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Title: New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 2002 (New Stories from the South) by Shannon Ravenel, Larry Brown ISBN: 1-56512-375-1 Publisher: Algonquin Books Pub. Date: September, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (4 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: LITERARY DIM SUM FROM THE SOUTH¿?
Comment: This is the first installment of this well-respected series that I have read - and I'm impressed. It's definitely a feast - so I won't apologize for the 'title' above. I won't try to tell you that I absolutely loved everything in this book - but I found several that blew me away, and I've added a few authors to my 'seek further' list as a result.
I've been a huge fan of William Gay ever since I first read any of his work - and his story 'Charting the territories of the red' in this volume is no disappointment. I'll pick up anything I see by him without question. New discoveries (and I'm speaking for myself here...) in this volume include Romulus Linney (his story 'Tennessee' here is simply amazing); Dwight Allen (who contributes 'End of the steam age'; Aaron Gwyn, a promising young talent ('Of falling'); and the incredible 'Rat spoon' by Dulane Upshaw Ponder. Also notable is R. T. Smith's 'I have lost my right'; the dark 'Beneath the deep, slow motion' by Brad Barkley; Bill Roorbach's touching 'Big Bend'; and another very dark tale, 'The bone divers', by David Koon.
The other stories here are all well written - these are simply the ones that touched me most deeply. Some of them are so good they made my mouth drop open from time to time. I'll definitely be checking out some of the other volumes in this series, as well as some of the works by the authors I mentioned above - some of them have novels or collections forthcoming.
Rating: 4
Summary: Great series, not best installment
Comment: I've read every Stories from the South collection published (since 1986). Each year there are famous contributors. 2002 includes a first-rate piece by Romulus Linney "Tennessee" and Doris Betts continues giving readers her literary gems with "Aboveground." And there are those who have not won as much critical attention. Up-and-coming George Singleton's "Show-and-Tell" was one of the funniest pieces in the collection, and Aaron Gwyn's "Of Falling" was probably one of the most powerful. The contributions by David Koon, Dwight Allen, and Julie Orringer also desrve mention for their technical and thematic brilliance. This collection has pieces to tug the heartstrings in every direction.
Four stars because, like usual, this collection delivers wonderful and varied pieces; however, I took a star off (please note it was only one star) because there were a few sub-par pieces. Kate Small's "Maximum Sunlight" seemed only tangentially "from the South" as it was set in Washington, DC; moreover, it was overtly politcal at the cost of artistic merit, crying "Im southern too" too loudly. Bill Roorbach's "Big Bend" was a geographically interesting setting but poorly executed; the voice felt inauthentic, especially the hackneyed, non-native way he deployed "y'all." Similarly, Lucia Nevai's "Faith Healer" dragged through stereotypes until some racist Yankees found closure.
Rating: 4
Summary: Stories of the Modern South
Comment: Every year, I purchase New Stories from the South, but I always buy last year's, in paperback, then I might take another few months to read it. So I've just finished the 2000 issue and will start on 2001 one of these days (I have it in my pile of books somewhere). I never regret having purchased or read these anthologies. They always include good writers, both new and familiar, and the stories are an interesting combination of themes, locales and styles. The South is a part, sometimes subtle, but always there, and the characters are seldom sterotypical, their stories never trite. Pick up any of these issues. The stories are timeless.
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Title: New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 2003 (New Stories from the South) by Shannon Ravenel, Roy Blount ISBN: 1565123956 Publisher: Algonquin Books Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The O. Henry Prize Stories 2002 by LARRY DARK ISBN: 0385721625 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 27 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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Title: The Best American Short Stories 2003 by Katrina Kenison, Walter Mosley ISBN: 0618197338 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 10 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Best of the South: From Ten Years of New Stories from the South by Anne Tyler, Shannon Ravenel ISBN: 1565121287 Publisher: Algonquin Books Pub. Date: April, 1996 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The Best American Short Stories 2002 by Sue Miller, Katrina Kenison ISBN: 0618131736 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 15 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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