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A review by radwaashraf
The Best Short Stories 2023: The O. Henry Prize Winners by Lauren Groff, Jenny Minton Quigley
3.0
wasn't really the best collection.
#1- Office Hours by Ling Ma: I'm not sure what this story is supposed to mean. It started as a normal contemporary story about film student and her professor and their tight relationship, but then it takes a magical realism/dark twist and I feel like I didn't truly understand the point of that end. like it was a nod to the films she discussed in the story maybe?
#2- Man Mountain by Catherine Lacey: uhh, what? man mountain is an actual mountain of adult men and we follow a woman who is trying to climb it? I know there has to be seome deeper meaningful message, but I didn't get.
3- Me, Rory and Aurora by Jonas Eika: uhhh, weird/kinky family/lovers dynamic isn't my thing. but that wasn't even the weirdest thing about this story, which felt like a dream caused by drugs, a bad dream.
#4- The Complete by Gabriel Smith: expermental snippets of someone's life or maybe the novel he's writing? Im not sure. but it wasn't funny or deep as it hoped to be
*+#5- The Haunting of Hajji Hotak by Jamil Jan Kochai: Finally, a story I like. We're witnessing the lives of an afghan family in the US through the eyes of the spy spying on them and witnessing their lives like he's watching a tv show. very interesting
#6- Wisconsin by Lisa Taddeo: messed up and realistic characters.
7- Ira & the Whale by Rachel B Glaser: felt so surrealist. a bunch of men stuck inside a whale and what they actually think about when they're facing death
8- The Commander's Teeth by Naomi Shuyama Gomez: The writing style wasn't to my taste. about dentists working in rural areas and they encounter a military commander who comes for a checkup
9- The Mad People of Paris by Rodrigo Blanco Calderon: about mad people in paris at the metro and all of their conspiracy theories. is the protagonist just an observer or one of those mad people? the line is blurred. it was interesting, but all the political talk lost me a bit
*10- Snake & Submarine by Shelby Kinney Lang: a devastating story about a man going through the suffering of women from cancer, some he knows and another he's writing about.
11- The Mother by Jacob M'hango: felt like a folktale, but it was as if it was missing something
*+#12- The Hollow by 'Pemi Aguda: a masterpiece. about the meaning of a house and a home. about the struggle of women to find a safe place for them to be.
*+#13- Dream Man by Cristina Rivera Garza: I liked how I was puzzled by this story. is it all a man's or a woman's dream? did a man meet a siren that caused his insanity? are these just hallucinations? you don't know, you just enjoy the ride
*+#14- The Locksmith by Grey Wolfe Lajoie: I liked the eerines imposed by other on the locksmith, while he's just a human being trying to navigate life despite his difficulties. i would've loved it if the story was a bit longer
15- After Hours at the Acacia Park Pool by Kristin Valdez Quade: a story about kids and teenagers and navigating life and having different feelings for the first time and all the wrong choices and decisions teenagers make.
16- Happy is a Doing Word by Arinze Ifeakandu: a sad story set in nigeria, wehre we follow a boy growing into a young man and the struggles he goes through
17- Elision by David Ryan: interesting concept of a woman going through an event in her life that changes the way she views her choice and her husband and deciding how to move forward
*+#18- Xifu by K-Ming Chang: I was both horrified and mesmerized by this story's mc while she talked about the relationship between mothers and daughters, folk myths, and mothers in law who are annoying. I defintely want to read more from her!
19- Temporary Housing by Kathleen Alcott: interesting look at an individual, looking back at her life and how it affected her present. just nothing new to me
20- The Blackhills by Eamon McGuinness: the writing style really wasn't to my taste
#1- Office Hours by Ling Ma: I'm not sure what this story is supposed to mean. It started as a normal contemporary story about film student and her professor and their tight relationship, but then it takes a magical realism/dark twist and I feel like I didn't truly understand the point of that end. like it was a nod to the films she discussed in the story maybe?
#2- Man Mountain by Catherine Lacey: uhh, what? man mountain is an actual mountain of adult men and we follow a woman who is trying to climb it? I know there has to be seome deeper meaningful message, but I didn't get.
3- Me, Rory and Aurora by Jonas Eika: uhhh, weird/kinky family/lovers dynamic isn't my thing. but that wasn't even the weirdest thing about this story, which felt like a dream caused by drugs, a bad dream.
#4- The Complete by Gabriel Smith: expermental snippets of someone's life or maybe the novel he's writing? Im not sure. but it wasn't funny or deep as it hoped to be
*+#5- The Haunting of Hajji Hotak by Jamil Jan Kochai: Finally, a story I like. We're witnessing the lives of an afghan family in the US through the eyes of the spy spying on them and witnessing their lives like he's watching a tv show. very interesting
#6- Wisconsin by Lisa Taddeo: messed up and realistic characters.
7- Ira & the Whale by Rachel B Glaser: felt so surrealist. a bunch of men stuck inside a whale and what they actually think about when they're facing death
8- The Commander's Teeth by Naomi Shuyama Gomez: The writing style wasn't to my taste. about dentists working in rural areas and they encounter a military commander who comes for a checkup
9- The Mad People of Paris by Rodrigo Blanco Calderon: about mad people in paris at the metro and all of their conspiracy theories. is the protagonist just an observer or one of those mad people? the line is blurred. it was interesting, but all the political talk lost me a bit
*10- Snake & Submarine by Shelby Kinney Lang: a devastating story about a man going through the suffering of women from cancer, some he knows and another he's writing about.
11- The Mother by Jacob M'hango: felt like a folktale, but it was as if it was missing something
*+#12- The Hollow by 'Pemi Aguda: a masterpiece. about the meaning of a house and a home. about the struggle of women to find a safe place for them to be.
*+#13- Dream Man by Cristina Rivera Garza: I liked how I was puzzled by this story. is it all a man's or a woman's dream? did a man meet a siren that caused his insanity? are these just hallucinations? you don't know, you just enjoy the ride
*+#14- The Locksmith by Grey Wolfe Lajoie: I liked the eerines imposed by other on the locksmith, while he's just a human being trying to navigate life despite his difficulties. i would've loved it if the story was a bit longer
15- After Hours at the Acacia Park Pool by Kristin Valdez Quade: a story about kids and teenagers and navigating life and having different feelings for the first time and all the wrong choices and decisions teenagers make.
16- Happy is a Doing Word by Arinze Ifeakandu: a sad story set in nigeria, wehre we follow a boy growing into a young man and the struggles he goes through
17- Elision by David Ryan: interesting concept of a woman going through an event in her life that changes the way she views her choice and her husband and deciding how to move forward
*+#18- Xifu by K-Ming Chang: I was both horrified and mesmerized by this story's mc while she talked about the relationship between mothers and daughters, folk myths, and mothers in law who are annoying. I defintely want to read more from her!
19- Temporary Housing by Kathleen Alcott: interesting look at an individual, looking back at her life and how it affected her present. just nothing new to me
20- The Blackhills by Eamon McGuinness: the writing style really wasn't to my taste