The Best American Short Stories 2016 Paperback - 2016

From the rear cover

If the novel is our culture s favored literary form, upon which we heap all our desiccated literary laurels, if the novel is, say our Jaime Lannister, then the short story is our very own Tyrion: the disdained little brother, the perennial underdog. But what an underdog, writes Junot Diaz in his introduction to The Best American Short Stories 2016.

From a Nigerian boy s friendship with his family s former houseboy to a sweatshop girl s experience as a sister wife, from love and murder on the frontier to a meltdown in the academe, these stories, for Diaz, have the economy and power to break hearts bones vanities and cages.

Ten years into her role as series editor, Heidi Pitlor confides, A great pleasure of my job is the rush that comes with discovery...I m reading a new story and not checking how long it is or what time I have to pick up the kids. I m reading and feeling and thinking, and, if I m lucky, laughing too. I m not working at all. A great story has that power: it removes you from your life. It lifts you away from a while. Junot Diaz and I found much to discover this year. "

From the jacket flap

If the novel is our culture s favored literary form, upon which we heap all our desiccated literary laurels, if the novel is, say our Jaime Lannister, then the short story is our very own Tyrion: the disdained little brother, the perennial underdog. But what an underdog, writes Junot Diaz in his introduction to The Best American Short Stories 2016.

From a Nigerian boy s friendship with his family s former houseboy to a sweatshop girl s experience as a sister wife, from love and murder on the frontier to a meltdown in the academe, these stories, for Diaz, have the economy and power to break hearts bones vanities and cages.

Ten years into her role as series editor, Heidi Pitlor confides, A great pleasure of my job is the rush that comes with discovery...I m reading a new story and not checking how long it is or what time I have to pick up the kids. I m reading and feeling and thinking, and, if I m lucky, laughing too. I m not working at all. A great story has that power: it removes you from your life. It lifts you away from a while. Junot Diaz and I found much to discover this year. "

Media reviews

Citations

• Kirkus Reviews, 09/01/2016, Page 12