The Best American Short Stories 2012

The Best American Short Stories 2012 edited by Tom Perrotta & Heidi Pitlor


Another year and another ridiculous collection of short stories.  This years editor Tom Perrotta did a great job of picking the stories that made the collection seem varied and rich.

This years edition includes the following stories;
Carol Anshaw. The Last Speaker of the Language from New Ohio Review
Good start to the book. This story is essentially about a dysfunctional family.

Taylor Antrim. Pilgrim Life from American Short Fiction
This story would feel right at home in the mid 90's slacker genre. A slacker dealing with some family issues tries to leverage his roommates new found internet fortune. Ends up being a bit of a coming of age story too, just slacker late.

Nathan Englander. What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank from The New Yorker
Love his fiction and was excited to read this piece that's the title of his newest collection of short stories. The story revolves around the question, would the person I'm with risk their life to save me?

Mary Gaitskill. The Other Place from The New Yorker
This was probably my favorite story from an author I wasn't that familiar with. I don't know how to describe it without ruining it but it deals with a topic that evokes a visceral reaction. MUST read!

Roxane Gay. North Country from Hobart
Sweet story about a woman who moved up to northern Michigan to take a teaching job.

Jennifer Haigh. Paramour from Ploughshares
This is another story I don't really know how to summarize without giving away too much. She spoke at the Boston Book Festival last year on a panel that I liked a lot. Glad the fiction lived up to my imagination, she set a high bar.

Mike Meginnis. Navigators from Hobart
Loser father and impressionable son bond over playing a video game where the goal is to become nothing and ascend to heaven. Odd in a great way.

Steven Millhauser. Miracle Polish from The New Yorker
Millhauser has consistently stood out in every anthology I've read with him in it and this story is no exception. Excellently written with more than a touch of magic.

Alice Munro. Axis from The New Yorker
Brilliant story about two college women when most women only went to college to find a husband. The story follows their lives primarily through a brief relationship between one of the friends and her boyfriend then the boyfriend's chance encounter with the other friend decades later.

Lawrence Osborne. Volcano from Tin House
This story followed a sad lonely middle aged woman on vacation in Hawaii and was really well done. Creepy, excellent finish to the story.

Julie Otsuka. Diem Perdidi from Granta
Brilliant story about a woman dealing with her mother's dementia. The format of the story is what really separates it from the rest.

Edith Pearlman. Honeydew from Orion
Messed up family and dad cheating on mom, done a million times but rarely as well as this.

Angela Pneuman. Occupational Hazard from Ploughshares
Story starts with an inspector stepping in raw sewage and it goes on to deal with family & death.

Eric Puchner. Beautiful Monsters from Tin House
This is the second time I've read this story as it was included in the Best American Non Required Reading and it was even better the second time. Trouble comes into a society of all children in the form of a grown man.

George Saunders. Tenth of December from The New Yorker
He is as unique a genius as there is writing today. Fantastic story about a man who is saved by a boy in the act of saving a boy. Mind #$%# in the best way.

Taiye Selasi. The Sex Lives of African Girls from Granta
Disturbing story about a girl living with her aunt and uncle in Africa. Dirty privileged old men are the same in everywere unfortunately.

Sharon Solwitz. Alive from Fifth Wednesday Journal
This story was inspired by the authors own experiences with a mother being with her 2 sons on a day at a ski resort. The oldest son is battling cancer and the story is told from the point of view of the younger son. Poignant, gets into your soul.

Kate Walbert. M&M World from The New Yorker
A complex story with a simple set up of a single mom taking her 2 young daughters to the M&M store in Manhattan.

Jess Walter. Anything Helps from McSweeney’s
I'd read this story before and really liked it. It's about a homeless recovering addict dealing with his addictions and trying to connect with his son who's a ward of the state.

Adam Wilson. What’s Important Is Feeling from The Paris Review
Dysfunctional movie crew makes shitty movie. Pretty funny story and makes fun of some Hollywood cliches. I liked it.