaws500's review against another edition
3.0
This was just an ok collection. I really enjoyed the Alice Munro, Corrie. I also liked Rothko Eggs and East of the West. I hated The Woman Who Lived in the House. Most of the rest were just sort of middling.
dorhastings's review against another edition
4.0
I don't read a lot of short story collections normally, but I sort of feel like I should. My colleague had this book in our office, and it's technically a library book that is seriously overdue. Anyway, it's good for me to read short stories so that I can recommend them to our speech & debate students as possible prose pieces. And outside of work, it's pleasant to be able to read a whole story in one sitting.
I'm unfamiliar with this publication in general, so I can't speak to how this particular volume compares to others, as some other reviewers have said. I can say that I found the first few stories... not exactly hard to get through, but certainly less inspiring for the entire volume. That's probably my own preference. There is a good variety of stories from various perspectives and topics (though family is certainly a consistent theme, and dysfunctional/harmful families at that). It wasn't until I got to the story that two of the three reviewers selected as the favorite (the longest story, Yiyun Li's "Kindness") that the collection as a whole took a turn and got me interested. I read the stories in order, and I'm glad I did so.
In terms of my favorite stories from this collection, I found a kindred spirit in the third reviewer, Ron Rash. He selected three stories as his favorites: Anthony Doerr's "The Deep", Miroslav Penkov's East of the West", and Alice Munro's "Corrie." He eventually settled on "Corrie" as the best of the three, and I see his reasoning. I don't think I can pick a particular favorite out of the the three (and I did like "Kindness"), but I found the writing and characters to be dynamic and engaging.
Actually, I take that back. Two unmentioned stories that really stuck with me: Mark Slouka's "Rothko Eggs", which I didn't particularly get at the end, but i liked fairly consistently throughout (and I liked his inspiration); the other story that had me from beginning to end was Steven Millhauser's "Phantoms" (because I'm a complete sucker for fantasy/ghost inclusion). Wait, but then I also really liked the concept of Jim Shepard's "Boys Town."
All right, clearly I am indecisive of this volume, and that bumps it from 3 stars to 3.5 stars, making it 4 stars. My immediate reaction was a bit eh, but upon reflecting on it, I suppose I see more value. Now I can return the book to our office, and hopefully one day my colleague will return it so others can enjoy it.
I'm unfamiliar with this publication in general, so I can't speak to how this particular volume compares to others, as some other reviewers have said. I can say that I found the first few stories... not exactly hard to get through, but certainly less inspiring for the entire volume. That's probably my own preference. There is a good variety of stories from various perspectives and topics (though family is certainly a consistent theme, and dysfunctional/harmful families at that). It wasn't until I got to the story that two of the three reviewers selected as the favorite (the longest story, Yiyun Li's "Kindness") that the collection as a whole took a turn and got me interested. I read the stories in order, and I'm glad I did so.
In terms of my favorite stories from this collection, I found a kindred spirit in the third reviewer, Ron Rash. He selected three stories as his favorites: Anthony Doerr's "The Deep", Miroslav Penkov's East of the West", and Alice Munro's "Corrie." He eventually settled on "Corrie" as the best of the three, and I see his reasoning. I don't think I can pick a particular favorite out of the the three (and I did like "Kindness"), but I found the writing and characters to be dynamic and engaging.
Actually, I take that back. Two unmentioned stories that really stuck with me: Mark Slouka's "Rothko Eggs", which I didn't particularly get at the end, but i liked fairly consistently throughout (and I liked his inspiration); the other story that had me from beginning to end was Steven Millhauser's "Phantoms" (because I'm a complete sucker for fantasy/ghost inclusion). Wait, but then I also really liked the concept of Jim Shepard's "Boys Town."
All right, clearly I am indecisive of this volume, and that bumps it from 3 stars to 3.5 stars, making it 4 stars. My immediate reaction was a bit eh, but upon reflecting on it, I suppose I see more value. Now I can return the book to our office, and hopefully one day my colleague will return it so others can enjoy it.
doodlertm's review against another edition
3.0
I usually don't read short stories, but this is a superb collection. Especially enjoyed "Kindness" by Yiyun Lee - it's a wonderful story. "A Birth in the Woods" by Kevin Wilson and "Things Said or Done" were also very good ("A Birth in the Woods" was especially chilling). There were a few stories I didn't quite connect with, but overall I highly recommend this collection. Wouldn't read the entire thing over again, but there are stories I'd love to revisit.
carriealibrarian's review
4.0
I skipped around, reading these out of order, thinking that I'd just skim through the stories that didn't grab me right away. But then they each grabbed me and I realized that the PEN/O. Henry stories are rich collections with diverse stories and writers. Jim Shepard's 'Boys Town', 'The Hare's Mask' by Mark Slouka, 'Kindness' by Yiyun Li and Millhauser's 'Phantoms' each haunt me still in their own ways. I can't wait to go back and read the past O. Henry collections at my library. Awesome short stories that capture the wonder of this written form.
karencarlson's review
4.0
I thought this picked up nicely after a rough start - detailed comments (with possible spoilers) on individual stories posted at A Just Recompense
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