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A review by kambmoore
The Best American Short Stories 2020 by Heidi Pitlor, Curtis Sittenfeld
3.0
3/5 stars
I didn't read every single story, but for the most part I enjoyed the collection. There were quite a few stories that really rubbed me the wrong way - particularly "Enlightenment" by William Pei Shih - but there were a lot of other stories that I really enjoyed.
It also felt like the editor deliberately chose hot-topic stories that would spark conversation, but didn't care to think about the marginalized identities being represented in - more often than not - harmful ways. It's one thing to include stories that show these issues and actually say something about them rather than just stating that they're there, but this anthology does not seek to do so. Each story is incredibly well-crafted, but only for the furthering of the same old story: marginalized people suffer.
I guess my question while reading this was: where are the happy marginalized stories? Then again, though, no one wants to read about marginalized people actually being happy, who am I kidding. *sips tea*
I didn't read every single story, but for the most part I enjoyed the collection. There were quite a few stories that really rubbed me the wrong way - particularly "Enlightenment" by William Pei Shih - but there were a lot of other stories that I really enjoyed.
It also felt like the editor deliberately chose hot-topic stories that would spark conversation, but didn't care to think about the marginalized identities being represented in - more often than not - harmful ways. It's one thing to include stories that show these issues and actually say something about them rather than just stating that they're there, but this anthology does not seek to do so. Each story is incredibly well-crafted, but only for the furthering of the same old story: marginalized people suffer.
I guess my question while reading this was: where are the happy marginalized stories? Then again, though, no one wants to read about marginalized people actually being happy, who am I kidding. *sips tea*