This was a large collection of short stories that sometimes hit, other times miss. Nevertheless, there are classics here-- as well as other inclusions that touch on the basis of narrative. The entire book formulates itself around points of view and the various ways that they can be used to write, describe, and facilitate the telling of a story. Overall, the small briefs before each section are considerably well-written and allow for deep, meaningful thoughts about the subject matter. Overall, it was a nice collection, and its lessons are not easily forgotten for the savvy reader.

3.5 ( )

a telephone call dorothy parker
I stand here ironing tillie olsen
straight pool john o’hara
the lady’s maid katherine mansfield
…& answers joyce carol oates
inter-office rosellen brown
a bundle of letters henry james
a wilderness station alice munro
jupiter doke, brig.gen ambrose bierce
the yellow wallpaper charlotte perkins gilman
night watchman’s… v.s. naipaul
amahl & night visitors lorrie moore
the somebody danny santiago
my side of the matter truman capote
my sister’s marriage cynthia marshall rich
why, you reckon? langston hughes
A&P john updike
distance grace paley
christmas eve... toni cade bambara
the circuit francisco jiménez
first confession frank o’conor
a coupla scalped… ralph ellison
birthday david wong louie
the passing durango mendoza
voice from wall amy tan
country jayne anne phillips
scales louise erdrich
the bridle raymond carver
eggs of hte world toshio mori
the five-forty-eight john cheever
the stone boy gina berriault
doby’s gone ann petry
act of faith irwin shaw
come out the wild… james baldwin
sinking house TC boyle
the only rose sarah orne jewett
strong horse tea alice walker
uglypuss margaret atwood
fever flower shirley ann grau
suicides of private… james moffett
inez merle hodge
new window display nicholasa mohr
the lottery shirley jackson
powerhouse eudora welty

Loads of great authors. I read this in high school and I think I'm going to read it again. The stories are substantial ranging from the romantic to the horrific. ( )

This is a valuable book because it works on two levels.

First: It's a solid collection of 44 short stories, sort of a "best of the best" type collection. They were obviously chosen with a great deal of thought. The stories were written between the mid-19th century and the early 1990s, half were written by men and half by women, and the authors come from diverse backgrounds. However, although there is deliberate diversity, the book is still entirely US-centric--only five of the authors are from elsewhere. Further, none of the stories is translated. Representing US diversity, there are Asian-Americans, Latino-Americans, Jewish-Americans, African-Americans, and so on.

An aside here -- I found it interesting how the majority of these stories were about people struggling in dire poverty. Urban poor, rural poor, western poor, Appalachian poor, southern poor . . . if an alien was to read this book, it would believe people living in the United States are a downtrodden bunch!

I've called this book a "best-of-the-best" sort of anthology because it has stories by Eudora Welty, Alice Munro, Alice Walker, T Coraghessan Boyle, James Baldwin, Raymond Carver, John Cheever, Amy Tan, Frank O'Connor, Truman Capote, VS Naipaul, Henry James, Katherine Mansfield, etc and so on. However, there are a handful of obscure authors, and some of their stories were very strong indeed. In this category I have to list "My Sister's Marriage," by Cynthia Marshall Rich; "The Circuit," by Francisco Jimenez; "The Passing," by Durango Mendoza, "Doby's Gone," by Ann Petry, and perhaps my favourite, "Inez," by Merle Hodge.

The second level this book works on is as a text book or self-learning tool. The stories are arranged in a purposeful chronological order, and are designed to be read in order (back to front, or front to back, it doesn't matter). They are divided into categories, and there is a short lesson at the beginning of each category. These are:

Interior monologue
Dramatic monologue
Letter narration
Diary narration
Subjective narration
Detached autobiography
Memoir, or observer narration
Anonymous narration--single character point of view
Anonymous narration--dual character point of view
Anonymous narration--multiple character point of view
Anonymous narration--no character point of view

This helps the reader observe and study narrative techniques, and to see how authors use different techniques to best tell their story. After all, how a story is told is often as important as what is told.

Recommended for: Anyone looking for a solid collection of short stories and doesn't mind the strong US-centric flavour. But this book is really great for the reader who wants to sharpen his or her skills and become a more sophisticated and perceptive reader.

Not recommended for: English teachers and people who already know this stuff! Also, readers who've read widely through the short story world will find a lot of repetition in this volume. ( )

A solid, inclusive, inexpensive anthology of short fiction. ( )