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Rating: 
Summary: Larry Dark Continues to Rehabilitate the Series
Review: After years of languishing under late editor William Abrahams, the series takes another big step toward legitimately representing the vibrancy of American short fiction. Dark made some brave and striking choices last year, and continues to show himself an astute and thoughtful anthologist, one who has his finger on the pulse of what's exciting about the short story. His selections are almost uniformly excellent: Wideman, Lordan and Gordon are deserving winners, and stories by Russell Banks, Michael Byers, Andrea Barrett and Melissa Prichard are equally good. Hooray that these smart and wonderful writers are getting the attention they deserve! Equally exciting are some of the newcomers--John Biquinet's tiny but explosive "Rose," Jeannette Bertles "Whileaway" and Keith Banner's "The Smallest People Alive" among others. There are, of course, things to quibble with--the exclusion of Alice Munro's wonderful "The Bear Came over the Mountain," Stewart O'Nan's powerful "Please Help Find" and Tobias Wolff's lovely "Kiss," are perhaps the most surprising; and as much as I like Alice Elliot Dark's story, "Watch the Animals," I have to say that Mr. Dark, as her husband, might have easily replaced her story with one of the above pieces by Munro, O'Nan or Wolff and saved himself charges of nepotism. Perhaps the only major mis-step is the inclusion of the bizarrely popular Pam Houston as one of the guest editors. Cementing her self-involved, dim-bulb reputation as literature's answer to Flying-Nun era Sally Field, the author of "A Little More About Me" uses her introduction to Beth Lordan's story to babble witlessly about her boyfriend, herself, her dog's cancer, herself, how Lordan's story reminds her of herself, and, oh, by the way, herself--proving once again that she is possibly the dumbest person alive who writes and publishes fiction. But even in this case, the collection is more entertaining than not. A big thanks to Larry Dark for his hard work in bringing the series back up to standard. Well worth reading for anyone with an interest in contemporary fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Yawn
Review: Barfola maximus. While this edition of the O. Henry awards is bound to contain a few good stories, it fails to meet the expectations of this reader. Too doggedly committed to placing well-known cash cow authors, the editors miserably failed to look beyond a few popular magazines and author names to find the best stories of the year. "What does a miscarriage look like? 'Oh. It looks like it does when you're having a period," are the opening lines of Flush. In my opinion, this is not a good catch line. I don't want to read about periods, or 'flushes.' Maybe a few of Pam Houston's fans like the story (she's one of the editors, probably the one that selected this story). Raymond Carver is one of the greatest short story writers ever, one of my favorites. But the O. Henry selection, "Kindling," reads like a Carver imitation. Not one the year's best, that's for sure. My praise goes out to the #1 story, however. "Weight," by John Edgar Wideman is excellent. It is exquisitely written and thought provoking from start to finish. In general, however, I find this book disappointing. It looks like it was thrown together over a weekend. A word of caution: I generally stick to the classics. My favorite stories are those of Flannery O'Connor, Faulkner, Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, Carver, Chekhov. I may be overly critical. I do like a lot of small press writing, however, and I don't find it in this edition. Roughly half of the stories are good, another quarter decent, and another quarter barfola maximus. This edition should be packed with excellent stories, not the worst works of a few great authors and magazines.
Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful read!
Review: I almost didn't buy this book in the series because when I read the 1998 version I felt pretty much unmoved by what I read there. This one, however, is a beautiful collection of stories--each one often more stunning than the last. The stories are beautifully written, exciting, conventional and unconventional, and utterly surprising. What a read! I love it and am eagerly awaiting the 2001 edition. If anyone feels today's short story is stagnant--or that magazines are filled with ordinary work--read this book. You'll be pleasantly surprised.
Rating:
Summary: The Carver Contrast
Review: In the 2000 O'Henry Prize Stories, 11 of the 20 winners (55%) either hold MFA's, Ph.D.'s or teach at universities. Most interesting, however, is the experience of reading 19 highly polished, academically clean stories and at the end of the series, run headlong into Raymond Carver, a bold non-academe, and author of story 20. The contrast is striking, particularly coming at the end of the book. I am left wondering--are we missing or losing some literary giants because academic credentials have become as critical to the practice of creative writing as they are to law or medicine--or journalism?Of the twenty stories, Michael Byers's "The Beautiful Days" was my top pick. From the literary journal Ploughshares, it's the story of Aldo, a young man we've seen before, who tries to find but ends up losing himself. Stories such as these are entertainment far superior to most of what entertains us today. If only good literature were also more popular, and less reliant on the good will of universities and academic institutions. The popular mags publish so little fiction anymore, and the literary journals have budgets that don't permit much promotion. "Best Of" publications such as the O'Henry Awards are not only good collections, but probably the top promotional vehicles for good writing today.
Rating:
Summary: The Carver Contrast
Review: In the 2000 O'Henry Prize Stories, 11 of the 20 winners (55%) either hold MFA's, Ph.D.'s or teach at universities. Most interesting, however, is the experience of reading 19 highly polished, academically clean stories and at the end of the series, run headlong into Raymond Carver, a bold non-academe, and author of story 20. The contrast is striking, particularly coming at the end of the book. I am left wondering--are we missing or losing some literary giants because academic credentials have become as critical to the practice of creative writing as they are to law or medicine--or journalism? Of the twenty stories, Michael Byers's "The Beautiful Days" was my top pick. From the literary journal Ploughshares, it's the story of Aldo, a young man we've seen before, who tries to find but ends up losing himself. Stories such as these are entertainment far superior to most of what entertains us today. If only good literature were also more popular, and less reliant on the good will of universities and academic institutions. The popular mags publish so little fiction anymore, and the literary journals have budgets that don't permit much promotion. "Best Of" publications such as the O'Henry Awards are not only good collections, but probably the top promotional vehicles for good writing today.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful selection
Review: The second prize winner here, "The Man With the Lapdog," is probably one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read. It's absolutely brilliant. Beth Lordan easily deserves first place for this piece, though the winner ("Weight," by John Edgar Wideman) is a wonderful piece of writing. Judging this must have been something else. My other favorite was Judy Budnitz's "Flush." It's wonderful in that the ending is O'Henryish--a fitting award-winner indeed. There's not a bad story in the bunch, really. This is a great buy--I plan to give many copies as gifts.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful selection
Review: The second prize winner here, "The Man With the Lapdog," is probably one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read. It's absolutely brilliant. Beth Lordan easily deserves first place for this piece, though the winner ("Weight," by John Edgar Wideman) is a wonderful piece of writing. Judging this must have been something else. My other favorite was Judy Budnitz's "Flush." It's wonderful in that the ending is O'Henryish--a fitting award-winner indeed. There's not a bad story in the bunch, really. This is a great buy--I plan to give many copies as gifts.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, diverse sampling of the American short story
Review: This anthology of prize winning short stories is an excellent example of the diversity in American writing today. Each story is unique in its perception and description of life- from voice, to view. I did not like all the stories by any means, but within this collection, I found stories that will stay with me forever-- "The Deacon" is a perfect example. I have always believed that a short story is one that answers all my questions, yet leaves me wanting to know even more about the characters-- these stories all accomplish this goal. I highly recommend this book for book clubs and classes. The exposure to the different writing styles can easily spark disussions as to why readers prefer a particular style over another. In addition, many of the stories are enjoyable and thought provoking.
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