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A review by apathyinc
The Best Short Stories 2023: The O. Henry Prize Winners by Lauren Groff, Jenny Minton Quigley
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
As with all short story collections, you'll find that some stick to your ribs better than others. But every story included deserved to be selected, and they are a strange, haunting collection. Each is a wonderful read, and they work together wonderfully.
The one thing i did find strange is that there seemed to be a very distinct motif in the chosen short stories throughout most of the collection, so consistent that i found myself seeking the motif in stories where it wasn't present. I'm not sure if this was intentional, to highlight those stories, or if it was just because they were too good to exclude (and i could definitely make that argument), but the created and unfulfilled expectation tended to be a bit of a red herring or a distraction in a few otherwise fantastic entries. Maybe i would've found it less noticeable if the order of stories had been rearranged, so that i wouldn't have been expecting the motif in every story by the time i got to the stories where it was absent. But this is a small thing, as thematically the collection is still quite coherent
The one thing i did find strange is that there seemed to be a very distinct motif in the chosen short stories throughout most of the collection, so consistent that i found myself seeking the motif in stories where it wasn't present. I'm not sure if this was intentional, to highlight those stories, or if it was just because they were too good to exclude (and i could definitely make that argument), but the created and unfulfilled expectation tended to be a bit of a red herring or a distraction in a few otherwise fantastic entries. Maybe i would've found it less noticeable if the order of stories had been rearranged, so that i wouldn't have been expecting the motif in every story by the time i got to the stories where it was absent. But this is a small thing, as thematically the collection is still quite coherent