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A review by sharonbakar
The Best American Short Stories 2018 by Heidi Pitlor, Roxane Gay
5.0
4.5 rounded up
Thoroughly enjoyed these stories. Usually there are some stories in these collections that work less well for me than others - but there were no low points here. I really appreciated the ethnic diversity of the writers. Stand out stories for me: Control Negro by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson (which had something very important to say about how circumstances are loaded against people of colour, no matter how hard you might try to overcome them); the disturbing and violent The Brothers Brujo by Matthew Lyons; The Art of Losing by Yoon Choi - a deeply compassionate story about an old man with Altzheimer's told from two viewpoints; Tea Obreht's Items Awaiting Protective Enclosure because of its setting in a future American is dealing with climate change and species extinctions (if there was a story I'd want to have magically morphed into a whole novel while I was reading it, it was this one); Suburbia! by Amy Silverberg for its very clever use of symbolism/magical realism; and an honourable mention to Curtis Sittenfeld's The Prairie Wife for the ending I just didn't see coming (clever!).
Thoroughly enjoyed these stories. Usually there are some stories in these collections that work less well for me than others - but there were no low points here. I really appreciated the ethnic diversity of the writers. Stand out stories for me: Control Negro by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson (which had something very important to say about how circumstances are loaded against people of colour, no matter how hard you might try to overcome them); the disturbing and violent The Brothers Brujo by Matthew Lyons; The Art of Losing by Yoon Choi - a deeply compassionate story about an old man with Altzheimer's told from two viewpoints; Tea Obreht's Items Awaiting Protective Enclosure because of its setting in a future American is dealing with climate change and species extinctions (if there was a story I'd want to have magically morphed into a whole novel while I was reading it, it was this one); Suburbia! by Amy Silverberg for its very clever use of symbolism/magical realism; and an honourable mention to Curtis Sittenfeld's The Prairie Wife for the ending I just didn't see coming (clever!).