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eileen_critchley's review against another edition
4.0
It's always hard to give a star rating to a book like this because there is so much variety. Some I liked more than others, but I enjoyed most of these stories. My personal favorites were Queen Elizabeth and The Stamp Collector.
ethancramer's review against another edition
4.0
Favorites:
- Stop 'n' Go, Michael Parker, New England Review
- Deaf and Blind, Lara Vapnyar, The New Yorker
- Queen Elizabeth, Brad Felver, One Story
- The Earth, Thy Great Exchequer, Ready Lies, Jo Lloyd, Zoetrope
- Stop 'n' Go, Michael Parker, New England Review
- Deaf and Blind, Lara Vapnyar, The New Yorker
- Queen Elizabeth, Brad Felver, One Story
- The Earth, Thy Great Exchequer, Ready Lies, Jo Lloyd, Zoetrope
toryhallelujah's review against another edition
2.0
"The Tomb of Wrestling," Jo Ann Beard: 5 stars. Scarily gorgeous, perfectly wrought. First sentence: "She struck her attacker in the head with a shovel, a small one that she normally kept in the trunk of her car for moving things off the highway."
"Past Perfect Continuous," Dounia Choukri. Loved this: "'Stars are the perfect landmarks,' she said. 'They never change, but every time we look at them, we see them with different eyes. We can measure the distances we've traveled inside ourselves. Isn't that wonderful?'"
"Queen Elizabeth," Brad Felver: Overstory-esque; melancholy; beautiful. 4 stars.
Just about everything else, sadly, was unremarkable to me.
"Past Perfect Continuous," Dounia Choukri. Loved this: "'Stars are the perfect landmarks,' she said. 'They never change, but every time we look at them, we see them with different eyes. We can measure the distances we've traveled inside ourselves. Isn't that wonderful?'"
"Queen Elizabeth," Brad Felver: Overstory-esque; melancholy; beautiful. 4 stars.
Just about everything else, sadly, was unremarkable to me.
pearseanderson's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
A good collection, some mixed stories I decided not to finish or didn't feel like I had to, but a fun collection of early-career authors. Queen Elizabeth is a gemstone here, my first favorite story of the year.
reading_rainbow_with_chris's review against another edition
4.0
“The O. Henry Prize Stories, 2018” edited by Laura Furman
I love reading short story collections and every so often I like to pick up an anthology to get a wide range of authors, narratives, and styles. The O. Henry Prize Stories is one of my favorite anthology series for writing in general and 2018 was a really solid year. All of the stories I found good to excellent, but “The Tomb of Wrestling,” “Counterblast,” “Lucky Dragon,” and “Queen Elizabeth” were particular standouts. I did feel like there was a lull in the middle of the collection, with most of the strongest stories at the front end, but the last 4 stories were a solid conclusion.
Overall a good read. Not the best collection ever, but still chock full of great entries.
I love reading short story collections and every so often I like to pick up an anthology to get a wide range of authors, narratives, and styles. The O. Henry Prize Stories is one of my favorite anthology series for writing in general and 2018 was a really solid year. All of the stories I found good to excellent, but “The Tomb of Wrestling,” “Counterblast,” “Lucky Dragon,” and “Queen Elizabeth” were particular standouts. I did feel like there was a lull in the middle of the collection, with most of the strongest stories at the front end, but the last 4 stories were a solid conclusion.
Overall a good read. Not the best collection ever, but still chock full of great entries.
jbracken's review against another edition
5.0
Ahh such a good collection!! Lucky Dragon, Deaf and Blind, and Why Were They Throwing Bricks? were magnificent. Also worth mentioning: The Tomb of Wrestling, How We Eat, and We Keep Them Anyway.
balancinghistorybooks's review
2.0
Ordinarily, I love varied short story collections like this, where I have the ability to discover new authors, and read incredibly different tales. Sadly, however, I found these stories to be largely disappointing. I read the first few pages of each, and not a single one grabbed me. Not at all what I expected, if I'm honest.
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