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A review by lizshine74
The O. Henry Prize Stories 2017 by Laura Furman
4.0
I picked up this book because I am spending my summer working on a collection of short stories. I read somewhere that a good way to start targeting markets for short stories is to pick up this anthology and the Pushcart anthology and copy all the publications in the contributor list.
I did that, but I also wanted to read all the stories here and in the Pushcart book to see what seems to be admired in short fiction now, to enjoy some short reads, and to just see what kind of range I might find.
For sure some stories I liked best, but there wasn't a single story that I didn't appreciate. Some stories were really well written stories but left me with a sense that they were really well written stories. When reading them I never lost sense of the writer's hand at work trying to make meaning. I enjoyed most the stories, the moments within stories, where I lost track of the writer all together and just felt something for the characters and their situations. I do love clever stories, but to really get me a story has to be more than clever. This is a terrifying discovery for me at the moment because it is shining some light on some of my own weak points.
Top three stories IMO: To Good To Be True, Blue Dot, Paddle to Canada.
I enjoyed reading the section at the back from the both the readers who picked their favorites form the collection and the writers commenting on their work.
I did that, but I also wanted to read all the stories here and in the Pushcart book to see what seems to be admired in short fiction now, to enjoy some short reads, and to just see what kind of range I might find.
For sure some stories I liked best, but there wasn't a single story that I didn't appreciate. Some stories were really well written stories but left me with a sense that they were really well written stories. When reading them I never lost sense of the writer's hand at work trying to make meaning. I enjoyed most the stories, the moments within stories, where I lost track of the writer all together and just felt something for the characters and their situations. I do love clever stories, but to really get me a story has to be more than clever. This is a terrifying discovery for me at the moment because it is shining some light on some of my own weak points.
Top three stories IMO: To Good To Be True, Blue Dot, Paddle to Canada.
I enjoyed reading the section at the back from the both the readers who picked their favorites form the collection and the writers commenting on their work.