The Best American Short Stories 2007 (The Best American Series (TM))

The Best American Short Stories 2007 (The Best American Series (TM)) | High Body Count

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The Best American ...

	The Best American Short Stories 2007 (The Best American Series (TM)) Houghton Mifflin, 2007 - 448 pages average customer review:based on 21 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

In his introduction to this volume, Stephen King writes, "Talent does more than come out; it bursts out, again and again, doing exuberant cartwheels while the band plays 'Stars and Stripes Forever' . . . Talent can't help itself; it roars along in fair weather or foul, not sparing the fireworks. It gets emotional. It struts its stuff. In fact, that's its job."

Wonderfully eclectic, The Best American Short Stories 2007 collects stories by writers of undeniable talent, both newcomers and favorites. These stories examine the turning points in life when we, as children or parents, lovers or friends or colleagues, must break certain rules in order to remain true to ourselves. In T. C. Boyle's heartbreaking "Balto," a thirteen-year-old girl provides devastating courtroom testimony in her father's trial. Aryn Kyle's charming story "Allegiance" shows a young girl caught between her despairing British mother and motherly American father. In "The Bris," Eileen Pollack brilliantly writes of a son struggling to fulfill his filial obligations, even when they require a breach of morality and religion. Kate Walbert's stunning "Do Something" portrays one mother's impassioned and revolutionary refusal to accept her son's death. And in Richard Russo's graceful "Horseman," an English professor comes to understand that plagiarism reveals more about a student than original work can.

New series editor Heidi Pitlor writes, "[Stephen King's] dedication, unflagging hard work, and enthusiasm for excellent writing shone through on nearly a daily basis this past year . . . We agreed, disagreed, and in the end very much concurred on the merit of the twenty stories chosen." The result is a vibrant assortment of stories and voices brimming with attitude, deep wisdom, and rare compassion.

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the best

Over the years, we have given each edition of this book to our daughter who is a teacher. She remarked that this edition is the best one of all. I then purchased it for my husband who is very positive in his comments regarding the book. Both claim that Stephen King shines as the editor.

High Body Count

It's dangerous to be a character in this collection. If you're not committing suicide or getting murdered you're liable to have cancer or other terminal illness. Even after you're dead your body gets shifted around, which is what happens in five of the 20 stories, perhaps reflecting that Stephen King is one of the editors. Science fiction is, as usual in this series, under-represented. Bruce McAllister's "The Boy in Zaquitos" is the only one from a science fiction magazine. None of the talents is completely new. I own books by seven of the contributors (Auchinloss, Barth, Beattie, T whatsisname Boyle, Mary Gordon, Alice Munro and Richard Russo).
Two of the stories (Russo's "Balto" and Kyle's "Allegiance") are about children caught in the tension between warring parents. Perhaps you could include Munro's "Dimension" in that category; it's the grisly ultimate in using the kids as a weapon in a marital dispute. There was very little humor, except perhaps for satirical overtones in Auchinloss's "Pa's Darling," Barth's "Toga Party," Epstein's "My Brother Eli"and Karen Russel's brilliantly original "St.Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, " and the oysterism of "The Bris."

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What a wonderful book!

The best book I have read in a long time. All of the stories stay with you after you read them and make you think about them and what they had to tell. With some of them I didn't like the style they were written in but that is why it is a collection, it cannot cater to everybodies tastes. With others I was so taken away that I am trying to find more from their authors and also trying to learn more about who the authors are. I am not going to tell you which are my favourite ones because you have to find out for yourself and your taste may be different from mine.
I am a German and came across this book by chance in a bookstore on my recent trip to the US. I have never heard of the book before nor had I heard about the series. This book will stay with me for a long time. What more could the editors have wanted to achieve? Big Thanks to Heidi Pitlor and Steven King, they did a wonderful job.

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The American Short Story Lives?

What I thought I would get with this edition of The Best American Short Stories, guest edited by Stephen King, was a look into the stories that inspire Mr. King. In the introduction he claims, "There isn't a single one in this book that didn't delight me, that didn't make me want to crow 'Oh man, you gotta read this!' to someone." While there were some very good stories in here, there were also some that made me shrug and wonder how many pages remained to the next story.

In his introduction, Mr. King does talk about the declining readership and dwindling markets for short fiction. I believe the short story's days are numbered and well not quite as pessimistic he does talk about how hard it is to find short story magazines in bookstores and how difficult it is to get motivated to write for a dwindling audience and how many stories out there seem to be designed to be in the mold of previously published stories rather than are excited page-turners. He's right - the market is incestuous enough that the readers are the writers who want to be read - by other writers.

There were some highlights in the volume -

My Brother Eli by Joseph Epstein - Eli was a famous writer, a self-centered wrecking ball who destroyed lives. His older brother recounts Eli's life and contemplates the question, do artists have special license for bad behavior.

L. DeBard and Aliette: A Love Story by Lauren Groff - this story was truly beautiful. A polio victim falls in love with her swimming instructor, a former Olympic medalist. It's set among the class disparity and political turmoil of 1918.

Wait by Roy Kesey - this is a fantastical story of the terrors of humanity brought to the microcosm of a group waiting for a much delayed plane flight out of a war-torn country. The satire makes it fun.

The Boy in Zaquitos by Bruce McAllister - my favorite story of the book and not surprisingly it was originally published in the Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy. This story is told about a boy who was used by the government to spread a deadly disease through other countries.

Sans Farine by Jim Shepard - A crushingly emotional story about the man who was the executioner during the French Revolution. The ending wasn't a surprise but the journey was wrenching nonetheless.

Most people's favorite seems to be T.C. Boyle's Balto. It's a very good story but seemed mechanical to me.

Here's the table of contents:

Introduction by Stephen King
Louis Auchincloss - Pa's Darling
John Barth - Toga Party
Ann Beattie - Solid Wood
T.C. Boyle - Balto
Randy DeVita - Riding the Doghouse
Joseph Epstein - My Brother Eli
William Gay - Where Will You Go When Your Skin Cannot Contain You?
Mary Gordon - Eleanor's Music
Lauren Groff - L. DeBard and Aliette: A Love Story
Beverly Jensen - Wake
Roy Kesey - Wait
Stellar Kim - Findings & Impressions
Aryn Kyle - Allegiance
Bruce McAllister - The Boy in Zaquitos
Alice Munro - Dimension
Eileen Pollack - The Bris
Karen Russell - St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves
Richard Russo - Horseman
Jim Shepard - Sans Farine
Kate Walbert - Do Something

- CV Rick, July 2008

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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