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Title: The O. Henry Prize Stories 2003 by LAURA FURMAN ISBN: 1-4000-3131-1 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 09 September, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.83 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A View from Over the Pond
Comment: Certain things are in-built with literary competitions as the O. Henry awards, as with their reception. Since the O. Henry Prize anthologies, like the Best American Stories, aren't available in England I can't make any comments about whether this year's editor is any better or any worse than the editor of a previous year's anthology. I can make a few comments, though, and it's as well to start that I could name a few worthier stories that aren't included here (by George Saunders, by Tobias Wolff, to name only two) to supplant two or three that are.
I'm glad to see that the New Yorker fiction isn't as dominant as I'd imagined it would be. Granted, the New Yorker prints more fiction annually, and publishes the 'big names', but that's hardly to imply great, even wonderful, short fiction isn't being written and published elsewhere. I'm somewhat disappointed, even angered, to see that this is William Trevor's first O. Henry Prize-Winner. Besides being a writer to whom many short story writers owe their craft, he has been quietly writing some of the world's best short fiction before a number of the present contributors even entered their adolescence. As of the late V.S. Pritchett, who was never awarded one. Despite (because of?) being acknowledged as the 20th century's greatest writer of short stories. Though nominally open to short story writers all over the world who have their work accepted in U.S. publications, it's far from unfair to point to the O. Henry award's bias towards American stories in this volume (though I dislike A.S. Byatt's story, as I dislike her ill-advised recent publication 'Raw Material' in the Atlantic Monthly).
My favourites - I do not mistake them for the 'best' - include William Trevor's 'Sacred Statues' (though his story 'Justina's Priest', which appears in his new collection, A Bit on the Side, is better, at least to my mind), as well as the stories by TC Boyle, Alice Munro and Evan S. Connell. I have much back-tracking to do, in regards to this series.
Rating: 4
Summary: For the most part, excellent
Comment: I agree with another reviewer--this collection is like a box of chocolates--you never know what you're going to get. With all short story collections, not everyone is going to like everything in the group, but I did find that for the most part I was pleasantly surprised. By far, the best was "The Shell Collector." This story's form and pacing was reminiscent of other great short stories out there (think McCrae's stories in "The Bark of the Dogwood.") Others worth mentioning are "What Went Wrong"--Tim O'Brien; "The American Embassy"--Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; and "Kissing"--William Kittredge. While this may not be a vintage year for the O. Henry, it certainly is still worth looking into!
Also recommended: McCrae's "Bark of the Dogwood"
Rating: 2
Summary: a new low
Comment: Prize Stories now has a new editor. I never thought I'd miss the old editors, but I do. This year's collection has reached a new low. There are almost no stories within this volume worth reading. Anthony Doerr's "The Shell Collector" is a phenomenal story. The other stories worth reading are by: Robyn Joy Leff, Marjorie Kemper, Tom Johnston, Tim O'Brien, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Other than that, I'd just skip this edition all together.
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Title: The Best American Short Stories 2003 by Walter Mosley ISBN: 0618197338 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 10 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Best American Essays 2003 by Anne Fadiman ISBN: 0618341617 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 10 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Best American Mystery Stories 2003 by Michael Connelly ISBN: 061832965X Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 10 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Pushcart Prize XXVII: Best of the Small Presses, 2003 Edition by Bill Henderson, Pushcart Prize Editors ISBN: 1888889357 Publisher: Pushcart Pr Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 2003 (NEW STORIES FROM THE SOUTH) by Shannon Ravenel, Roy Blount ISBN: 1565123956 Publisher: Algonquin Books Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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