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A review by dorhastings
The Pen/O. Henry Prize Stories 2012 by Daniyal Mueenuddin, Ron Rash, Laura Furman, Mary Gaitskill
4.0
I don't read a lot of short story collections normally, but I sort of feel like I should. My colleague had this book in our office, and it's technically a library book that is seriously overdue. Anyway, it's good for me to read short stories so that I can recommend them to our speech & debate students as possible prose pieces. And outside of work, it's pleasant to be able to read a whole story in one sitting.
I'm unfamiliar with this publication in general, so I can't speak to how this particular volume compares to others, as some other reviewers have said. I can say that I found the first few stories... not exactly hard to get through, but certainly less inspiring for the entire volume. That's probably my own preference. There is a good variety of stories from various perspectives and topics (though family is certainly a consistent theme, and dysfunctional/harmful families at that). It wasn't until I got to the story that two of the three reviewers selected as the favorite (the longest story, Yiyun Li's "Kindness") that the collection as a whole took a turn and got me interested. I read the stories in order, and I'm glad I did so.
In terms of my favorite stories from this collection, I found a kindred spirit in the third reviewer, Ron Rash. He selected three stories as his favorites: Anthony Doerr's "The Deep", Miroslav Penkov's East of the West", and Alice Munro's "Corrie." He eventually settled on "Corrie" as the best of the three, and I see his reasoning. I don't think I can pick a particular favorite out of the the three (and I did like "Kindness"), but I found the writing and characters to be dynamic and engaging.
Actually, I take that back. Two unmentioned stories that really stuck with me: Mark Slouka's "Rothko Eggs", which I didn't particularly get at the end, but i liked fairly consistently throughout (and I liked his inspiration); the other story that had me from beginning to end was Steven Millhauser's "Phantoms" (because I'm a complete sucker for fantasy/ghost inclusion). Wait, but then I also really liked the concept of Jim Shepard's "Boys Town."
All right, clearly I am indecisive of this volume, and that bumps it from 3 stars to 3.5 stars, making it 4 stars. My immediate reaction was a bit eh, but upon reflecting on it, I suppose I see more value. Now I can return the book to our office, and hopefully one day my colleague will return it so others can enjoy it.
I'm unfamiliar with this publication in general, so I can't speak to how this particular volume compares to others, as some other reviewers have said. I can say that I found the first few stories... not exactly hard to get through, but certainly less inspiring for the entire volume. That's probably my own preference. There is a good variety of stories from various perspectives and topics (though family is certainly a consistent theme, and dysfunctional/harmful families at that). It wasn't until I got to the story that two of the three reviewers selected as the favorite (the longest story, Yiyun Li's "Kindness") that the collection as a whole took a turn and got me interested. I read the stories in order, and I'm glad I did so.
In terms of my favorite stories from this collection, I found a kindred spirit in the third reviewer, Ron Rash. He selected three stories as his favorites: Anthony Doerr's "The Deep", Miroslav Penkov's East of the West", and Alice Munro's "Corrie." He eventually settled on "Corrie" as the best of the three, and I see his reasoning. I don't think I can pick a particular favorite out of the the three (and I did like "Kindness"), but I found the writing and characters to be dynamic and engaging.
Actually, I take that back. Two unmentioned stories that really stuck with me: Mark Slouka's "Rothko Eggs", which I didn't particularly get at the end, but i liked fairly consistently throughout (and I liked his inspiration); the other story that had me from beginning to end was Steven Millhauser's "Phantoms" (because I'm a complete sucker for fantasy/ghost inclusion). Wait, but then I also really liked the concept of Jim Shepard's "Boys Town."
All right, clearly I am indecisive of this volume, and that bumps it from 3 stars to 3.5 stars, making it 4 stars. My immediate reaction was a bit eh, but upon reflecting on it, I suppose I see more value. Now I can return the book to our office, and hopefully one day my colleague will return it so others can enjoy it.