Well, I have been reading other things in between. In my defense, I would like to say it took me so long to finish the collection because I wanted to savor each story - I didn't want to gorge myself of these stories and then have nothing left!
As a writer, I most identify with the short story form. I find novel writing tedious...a bit too much of a commitment. I never think of enough to say, and I like the impact a good short story can make. The brevity, the irony, and the element of surprise. Call me old-fashioned. Maybe I should have been born in the 19th century when O. Henry was running around making it big?
But, no. I hate 19th century literature. I mean, Dickens, for example. The guy didn't know when to shut up! Who gives a damn about the lace curtains? The wedding cake rotting on Miss Havisham's boudoir table? Answer: No one. Or Hawthorne. The Scarlet Letter - yawn! Stop. Moralizing. Every. Single. Character. Who are you, anyway, to presuppose your morality onto anyone else? Like you're so perfect. Or Melville? Moby Dick? Aside from being the punchline to some teenager's joke, what merit does it have in today's world? Whaling is evil, not whales.
Anyway, onto the CONTEMPORARY writing, of which I am very fond! These stories, it must be said, were also hit or miss. Unfortunately, I cannot agree with publishers of literary journals 100% of the time, and, well, Richard Russo (editor) did a pretty good job, but I still have a few bones to pick.
First, what I loved:
Safari - Jennifer Egan
Someone Ought to Tell Her There's Nowhere to Go - Danielle Evans
Delicate Edible Birds - Lauren Groff
Painted Ocean, Painted Ship - Rebecca Makkai
Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events - Kevin Moffet
All Boy - Lori Ostlund
The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach - Karen Russell
The Netherlands Lives with Water - Jim Shepard
And what I hated:
Donkey Greedy, Donkey Gets Punched - Steve Almond
The Cousins - Charles Baxter
The Laugh - Tea Obreht
The ones I loved relied on irony, twisting expectations, relationships, the beauty of a double entendre, and had fabulous characters I could relate to. They were each quite different in style and setting, but to me the style and setting matter little, as long as they are relevant to the content, well done and well researched (if the setting is historical), or well thought-out (if the setting is sci-fi or fantasy). I noticed quite a number of stories this year were set in the near future and had some sort of global warming hypothesis...sort of scary, since we're living it (or our children will live it) and pretty cool at the same time.
The ones I hated, I'll admit, maybe I didn't get. But they were either god-awful boring, had a stupid ending or just plain didn't make sense. I think Charles Baxter get into anthologies like these just because he's Charles Baxter. But I may be wrong.
The rest were more or less average, unmemorable or otherwise OK - nothing to report.
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