The O. Henry Prize Stories 2003

Publishers Weekly

A new, wider-ranging selection process (allowing the consideration of all English-language writers appearing in North American publications regardless of citizenship) makes this one of the strongest O. Henry collections in recent years, with stories by, among others, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ("The American Embassy"), A.S. Byatt ("The Thing in the Forest") and William Trevor ("Sacred Statues"). Other standouts include Anthony Doerr's "The Shell Collector," which details the daily rituals of a blind shell gatherer; Bradford Morrow's "Lush," the tale of an alcoholic husband forced to confront the possibility of redemption after the loss of his equally addicted wife; and the enchantingly bucolic "Swept Away" by T. Coraghessan Boyle, in which a strange set of circumstances brings together a grizzled Scotsman and a demure American birdwatcher. Ann Harleman incorporates crossword puzzles and e-mails into "Meanwhile," a story about the pressures of attending to a chronically ill spouse, while Evan S. Connell's delightfully clever "Election Eve" juxtaposes marital and political conflict against the backdrop of a pre-election masquerade party. Denis Johnson's "Train Dreams," which could arguably be classified as a novella, is a sweeping, dreamlike portrait of the American west as seen through the eyes of a man who has lost his wife and young daughter in a fire. An extra bonus is an appendix in which the 2003 jurors (Jennifer Egan, David Guterson and Diane Johnson) weigh in on their top choices. This is a collection of literary gems that would surely please the man for whom the prize is named. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

KLIATT

The O. Henry Prize Stories have been collected annually since 1919 and have included work from some of North America's most well regarded writers. These stories continue that tradition as well as the tradition of including essays by the jury of judges in which they explain their choices. The collection also includes short essays by each of the authors that explain their inspiration and the process of writing the stories. Some of the authors, such as Alice Munro and Evan S. Connell, are well known and some have published only a few pieces, yet the quality of writing is consistent. Although this is a collection of recent North American stories, the setting and time of the stories ranges from WW II to the present and from Cambodia to Canada. There is something for everyone in this collection of excellent and varied tales. KLIATT Codes: SA-Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2003, Random House, Anchor, 366p., Ages 15 to adult.
— Nola Theiss

Kirkus Reviews

Eighty-six years, another twenty stories: New series editor Furman, along with judges David Guterson, Diane Johnson, and Jennifer Egan, presents this year's roundup of prize tales, ranging from the traditional to the experimental, though almost all taking aim at the human heart. "There is a tendency in short ficion-I feel it when writing myself-to conclude and resolve," says Egan, but the stories she helped choose seem bonded by a lack of that very tendency. There are as many new names here as familiar ones, among the latter are A.S. Byatt, William Trevor, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Evan S. Connell, William Kittredge, and Tim O'Brien. Standouts include Edith Pearlman's "The Story," in which a story of resistance accompanies one course of an annual dinner among friends, this time held at a new restaurant that, like the tale, recalls a different era; Ann Harleman's "Meanwhile," a heartbreakingly fragmented account-memos, flyers, crossword puzzles-of a couple trying to save love as one of them descends into the pit of multiple sclerosis; Douglas Light's "Three Days. A Month. More," a poetic account of two young Puerto Rican girls contemplating their heritage and overdue bills as they live alone in the apartment their mother has abandoned; an installment from Alice Munro ("Fathers") about a young man's experience with a neighbor girl's hatred of her father and what this tells him of his own father; and the best of the bunch, Denis Johnson's "Train Dreams," a borderline novella of a man's preindustrial life lived entirely in an apocryphal panhandle of northern Idaho. You get the sense that this latest volume, judging from the range of sources sometimes very small (The Idaho Review, Alaska QuarterlyReview), is a much better sampling of literature from a single year than usual. Overall, a highly talented lineup-and well worth the asking price.