The Best American Short Stories 2004 by Lorrie Moore

The Best American Short Stories 2004 Reviews

• 
  Ronald Wise

  Even though this collection was from only one year of magazine publications, it was, overall, the finest collection of short fiction I have ever read. 2004 must have been a good year for American short fiction, and guest editor Lorrie Moore must share my sense of what makes a short story great.
  
  My favorites in this anthology were: “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” by Sherman Alexie; “Written in Stone" by Catherine Brady; “Screen Writer” by Charles D’Ambrosio; “Breasts” by Stuart Dybek; “Some Other, Better Otto” by Deborah Eisenberg; “Grace” by Paula Fox; “The Tutor” by Neil Freudenberger; “A Rich Man” by Edward P. Jones; “Limestone Diner” by Trudy Lewis; “Intervention” by Jill McCorkle; “Runaway” by Alice Munro; “All Saints Day” by Angela Pneuman; “What Kind of Furniture Would Jesus Pick?” by Annie Proulx; and “Mirror Studies” by Mary Yukari Waters”.
  
• 
  Sophie

  The 2004 anthology is edited by author Lorrie Moore and series editor Katrina Kenison. The forward by Kenison is almost like a short story in itself when she tells about her quest to keep from discarding the tons of publications she gets to select the short stories for this book. She finds a used bookstore in Newbury Street in Boston whose owner agrees to take the publications for a while. Unfortunately, the store closes and she is back to storing boxes and boxes of magazines in her basement.
  Moore is quite excited with the task of selecting twenty of the best stories out of the hundred that Katrina Kenison has chosen. She has published a few collections of her own stories as well as being editor of 100 Years of the Best Short Stories. In her introduction, Moore tells us how much she enjoyed the assignment and also her fondness for Katrina Kenison’s name. And maybe a wish for her job. As I started reading her choices, my hopes are high.
  As with previous editions, I did not love them all and a couple were just too long.
  My favorite was All Saints Day by Angela Pneuman. Grace and Prudence are the daughters of Reverend Yancy Boyd who is considering becoming a minister of First United Methodist in a town in Pennsylvania. The family is temporarily staying at the home of the Moberlys. Since their religion does not celebrate Halloween, they have a pageant on November 1st, All Saints Day where the kids dress up as characters from the Bible. Mrs. Moberly tells the girls they can use whatever they like from a closet. Prudence comes upon a risqué dance outfit and decides she and Grace will be Solome and John the Baptist. Grace will appear to have her head on a platter with ketchup for blood. Salome is the woman who demands John the Baptist’s head. In the meantime, a family is temporarily living in the church’s common rooms. Grace overhears that they have a son who is supposedly possessed and that they are going to do an exorcism on him. She is extremely curious about this. The woman running the pageant put a kibosh on the girl’s costumes. The girls run away and find themselves with the boy Ryan. Prudence proceeds to put on a dance in her costume which makes the kids quite hysterical with laughter. This story made me laugh out loud.
  
• 
  Jerry

  It’s interesting how authors in different collections in this series, reflecting either the year or, more likely, the guest editor, reflect similar stylistic issues. In 2003 (the books are named for the year after most of the stories were written, probably to avoid confusing bookstores) authors have a fear of endings. That final step, meeting the object of their search, is too much for them. And so, just before the final period, a minor character changes their mind and the story ends hanging.
  
  Possibly my favorite story here is John Updike’s The Walk with Elizanne, which turns that on its head, ending with the beginning in an extraordinarily bittersweet finale.
• 
  Mark

  I wish I could say that Best 2004 took so long to read because I was savoring each story, but not so much. Of the twenty stories in the anthology, I would say I liked about half of them. That makes it the most disappointing of these collections that I have read (I’d read five of them before this one).
  
  I like reading stories from newly discovered authors, but the strongest stories this year came from seasoned storywriters – Alice Munro, Annie Proulx, and John Updike. Many of the other stories were instantly forgettable. I think one of the reasons that it took so long to get through the collection was the fact that many stories didn’t make me want to take the book out whenever I could squeeze some reading in. Instead, the book stayed in my briefcase and was only read while I was on the train.
• 
  Ryan

  What a terrific set of stories! A few clunkers in there, of course—there always are—but the overall quality was stratospherically high. Giving a full five to this one: I've read 27 volumes of the BASS series now, and they really don't get much better than this.
  
  My favorites, in order of preference:
  * Deborah Eisenberg - "Some Other, Better Otto"
  * Charles D'Ambrosio - "Screenwriter"
  * Paula Fox - "Grace"
  * Alice Munro - "Runaway"
  * John Updike - "The Walk with Elizanne"
  * Mary Yukari Waters - "Mirror Studies"
  * Thomas McGuane - "Gallatin Canyon"
  * Jill McCorkle - "Intervention"
  * Sherman Alexie - "What You Pawn I Will Redeem"
  * Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum - "Accomplice"
  
  (Yes, that's literally half of the stories in the collection.) And some honorable mentions as well:
  * Angela Pneuman - "All Saints Day"
  * T. Coraghessan Boyle - "Tooth and Claw"
• 
  Bjorn Sorensen

  Loved this, as I do everything in the series. The depth at which issues are addressed and handled is direct, life-affirming and frequently invigorating. The heaviness and seriousness of this particular edition is a little too much, is as if uncertainty and pain were really the main issues lurking beneath every surface. Those of us trying to live full lives know there is so much more.
• 
  Melissa

  Like most short story anthologies, this is a mixed bag. My favorites were the ones by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum, Edward P. Jones, R.T. Smith, Mary Yukari Waters, and John Edgar Wideman.
• 
  Bob Foote

  I love short story collections and this was okay. I liked all of the varied types of writing but a lot of the stories left me wanting more and I was confused.
• 
  Alicia Alibi Bella Proof

  The great selection of stories from the best littering magazines
• 
  Lagobond

  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.
• 
  Donald

  (before reading)Something I recently posted on a writing forum had been compared to an author that shows up in this collection. Naturally, I looked said author up and grabbed the first thing I could get my hands on with a sample of his writing. This should be interesting... (after reading)I'm not mentioning any names after reading this, but I don't see the comparison. After that comparison I like comparisons even less.
  
  Regarding the collection: Eh... The title seems a bit of a misnomer. To clarify—this is a collection of short stories that seems more like a collection of character developments that all wound up being very close to stories. Not all of them, mind you, but a large percentage. Just to stay honest, there are a few good stories here.
  
  If you're looking for a good example of character development, look no further.
• 
  Nana Fredua-Agyeman

  The anthology, of twenty short stories, had both interesting and less interesting stories, some of them almost novella-length.
  
  Intransigently American, there are several of the stories whose appreciation is linked to the appreciation of the American culture and other sub-cultures. It reminded me of what Horace Engdahl, the permanent secretary of the Nobel Prize jury, said in 2008, that "The US is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature...That ignorance is restraining." I'm not a student of literature and so cannot say for certainty that these words are true but reading the stories, this statement crossed my mind.
  
  Read the rest here
  http://freduagyeman.blogspot.com/2012...
• 
  Daniel

  I enjoyed this collection moreso than the collection of essays of the same year. Some of these stories I even enjoyed quite a bit. However, even in this, none of the stories sits with me as I reflect back a month or more to when I read them. Once or twice I tried to take note of the author's name because I liked a piece, but I haven't yet found myself interested enough to seek out new works by any of these writers.
  
  In one or two cases, I found the works to be rather pretentious -- writing more to a style for the age, rather than crafting an interesting story.
  
  This was a good book to have on hand for the occassion when I was looking for a short work that I could read in one sitting, but not one that I will refer to time and again.
  
  My local library will enjoy the donation.
• 
  Erinina Marie

  The Best American Short Stories of 2004 edited by Lorrie Moore
  
  I’d have to say, for the best of 2004, theses weren’t half as interesting as they could have been. It was actually a challenge to keep reading. On the other hand, I read L Magazine’s first Fiction Issue during this time and the three or four stories in there were fabulous. When a book is compiled of stories in multiple magazines over a year long period, one magazine issue shouldn’t entirely trump the book, right? Sad day. I have a feeling that these were the best written short stories of 2004, but the editor should remember that interest is also a factor in the overall ‘best’ qualifier.
• 
  christina

  I am an enthusiast when it comes to the "Best American..." series.
  The problem is at this point I am getting confused as to which I have read or not, they look so close to the same!
  My request? An added little icon in the corner of each cover helping me distinguish, a fuzzy bee or a winter tree even an angry baby face, anything would help!
  I have also started delving into the Essays and Travel Writing collections...
• 
  Robyn

  Stories I especially liked:
  A Rich Man by Edward P. Jones
  Intervention by Jill McCorkle
  Runaway by Alice Munro
  What You Pawn I will Redeem by Sherman Alexie
  Written in Stone by Catherine Brady
  Accomplice by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum
  Screenwriter by Charles D’Ambrosio
  The Tutor by Nell Freudenberger
  
• 
  David

  There are some excellent stories in this collection. Some I like better than others, but all are wonderful reading. Nice way to sample the short stories published in a year. I may have to start picking these up every year.
• 
  Deirdre

  These stories were universally "slice of life" stories without much plot/climax, etc. Many of the stories were pretty depressing, much alcoholism, etc. I enjoy reading as entertainment, so would have liked some mystery or humor in at least a few of the stories in this collection.
• 
  Richard Jespers

  I read about three quarters of the stories before I left the book in the seat pocket in front of me on the Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt (Freudian slip?).
  
  Not as good as I would have expected from editor Lorrie Moore. I didn’t love as many of the stories as I do in her collections.
• 
  Lulu

  This is a great compliation. I am in love with the first story-Sherman Alexi's "What you Pawn, I will Redeem". It's one of the best short stories I've ever read.
• 
  Jonathan

  blech.
  ("Some Other, Better Otto" is actually really good.)
• 
  Martha

  I like short stories and these are always worth reading.