Oliver’s Evolution/John Updike: Nice little story about a neglected child for whom life dishes out nothing but dregs. He himself causes himself harm but eventually meets a girl in worse shape than he is who looks up to him. They marry and have children and Oliver finally feels he has a place in life. Nice pace, conflicts aplenty though it’s a buildup of loads of mishaps and misdeeds that end with the change in situation.
The Doctor/Ann Hood: Starting out strong with "The doctor who killed my father wants to take me for coffee." this sort of dribbles down to a relationship the female first person narrator has with her father’s doctor and even she realizes that he didn’t kill, but rather couldn’t save him.
Crazy Glue/Etgar Keret: Delightfully quirky version of a boring marriage getting revived by change. Opening with dialogue here is a good way of showing the relationship while introducing the characters and the ultimate savior of their marriage–a tube of Crazy Glue.
Pledge Drive/Patricia Marx: Nothing worth mentioning really.
The Handbag/Michael Augustin: Already posted on this one, since it’s definitely my favorite so far and one that will remember a long time.
A Patriotic Angel/Mark Budman: The opening presents us with a scene that promises a story: "She stands in the supermarket aisle reserved for the holiday decorations. She is not tall; maybe five inches maximum." Right there we know this may hold something of meaning, and the story doesn’t disappoint.
Map of the Lost World/James Tate: Related to the very first line: "Things were getting to me, things of no consequence in themselves, but taken together, they were undermining my ability to cope." Some interesting things, more of a list of what goes wrong to screw up the day. No resolution, no real story.
Bill/Dan Kaplan: Missed the point of this one–if there was one.
The Kettle/Eva Marie Ginsburg: An updated fantasy of the pot calling the kettle black. Clever story, personification, though it does come off as an Aesop’s Fable.
Quill/Tony Earley: Very nice scene of two men in a hospital, one of whom is likely dying. Intimate episode that tells more than what it is.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology