The Best Short Stories 2021: The O. Henry Prize Winners by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Best Short Stories 2021: The O. Henry Prize Winners Reviews

• 
  Monica | readingbythebay

  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⚡️4.5/5. Twenty stand-outs very deserving of the O. Henry Prize, the oldest and most prestigious award for short fiction in America.
  
  It was an honor to receive an advance copy in exchange for my honest review. Many thanks to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Anchor Books, and Netgalley. This collection is available NOW!
  
  Reading this collection is like getting a masterclass in how to write from twenty different experts. Even when I didn’t personally connect with a story, I was so impressed with the CRAFT that was on display. This time around, O. Henry invited a guest editor to choose the stories (the amazing Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - yay!) and considered works in translation (double yay!). Explaining how she chose the pieces, Adichie says: “I look to stories for consolation, the kind of small consolation that one needs to want to wake up every day; as templates for life; for news of how others live; for reminders that life’s mysteries have no keys.” YES. This really resonates with me and I could gush about Adichie for pages and pages.
  
  The stand-outs for me, and the themes that caught my attention, were:
  
  *Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades
  (racism, class, colonialism, immigration, gender — thoughtful, political)
  
  *Endangered Species: Case 47401 by Crystal Wilkinson
  (displacement, racism, black lives matter — powerful)
  
  *Things We Worried About When I Was Ten by David Rabe
  (class, bullying, poverty, anxiety — strong narrative voice)
  
  *Freedom From Want by Joan Silber
  (death and dying, relationships, LGBTQ — emotional)
  
  *White Noise by Emma Cline
  (me too movement, wealth and power, Hollywood — spot on)
  
  *Color and Light by Sally Rooney
  (longing and intimacy, relationships — enigmatic and strong characters)
  
  One caution: I read this collection completely cold, which I often do with fiction. In this case, several of the stories were quite disturbing. Witness, Delandria, Grief’s Garden, and To the Dogs all have pretty graphic, unsettling elements, and in particular, I found From Far Around They Saw Us Burn to be way too much for me and I wish I would have known what it was about so that I could at least brace myself, or perhaps skip it all together. Everyone has different trigger points, and sensitive readers should consider this before reading this collection.
• 
  Cindy C

  Not finished, but thus far my favorite compilation of short stories in a series like this. Likely because Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the editor.
  
  I'm reading one a day v. my usual style of binging stories until I'm finished with the book (not really an ideal way to understand or take in the short story form for me).
  
  I'm trying more intentionally not to frame reading as a competitive, productive game, and books as something to get through so I can say I finished it -- because if I think about it --- the number of books read measures absolutely f'cking nothing meaningful in my endeavor to read. The only thing it does is give my ego a boost on goodreads & serves as bragging rights...But at the detriment to my ability to take in or even understand what I'm reading... Capitalism's idea of productivity above all else is weirdly insidious in our pleasure/leisure activities.
  
  Anywaaays, sometimes w. short story compilations the editor can be disappointing in terms of breadth and diversity of stories, but not here!
  
  In addition reading George Saunder's A Swim in a Pond has helped me unpack and appreciate short stories more, so another reason I'm especially enjoying this collection.
• 
  Nicole Wagner

  Sigh... I hate short stories. I mean, they're addicting. They're a palate cleanser for me between novels when I'm in a rut. But they're terribly depressing. They always try to distill life's deep moments into a pill of sensation, and in avoiding lengthy exposition become stark and abrupt. There are gems here, for sure, but much of the usual as well. My favores in a nutshell:
  
  Things We Worried about When I Was Ten by David Rabe was the most emotionally evocative. It captured the weirdly intense melancholy of childhood--that bitterness of having intellect, but being wholly dependent on someone else. The weight of responsibility is magnified when your world is small, as in childhood, and you can't yet see the big picture. This has some quirky morbid moments that were of interest in an absurd, almost darkly humorous way.
  
  The selecton that I found the most satisfying is The Master's Castle, by Anthony Doerr. It begins a droll tale of toxic, deluded masculine romantic ideation, and deftly becomes a coming of middle-age. It's wholesome in its conclusion. I really, really liked this one, and identified with it when I thought I might not be able to.
  
  The one I Googled feverishly the moment I finished it is From Far Around They Saw Us Burn by Alice Jolly. Dramatic, unknown moments of feminine history are delicious to read about when written as narrative. Bravo.
• 
  Diana Lupu

  The standouts for me were (in the order in which they appear in the book) Crystal Wilkinson's Endangered Species: Case 47401, Alice Jolly's From Far Around They Saw Us Burn, Adachioma Ezeano's Becoming the Baby Girl, Tiphanie Yanique's The Living Sea, Caroline Albertine Minor's Grief Garden, and Jianan Qian's To the Dogs.
• 
  Casi !

  Hard to rate because so many different authors, and thus experiences. Overall though a collection of short stories feels a bit cumbersome for me. Though I loved a few, specially Tiphanie Yanique’s “The Living Sea” and Joan Silber’s “Freedom from Want.” Those were splendid! 5 stars to the first, 4/5 to the latter.
• 
  Brenna

  Short stories - all 7 to 15 pages of them - remind us how the people you meet are far more complicated than you would ever, ever know. ❤️
• 
  Catie Choi

  Standouts: “becoming the baby girl” and “white noise”
  
  Had to stop reading “To the Dogs” bc that was awful and disturbing and I wish I had never read any of it
• 
  ˗ˏˋ kacie ˎˊ˗

  Thanks Anchor Books and Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
  
  How fitting this book is for Short Story September! I've pre-ordered a copy for myself bc it's the kind of book worth revisiting with fresh eyes from time to time. It's so very rare that I look forward to picking up an anthology after i put it down, but this well-curated collection did it for me.
  
  Each story brings something unique to the table, all sensible and thought provoking with the precision and neatness not many short stories actually achieve. This is a book that will make you think more than you expect it to; it challenges some of the subtle and not so subtle intricacies of humanity. The stories vary in their topics, structures and voices; some are more disturbing than the others, some heartbreaking, some uplifting, but all more than well deserved the O. Henry Prize with their award-winning literary craftsmanship, dark humor, and thoughtful reflections of the world within and around us. Even the stories that didn't hit for me are interesting and bold.
  
  My personal standout in the already very strong anthology: Malliga Homes by Sindya Bhanoo, Delandria by Asali Solomon, White Noise by Emma Cline, Color and Light by Sally Rooney, Grief’s Garden by Caroline Albertine Minor
  
  Also would like to share some memorable quotes (sorry i forgot to jot down which story they're from):
  "One where people are too busy driving to enjoy life. Nobody has time to talk, and yet everyone is seeing a therapist."
  
  "What happens to all the one-sided desire in the world? Does it dissipate into the air, or does it flit around from soul to soul, anxious, haunted, looking for a place to land?"
  
  "I don’t have the courage to watch it again, because there you are, and I can’t bear it, and I don’t even want to try."
  
  "The first time he was a teenager, still in school. He thought that his life was just about to start happening then. He thought that he was poised tantalizingly on the brink, and that any day—or even any minute—the waiting would end and the real thing would begin."
• 
  Allison

  ~3.5 average
  
  Brown Girls: 2.5/5
  I don't think I, as the audience, got out of this story what the author intended to convey.
  Two Nurses, Smoking: 4/5
  This is what I would have guessed would be my favorite short story going in. I did love the style.
  Malliga Homes: 5/5
  Endangered Species: Case 47401: 5/5
  The story that has stuck with me the most
  From Far Around They Saw Us Burn: 4.5/5
  These last three stories were my favorite sequence of the collection, and all represent very different aspects of short story writing.
  Things We Worried About When I Was Ten: 3.5/5
  Scissors: 3/5
  Witness: 4/5
  Reading the author's words about their story really added to this experience in particular.
  The Other One: 2.5/5
  Becoming the Baby Girl: 3.5/5
  The Master's Castle: 3/5
  The Living Sea: 3/5
  Freedom From Want: 3.5/5
  Fisherman's Stew: 3/5
  White Noise: 4/5
  Delandria: 4.5/5
  Antediluvian: 2/5
  Grief's Garden: 5/5
  To the Dogs: 1.5/5
  My enjoyment was likely even lower, as this was disturbing to me in a way that made it difficult to read.
  Color and Light: 4/5
• 
  Jennifer Caloyeras

  There is nothing more satisfying than reading a wonderfully written short story and The Best Short. Stories 2021 The O. Henry Prize Winners is chalk full of them. These authors are brave, current and bold including writers such as Daphne Palasi Andreades, David Rabe and Jowhor Ile. As a short fiction writing instructor myself, I learned as much about the craft and possibility when it comes to writing short fiction, as well as rediscovered the humanity involved in reading fiction. Some of these stories took my breath away. These stories speak about our current times as much as they inhabit that timeless space for spectacular writers. I will be returning to these stories again and again to ponder, be in awe and feel. Thank you so Knopf for the advanced review copy.
• 
  Kelly

  I took a long time with this collection (I guess short stories still aren't my favorite) but I did enjoy it. Perhaps to be expected from the pedigree of the Prize, but the writing was all very well done. There were some stories I liked more than others but I wouldn't say any of them were bad. It wasn't a heavy collection either, the tone was more introspective than sad, or even dramatic. Editor Ngozi Adichie says in her opening that many of the stories have a "gorgeous grave grace" and you certainly feel that while reading.
  
  My favorites were:
  Endangered Species: Case 47401
  From Far Around They Watched Us Burn
  Things We Worried About When I Was Ten
  
  Special mention to White Noise and To The Dogs which were unpleasant on purpose and very good at it.
• 
  Janie McRae

  i feel like i can’t give this book five stars because not every short story was my cup of tea (ahem “to the dogs” !!!!) but OH MY GOD some of these pieces just changed the trajectory of my life and the chemical makeup of my brain and i will never be the same they were so good!!!! my favorites were “things we worried about when i was ten” by david rabe, “becoming the baby girl” by adachioma ezeano, and “master’s castle” by anthony doerr. so lovely so wonderful i love short stories!!!!!
• 
  Mark

  The stories that I liked least were pretty good and the best ones were very good, and I wouldn't ask more from a collection like this. In keeping with modern times, many of these were depressing. Humor or an uplifting story is rare here.
• 
  Leslie Goldberg

  I received this book from the Goodreads giveaway. Thank you!
  
  It first caught my eye because the wonderful author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, is the editor. Short stories are usually not my thing… I struggle with the endings and I seem to have a short attention span. It does not make sense but here I am.
  
  There are some very accomplished authors in this series: Anthony Doerr, Emma Cline and Sally Rooney for example. I also discovered new authors (new to me anyway) to keep an eye on like David Means, Crystal Wilkinson and Alice Jolly. There is an admirable diversity of settings and likewise, the stories range from whimsical to heartbreaking. While it is hard to narrow down favorites, Sindya Bhanoo’s Malliga Homes, Alice Jolly’s From Far Around They Saw Us Burn, Tessa Hadley’s The Other One, and Adachioma Ezeano’s Becoming the Baby Girl come to mind. Don’t miss the Q and A at the conclusion of the book. The authors give insight to themselves and their stories.
  
  Kudos to Adiche for her collection and cheers to the authors of these stories.
• 
  Janet

  This collection was uneven, but I was thrilled with four of the stories -
  The Other One by Tessa Hadley
  Antediluvian by Ben Hinshaw
  Delandria by Asali Soloman
  Grief's Garden by Caroline Albertine Minor (translated from Danish)
  
  From the introduction by guest editor Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie:
  "I look to stories for consolation; as templates for life; for news of how others live; for reminders that life's mysteries have no keys. Above all, I look to fiction for a kind of wisdom."
• 
  Mary

  Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
  
  The Best Short Stories collections never fail to disappoint! Featuring twenty stories from O. Henry Prize winners, this year's collection deals deeply with life, love, loss, and the complexities of navigating the modern world.
  
  I'm not sure that I have much to say beyond that I really, really enjoyed this collection. The pieces were all written at an elevated level; none of them wasted time or space, and the characters were rich and round and the stories were beautiful and thought-provoking and heartbreaking. They are stories that you can't just read once. I know I will be thinking about them, and re-reading them, quite often from here on out.
• 
  Valentina Miali

  3.5
• 
  Carter Murphy

  Picked this up on a whim when I couldn’t find the book that I originally went looking for. A great introduction to some amazing writers.
• 
  Pat Pujolas

  The first five stories all rank in the five-star range. And "Endangered Species: Case 47401" by Crystal Wilkinson deserves special acclaim for its tension, poignancy, and timeliness. The rest of the collection is standard fare, a good cross-section of voices and topics. The only story I questioned for inclusion here was the final piece by Sally Rooney; it felt a bit superficial compared to the others. Open to your thoughts on that. Or any of this! Thanks.
• 
  Viviane Papis

  Although I've been an avid short stories reader, It's the first time I read a collection of contemporary stories mainly by newly discovered authors.
  
  It's a tiring task reviewing this collection of such diverse stories filled with different approaches to human suffering and address all their complexity and literary mastery. While some stories replicated the "conventional" style I'm so used to (having read mostly classics), others brought novel formats that intended to capture modernity in racial, gender, and ethnic suffering - and these stories caused me great discomfort, which is always a good thing while dealing with novel literary pieces.
  
  Altogether, this collection depicts the contemporary world in its various facets, some more arduous to read and think about, some more appealing to me. But in its entirety makes us question society and each character's place in it.
  
  Albeit I didn't enjoy the reading experience of all the short stories, I was affected and touched by the emotions put into every page of this book. And for that, I regard Ms. Adichie's editorial work to be on point.
  
  Finally, I highlight The Other One and The Living Sea as my favorite stories that remained with me after I had finished the book.
• 
  Jewyamarie

  Many sad stories.
  
  One very strange one that just left me feeling weird and sort of gross.
  
  Overall, enjoyed.
  
  Had to skip one because WAY too sad. Trigger warning for children, fire, death. Couldn’t handle it.
• 
  Jennifer Anitzberger

  I look forward to the yearly editions of the O. Henry Prize Best American Short Stories, the PEN Awards stories, and Pushcart Prize collections. The O. Henry Prize made two changes to how they select the stories than in years past. The first is they are now including translated stories and the second is a guest editor, like the Best American Short Stories. To start the new trend they chose Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and her selections are diverse, from all over the world. There are familiar names and new names and overall this is my favorite of the O. Henry Prize collections. I enjoy the writers who are new to me, I added some books to my TBR list! The stories that stood out to me were "Malliga Homes" by Sindya Bhanoo, "Endangered Species: Case 47401" by Crystal Wilkinson, "Things We Worried About When I Was Ten" by David Rabe (the playwright, was thrilling to read something new by him), "Witness" Jamel Brinkley, "The Other One" by Tessa Hadley that was a real standout, "The Master's Castle" by Anthony Doerr, "Freedom from Want" by Joan Silber (I recognize the story from her collection "Secrets of Happiness" that is such a strong and lovely collection. She's such a master of the short story.), "White Noise" by Emma Cline (bold choice of subject matter, she is unafraid to get in the head of a dangerous and ugly, criminal man), and "Color and Light" Sally Rooney. Such a strong selection of stories!
  
  (*Thank you to Penguin Random House and Anchor books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.)
• 
  Maddy Smith

  All of these stories covered different topics. While many of them covered deep topics such as racism, death, identity, and love, the mix of the stories was wonderful. My favorite was “becoming baby girl” by Adachioma Ezeano. Admittedly, I didn’t read every story in the book as I ran out of time and had to return it to the library. I will likely check it out again and reas the stories I missed!
• 
  Christina Sherwood

  Great short stories in this book. Great before bed read.
• 
  Bella Carpenter

  Great variety of stories all on different subjects. Some of the stories took longer to read than others due to them going through translation but overall the compilation was done beautifully. Would say that they are some of the best short stories I have read thus far. Hoping they do a similar edition for 2022!
• 
  Merritt Phillips

  How can you go wrong with so many excellent short stories to choose from.
• 
  Beth

  3.5 stars. Top 5 in order of appearance:
  
  1. Brown Girls, Daphne Palasi Andreades
  2. Malliga Homes, Sindya Bhanoo
  3. Endangered Species: Case 47401
  Tweet from Crystal Wilkinson: "Anybody interested in a short story about feral cats and mice and racism and the power of Black women and police brutality and the south and Appalachia written in Black English as defined by Toni Cade Bambara?"
  4. The Other One, Tessa Hadley
  5. Freedom from Want, Joan Silber
  
  I also liked Anthony Doerr's The Master's Castle and Sally Rooney's Color and Light, but I had already encountered them elsewhere.