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PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009 (2009)

by Laura Furman(Favorite Author)

3.74 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0307280357 (ISBN13: 9780307280350)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Anchor

review 1: Especially enjoyed the stories by Lunstrum ("The Nursery") and Morgan ("Icebergs"), which share the themes of isolation, geographical and emotional. I couldn't finish a few of the stories that got rave reviews from others, such as Theroux's "Twenty-two stories." That could mean that this collection appeals to a range of readers, those who identify with character, plot, or setting, etc., or that the selection is spotty this time.
review 2: The Pen/O.Henry Prize Stories are twenty short stories from literary magazines as well established as The New Yorker to the lesser-known Grain and Five Points. It's always risky to pick up a collection of short stories by various authors because, unlike collections by a single author, the quality across the collection isn't ... moreguaranteed. Different writers, different styles, different ways of telling a story can mean a wildly varied hodgepodge similar to those Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Jellybeans: one handful tastes like delicious cotton candy, popcorn at first and then you realize you're also eating the unappetizing snot and dirt beans too. Fear not: from Junot Diaz's lingering "Wildwood," about a daughter coming to terms with herself and her mother; to Andrew Sean Greer's "Darkness," about what is burned, and therefore lost, in a postapocalyptic world; to Marisa Silver's "The Visitor," about a young woman and her grandmother working to repair failed relationships, these stories are undeniably terrific from start to finish. less

Download links for: PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009

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