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The acclaimed author presents an anthology of “confrontational and at times confounding . . . stories to get lost in” by Colum McCann, Victor Lodato and others (Kirkus Reviews).
 
In his introduction to this one hundredth volume of the beloved Best American Short Stories, guest editor T. C. Boyle writes, “The Model T gave way to the Model A and to the Ferrari and the Prius . . . modernism to postmodernism and post-postmodernism. We advance. We progress. We move on. But we are part of a tradition.”
 
Boyle’s choices of stories reflect a vibrant range of characters, from a numb wife who feels alive only in the presence of violence to a new widower coming to terms with his sudden freedom, from a missing child to a champion speedboat racer. These stories will grab hold and surprise, which according to Boyle is “what the best fiction offers, and there was no shortage of such in this year’s selections.”
 
The Best American Short Stories 2011 includes entries by Denis Johnson, Louise Erdrich, Elizabeth McCracken, Aria Beth Sloss, Thomas McGuane, and others.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00QPHX2CU
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (October 6, 2015)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 6, 2015
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 4365 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 418 pages
Reviewer: Kenny A. Chaffin
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Outstanding edition this year! Well done Mr. Boyle!
Review: I've been reading this series, this annual collection for years and this edition is outstanding. T.C. Boyle has selected a wonderful set of stories. Normally I find only a handful of outstanding stories each year but this time at least half the selections are outstanding for me. Some of course are available on line from the original publication, but definitely/easily/wonderfully worth the price. My favorites:The Siege at Whale Cay by Meghan Mayhey BergmanMoving on by Diane CookBride by Julia ElliottThe Fugue by Arna Bontemps HemenwayThe Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis JohnsonSh'khol by Colum McCannMadame Lazarus by Maile MeloyNorth by Aria Beth SlossUnsafe at Any Speed by Laura Lee Smithand the final killer story which I would have accused Mr Boyle of ending with on purpose despite the fact they are alphabetical by author:Mr. Voice by Jess WalterMr. Voice and Sh'khol are my top two picks here.Wonderful, wonderful stories!

Reviewer: K. Bunker
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A pretty good entry in the series
Review: As always, this year's Best American Short Stories has a guest editor making the final selection for the contents of the book; a person chosen from the ranks of American writers. This year that job was given to T.C. Boyle, a well-known and prolific author of novels and short stories. I'm no great fan of Boyle; in my experience his writing is simple and entertaining at best and annoyingly simple-minded at worst. As one might expect from that, I felt that none of the stories he selected had any great complexity. Although there were several stories I enjoyed tremendously, there weren't any that I finished with a feeling of mystery; with a sense that I'd have to re-read the story and give it a lot of thought to fully appreciate it. But on the other hand there were only a couple of stories I considered absolute stinkers, and overall I thought Boyle did a pretty good job. My mini-reviews of all the stories, with 1-to-5 star ratings, follow:*** "The Siege at Whale Cay" by Megan Mayhew Bergman is a story I found quite enjoyable and interesting. For much of its length it seems to be only frothy, colorful fun, but as it progresses it becomes darker and more interesting.** "Fingerprints" by Justin Bigos is a somewhat experimental piece, comprised of a series of connected mini-stories of one to three paragraphs each. It's an interesting work, but I found the deliberate disjointedness an obstacle to getting into it.*** "Happy Endings" by Kevin Canty tells of a middle-aged man's first visits to a massage parlor (hence the title), and the transformative effects this has on him. I found the story sweet and skillfully done. I'm not sure whether to mark it up or down for pinching its closing sentence from the Raymond Carver story "Fat", which is one of my favorite story-endings ever.** "Moving on" by Diane Cook takes place in an imagined reality where the rules around remarrying after the death of a spouse are very different from our world. I'm a big fan of fiction with elements of fantasy, but this one didn't work for me. I felt that Cook was trying to make some comment on how people are expected to "move on" after the loss of a loved one, but no intelligible point or comment jelled out of her story.* "Bride" by Julia Elliott was the first story in the book that I actively disliked. In a medieval era convent, the playful friendship of two nuns is contrasted with grotesque descriptions of punishments, self-punishments, and paleo-Christian anti-woman tirades. The contrast is unsubtle to put it mildly, and the story's energetic striving for a gross-out effect felt forced and artificial.* "The Big Cat" by Louise Erdrich is a story about a man whose wife snores, and I really don't think the piece is much deeper or more interesting than that synopsis suggests. It's nicely written, and it makes a half-hearted swipe at some depth and significance at the end, but without any success, in my opinion.*** "You'll Apologize If You Have To" by Ben Fowlkes follows a professional Mixed Martial Arts fighter after he loses a match. In keeping with a common theme of this book, I thought the writing was skillful enough, but the story felt somewhat aimless.*** "The Fugue" by Arna Bontemps Hemenway is a story of a serviceman in the Iraq war, the narrative hopping to various times before, after, and during his deployment. Overall I liked and respected this story, and I give it props for not being a blandly straightforward "PTSD memoir" piece, but I also thought its effectiveness was reduced by its hazy and disconnected tone.* "The Largesse of the Sea Maiden" by Denis Johnson was another story I didn't care for at all. It's a series of connected brief scenes, all of them sprinkled with twists of irony and bits of sophomoric pseudo-profundity that are unlikely to impress anyone older than, well, a sophomore. A high school sophomore.**** "M & L" by Sarah Kokernot was a welcome up-tick in quality. It's a beautifully written piece that, with grace, cleverness, and impeccable style gradually reveals its characters -- in particular a couple who have a dark event in their past and tangled and convoluted feelings in their present.*** "Jack, July" by Victor Lodato is an incredibly bleak story of an addled meth addict traumatized by a terrible event in his youth. This one was far too dark for my squeamish tastes, but it's undeniably a moving, sincere, and powerfully written story.***** "Sh'khol" by Colum McCann: At the midpoint of this book, we finally come to a work of true artistry. With every paragraph and sentence in this story about a single mother of an adopted and mentally disabled boy, McCann's writing is boldly creative, lyrical, and at times simply heartbreaking. I've read some of McCann's work before, but I see now that I'll have to seek out more.** "Thunderstruck" by Elizabeth McCracken: I had a couple of major complaints with this story of a family in crisis during a visit to Paris. First, the story doesn't really start until 10 pages into its 30-page length. Second, there's often a jarring disconnect when McCracken uses flowery language to describe completely insignificant things and events. The story cries out for some good editing.** "Motherlode" by Thomas McGuane: The plot of this piece about the seedy side of the modern American West kept me reading with some interest, but the protagonist felt hollow and unreal to me. When the story takes a violent turn at the end, he is described as having no emotional reaction whatsoever. Well, neither did I.***** "Madame Lazarus" by Maile Meloy is the second truly wonderful story in the book. The protagonist is an old man who reminisces about the relationships in his life, including a tragic love affair in his youth. The gift of a small dog brings another relationship into his old age. This is a beautifully written piece that quietly and delicately builds to a stunning overall effect. Meloy is another writer I'll have to seek out more of.* "Kavitha and Mustafa" by Shobhaa Rao is a story about a woman's reaction to being held captive by train bandits in India. It's neatly written, but I found parts of the plot farfetched and even silly, and ultimately the story felt disposable.** "About My Aunt" by Joan Silber is about a working-poor single mother with a boyfriend in Rikers. Writing a compelling first-person narrative about a not-too-bright protagonist with a narrow mind and a narrow life is a tough thing to pull off, and I didn't think Silber quite managed it. The fact that the story meanders without getting much of anywhere doesn't help.**** "North" by Aria Beth Sloss is a lovely, poetic piece about a 19th century farm woman whose husband feels compelled to leave her again and again to take part in arctic explorations. This sounds like an odd and unlikely situation, but the way Sloss tells it, it becomes a layered and beautiful examination of conflict between universal human yearnings.*** "Unsafe at Any Speed" by Laura Lee Smith is an enjoyable story about a man having an adventurous, frightening, rebellious mid-life crisis compressed into a single day. It doesn't have any pretensions to high art or great literary complexity, and it doesn't need any. It's just an engaging, fun read.*** "Mr. Voice" by Jess Walter is a sweet and tender piece about a girl's relationship with her mother, her stepfather, and with her own developing beauty, inherited from her mother. Like most of the stories in this anthology, this one doesn't have any great intellectual depth or mystery, but it's sincere and moving.Sticklers might note that my 4-star rating for this book is higher than the mathematical average of my ratings for the individual stories. That's because I give more weight to the few really stellar stories than to the ones that felt like duds to me. The occasional scattered gems in the mix were enough to make me consider the book a fine entry in the series.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The "Best of" series of books are great reading material
Review: The "Best of" series of books are great reading material. I like the convenience of short stories. They allow me to quickly read something while waiting in lines, waiting for appointments, or when I just have a few minutes. And these are contemporary and some of the best!

Reviewer: LittleGreyDog
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: He is a highly talented writer, but I'm not sure I like his stories.
Review: He is a highly talented writer, but I'm not sure I like his stories. There is always somebody suffering and often dying. Downers.

Reviewer: Joan Price
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Brilliant choice of stories
Review: This is an extraordinary anthology. I love ready contemporary short stories, and this is one of the best anthologies I've found. The stories are strong, varied, and deep enough for book club discussion. I admire Boyle's selection skills and the craft of the writers he includes.

Reviewer: M. P. Wallace
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good for reading one at a time or all in a snowy or rainy day.
Review: Good collection, some great stories, some very good all well written and quite varied

Reviewer: Ceceliabird
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good anthology!
Review: This is the best annual from the past several years. Good variety of stories by new and well-known writers. My writer's group reads and discusses a couple of stories each time we meet and we have found a lot to talk about.

Reviewer: Jeena
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Some great stories in this collection.
Review: Some great stories in here, and some I wasn't crazy about. Bought it for a summer class. Book is in great shape, type is easy to read - not tiny, but not the large-size type for people with vision problems.

Reviewer: inaspen
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: As always, first rate

Reviewer: Kotti1
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Die Vielfalt der Themen, die in den Kurzgeschichten, behandelt werden ist hervorragend. Große menschliche Themen sind vertreten, wie auch kleine Facetten des us-amerikanischen Lebens unserer politischen, sozialen, wirtschaftlichen Gegenwart, aber auch skurrile Blitzlichter. Eine tolle Auswahl. Die zusätzlichen Hinweise im Anhang auf weitere Veröffentlichungen, die es nicht in dieses Buch geschafft haben, machen Lust auf mehr. Dies ist jetzt schon das dritte Jahr in Folge, dass ich mir "the best American short stories" kaufe. Jedesmal begeistert, obwohl natürlich auch - rein subjekt - die eine oder andere Story ein Fehlgriff zu sein scheint. Gerne habe ich auch das Vorwort gelesen und empfehle es, um sich mitreißen zu lassen, um sich über den Werdegang dieses Bandes zu informieren und auf die Lekture gut einzustellen.

Reviewer: Jesus Marcalain
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Arrived on time. Good purchase.