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AMERICAN SHORT STORY MASTERPIECES

Name: AMERICAN SHORT STORY MASTERPIECES
Author: Tom Jenks
ISBN: 0440204232

edited by Tom Jenks & Raymond Carver ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 3, 1987

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It's hard not to be cynical about an anthology of proclaimed "masterpieces" that includes, without apology, a story by one of its editors; and although some may consider Carver a contemporary master, remarkably few other indisputable gems are brought together here—Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," Philip Roth's "Tire Conversion of the Jews" and Bernard Malamud's "The Magic Barrel." On the other hand, there are an overwhelming number of mediocre tales punctuating the 36 chosen by Carver and Scribner's editor Tom Jenks; even masterly writers such as Mark Helprin, Grace Paley, Leonard Michaels, and James Alan McPherson arc represented by some of their weakest work; and just plain awful stories come from Richard Brautigan and Vance Bourjaily ("1/3, 1/3, 1/3" and "The Amish Farmer"). The notion of a contemporary masterpiece, of course, is open lo question, but what seems more clear is that the editors here seem to feel they know what's hot in the current marketplace. The many avatars of recent realist and minimalist fiction (Bobbie Ann Mason, Richard Ford, Joy Williams, Tobias Wolff, Ann Beattie, Jayne Anne Phillips) join in full numbing force in these pages. Less generous explanations would seem to account for selections by John Gardner and Arthur Miller—the first having been Carver's teacher, and Miller's "The Misfits" coming from a volume reissued by Jenks at Scribners. In his alarmingly inarticulate introduction, Carver contends that he considers this a companion to Warren and Erskine's Short Story Masterpieces (1954). Inclusion in that earlier anthology ostensibly explains the absence now of John Cheever, Peter Taylor, and Eudora Welty, none of whose preeminence, it may be said, is threatened by this unnecessary slight. But however that may be, one hardly finds here yet the anthology deserving the mantel of its—and of that earlier—august title.

Pub Date: April 3, 1987

ISBN: 0440204232

Page Count: 512

Publisher: Delacorte

Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1987

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.

Pub Date: July 11, 1960

ISBN: 0060935464

Page Count: 323

Publisher: Lippincott

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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by Harper Lee

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BETWEEN SISTERS

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2003

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...

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Sisters in and out of love.

Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.