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A review by lagobond
The Best American Short Stories 2004 by Katrina Kenison, Lorrie Moore
2.0
This anthology would have been more aptly named "Stories About Depressed, Lost, and Lonely People." Hell, why not: it's 2020 after all.
What You Pawn I Will Redeem: 5 (moving, poetic, eye-opening)
Tooth and Claw: 1 (horrid, pointless)
Written in Stone: 3.5 (nuanced, thoughtful and thought provoking)
Accomplice: 3.5 (slow start, but inspiring once it gets going)
Screenwriter: 2.5 (depressing, with some tender, lyrical notes)
Breasts: -10 (misogynistic, brutal, ugly)
Some Other, Better Otto: 4 (hard to read, but an incredibly accurate depiction of what depression and ruminative self-doubt feels like)
Grace: 3.5 (similar to Otto)
The Tutor: 1 (pointless mental masturbation)
... and I'm realizing I don't want to read any more of these. I should have stopped after the first story by Sherman Alexie, because that was great... and the rest was just a bunch of stories, nothing I would consider The Best of anything. There were a couple good stories, and a couple truly awful ones, and a bunch of forgettable ones. And to be honest, the awful writers left far more of an impression than the good ones did. Other than "What You Pawn I Will Redeem," there was nothing in this book that I would have regretted not reading. I'm willing to risk missing out on a possible second gem, because I can't make myself slog through more of the mediocre depressing stuff. So I will call this a DNF at page 232.
What You Pawn I Will Redeem: 5 (moving, poetic, eye-opening)
Tooth and Claw: 1 (horrid, pointless)
Written in Stone: 3.5 (nuanced, thoughtful and thought provoking)
Accomplice: 3.5 (slow start, but inspiring once it gets going)
Screenwriter: 2.5 (depressing, with some tender, lyrical notes)
Breasts: -10 (misogynistic, brutal, ugly)
Some Other, Better Otto: 4 (hard to read, but an incredibly accurate depiction of what depression and ruminative self-doubt feels like)
Grace: 3.5 (similar to Otto)
The Tutor: 1 (pointless mental masturbation)
... and I'm realizing I don't want to read any more of these. I should have stopped after the first story by Sherman Alexie, because that was great... and the rest was just a bunch of stories, nothing I would consider The Best of anything. There were a couple good stories, and a couple truly awful ones, and a bunch of forgettable ones. And to be honest, the awful writers left far more of an impression than the good ones did. Other than "What You Pawn I Will Redeem," there was nothing in this book that I would have regretted not reading. I'm willing to risk missing out on a possible second gem, because I can't make myself slog through more of the mediocre depressing stuff. So I will call this a DNF at page 232.