PRIZE STORIES 1987: The O. Henry Awards

by William--Ed. Abrahams ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 17, 1987

Sharing top honors this year are Louise Erdrich's ""Fleur"" and Joyce Johnson's ""The Children's Wing""--one a vivid bolt of the style of cloth one's come to associate with Erdrich, the other an affectingly plain and pity-filled story about a mentally handicapped boy temporarily hospitalized with ""normal"" yet very ill children. Both of those stories are good, though not quite indelible. But neither is anything else among the current choices. The natty despair of Donald Barthelme's ""Basil From Her Garden""; the interesting form that Joyce Carol Oates chooses to tell a tale of adultery in ""Ancient Airs, Voices""; Grace Paley's throwaway but very appealing ""Midrash on Happiness""; Stuart Dybek's wah-wah memoir of growing up cool in 50's Chicago, ""Blight""; and Mary Robison's economical emotion in ""I Get By""--these are interesting if not fascinating. Two longer stories come closer to full reader involvement: Robert Boswell's ""The Darkness of Love"" (a burnt-out black New York policeman finding solace in his sister-in-law's arms) and Richard Bausch's ""What Feels Like the World"" (a grandfather's breath-held pain over the growing-up of his motherless granddaughter), both positing situations difficult to have seen coming. The rest is merely okay--work by Alice Adams, James Lott, Norman Lavers, Helen Norris--but, overall, this is a mildish confederation.

Pub Date: April 17, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1987

Categories: FICTION