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kawai's review against another edition
2.0
I'm a fan of this series, but for some reason this year's anthology really didn't do it for me. A large portion of the stories come from the New Yorker, whose editorial tastes are significantly different than mine; but even those from authors I normally enjoy, and from magazines closer to my tastes, the selections just didn't hum for me.
I found almost all the stories dull and plotless, and while the editors stated in a recent interview that one of the main factors that influenced selection was a sense of 'voice', I didn't see much in the way of unique voice present in this anthology. Eventually, I gave up on the collection as a whole without bothering to finish. Bret Anthony Johnston's story was a standout, and I wish it had been longer and more developed. Otherwise, there wasn't much here I'll be going back to.
I found almost all the stories dull and plotless, and while the editors stated in a recent interview that one of the main factors that influenced selection was a sense of 'voice', I didn't see much in the way of unique voice present in this anthology. Eventually, I gave up on the collection as a whole without bothering to finish. Bret Anthony Johnston's story was a standout, and I wish it had been longer and more developed. Otherwise, there wasn't much here I'll be going back to.
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