The Best American Short Stories 2020

 Book 9 of my 2023 Reading Challenge

read from 1/16 - 1/22

The Best American Short Stories 2020

by various authors

My Opinion

3 stars

The stories chosen were published between January 2019 and January 2020 but even though the stories themselves didn't reflect it, the foreword and introduction from late 2020 talk about short stories in the context of the pandemic.  I agree with them and have mentioned it in previous reviews - I found myself reading many more short stories than usual because I didn't have the emotional bandwidth for a full novel.  It is also sad to read the optimism of "2020 will be known as the year of the pandemic" because we didn't expect the divisiveness and how long everything has lasted.

My favorite was The Nine-Tailed Fox Explains.

Godmother Tea

I felt like there was something below the surface of this story but I couldn't find it, making it feel longer than it was.  Not a bad story, just not for me.

The Apartment

That was unexpected.  I definitely would've bet on him as well.

A Faithful but Melancholy Account of Several Barbarities Lately Committed

I wanted more of a resolution after journeying through that whole story.

Sibling Rivalry

Even though the title didn't really fit the material this was a good story with a fascinating concept.  I would read a full book about this new world, there is a lot of potential there.

The Nanny

Kayla was impulsive and a tough character to get a read on but that's the point.

Halloween

It ended abruptly but I'm also glad it ended before Jules went to the party because I wouldn't have been able to handle the secondhand embarrassment.  She was written as a teen in love so well it made me cringe.

Something Street

Absorbing and sad.

This is Pleasure

This was a tough story to read because the characters were so understandable even when wrong.  It covered the grey areas of power dynamics and times shifting really well.

In the Event

It felt like madness yet also inevitable.  Hard to tell what was real and what was imagined.

The Children

The story passed very quickly.  I wasn't really invested because characters were introduced, big resolutions were wrapped up in a sentence or two, and then the story moved on.

Rubberdust

That story was tough to read because I could feel it so clearly.  It made me sad and sweaty.

It's Not You

The story is foggy just like the character's memory.  It reminds me of talking to a tipsy person where the sentences are jumpy but you can make a coherent thought out of them if you focus.

Liberte

Reading about her in the third person instead of first adds to the detachment the character is feeling with her life.  

Howl Palace

It made me sad that she didn't seem to have anything to show for her life as she was reflecting on it.

The Nine-Tailed Fox Explains

My favorite, this had a great story arc and good length.

The Hands of Dirty Children

This story was really vivid and emotional.

Octopus VII

That didn't go the way I expected but I'm happy about it.

Enlightenment

I was so nervous reading this because I thought the story was going in a different direction.  The ending kind of petered out but that felt like a good thing since there wasn't the drama I expected to happen.

Kennedy

Yikes, that was intense.  I roller coastered through many feelings about Kennedy but I mainly felt sorry for him.

The Special World

I was absorbed in that story.