This particular issue of the Best American Short Stories collection has been an overall delight. Which leads me more and more to the notion of seeking out one of the guest editor, Michael Chabon’s own novels if these stories appealed to him. There were only one or two out of the twenty that I felt were not particularly likeable or had such terrific writing excellence that would justify their inclusion over the hundreds of stories available. There is a listing in the back of the book of 100 Other Distinguished Stories of 2004 as selected by the series editor, Katrina Kenison, and a listing of literary journals as a helpful guide to the aspiring writer. So, a quick review of the final three stories:
Hart and Boot (p.339) by Tim Pratt: Probably my most favorite, or at the least, in top place with J. Robert Lennon’s Eight Pieces for the Left Hand and Rishi Reddi’s Justice Shiva Ram Murthy. How’s this for an opener:
The man’s head and torso emerged from a hole in the ground, just a few feet from the rock where Pearl Hart sat smoking her last cigarette. His appearance surprised her and she cussed him at some length.
Yes, it’s true; a man pops out of a hole in the ground with no further explanation than that. He’s also naked except for cowboy boots–hence, his name that Pearl bestows upon him: John Boot. Then the two pair up for some stagecoach robberies, end up in prison, and he, having the capabilities of smoke naturally becomes a terrific escape artist. The two cook up schemes and the final method in which Pearl is set free is one that still has me smiling in its imaginative and practical thinking–once you’ve come to accept the magical realism in which the story is written. This was just awesome in voice, style, narrative structure, story conflict, action and resolution. Just about perfect. I most definitely will be looking up Tim Pratt’s short story collection and novel on Amazon.
Justice Shiva Ram Murthy (p. 356) by Rishi Reddi is a brilliant story of an elderly judge from India who has arrived to live in Boston with his daughter and her family after his wife’s death. The story covers a brief episode of Justice Murthy’s adventure with an old friend (who has been in America for a longer period of time) on a routine Thursday lunch meeting. The resulting conflict served up by a fast food restaurant where he ends up eating beef (against his convictions) and his adamant insistence on the rude and insulting behavior of Americans hides within it the underlying pride, fear, and lost feelings of all those who face living within a different culture–especially the elderly. The story is paced through dialogue between the two old friends, and it is touchingly poignant yet humorously well written. Loved the story that stood well enough on its own, and yet allowed the deeper meanings come through.
The final story in the collection, The Bohemians by George Saunders (p. 374) is another great character changed by revelation of truth. Written in the first person of a young boy, it tells of the cruelty of youth, the lies of adults, and the discovery of seeing people from different viewpoints to expose truth. And, once that truth is exposed, the protagonist has changed, has learned something, and yet as children do, in the end goes on with life and the important things of childhood a bit wiser but without the heavy guilt and obsessive questioning as adults often tend to do. A nice little story, but powerful in its presentation and meaning.
For now, for me, on to Faulkner.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology
Those “best of short stories” compendiums are always a pot luck gamble. Think of the job of sorting and choosing.