Small Odysseys

January 17, 2022
Tinti (The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley) delivers a dynamic anthology drawn from the Selected Shorts public radio program. “Sleepless” by Michael Cunningham explores the lives of the narrator and his lover as they rent a ramshackle waterfront house for a few days with their ailing dog and a friend they “rescued” from her minimum wage job. In “Bedtime Story” by Victor LaValle, the narrator camps with his eight-year-old son, Kai, in the hallway of their nearly empty New York City apartment building during Covid-19 (“We were utterly unguarded. It felt like lying flat on a raft in the middle of the sea”). Lauren Groff’s “Such Small Islands” follows the evolving relationship between young, sickly Aura and her older half-sister, Gus, who travels to care for her on a fancy vacation island. The bittersweet “Almost Everything,” by Etgar Keret perfectly captures the fleeting triumph a man feels as his wife cherishes his 49 gifts from around the world for her 49th birthday—before a friend reminds him of the looming milestone next year and questions what can be done to surpass this effort. Tinti cleverly arranges the stories into “Departures,” “Journeys,” and “New Worlds,” and most hit their marks. Short story fans will enjoy the abundance of talent on offer.

February 15, 2022
Lovers of the short story, rejoice! There's something for everyone in this anniversary collection celebrating 35 years of the Selected Shorts program at New York City's Symphony Space by featuring 35 new stories from past contributors. Those familiar with the live events or podcast may imagine these entries performed by a slate of literarily inclined celebrities, but reading them is just as satisfying--and, indeed, editor Tinti (The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley, 2017) states that the goal of the book is "to bridge the gap between performance and the written word." Author notes following each story add depth and understanding to these equally delightful and devastating literary "snacks" covering a range of topics from immigration to marriage (or dissolution of), grief, technology, and the apocalypse (after all, many were written during COVID lockdowns). Overall, the collection makes the argument that time and again, it is stories that save us; or, as Neil Gaiman points out in the foreword, "Stories are currency. Stories are the way we interact, the place that groups come together. Stories unite us."

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 15, 2022
A wide-ranging anthology of original stories from some of today's top authors. If you're a public radio stan and lover of fiction, you've likely heard of "Selected Shorts," the program that features actors performing readings of a variety of short stories. Among the fans of the show is novelist Tinti, who edits this anthology sponsored by the program. The 35 original stories here are divided into three sections--"Departures," "Journeys," and "New Worlds"--and each has its share of delights. The first section starts off with Luis Alberto Urrea's wonderful "The King of Bread," about a fourth grade boy coping with the loss of his mother, who's been forced by immigration authorities to leave the U.S. He navigates his relationship with his father, whose demeanor is "jolly rage," with trepidation and care; both miss their family member but react to her leaving very differently. It's a lovely, understated story and an excellent introduction to the anthology. The highlight of the second section is Omar El Akkad's "A Survey of Recent American Happenings Told Through Six Commercials for the Tennyson ClearJet Premium Touchless Bidet," a hilarious take on capitalism in the age of constant disaster. ("Tennyson Bidets: Life is but a grotesque carnival of unbearable pain," ends one such commercial.) Addressing the Covid-19 pandemic directly is Victor LaValle in "Bedtime Story," which sees a father and son in New York adjusting to life under quarantine. "The city that never sleeps," the father reflects ruefully. "Well, that's officially bullshit now." The 8-year-old boy is suffering from depression and misses his mom, who's left temporarily to take care of her own sick mother. The child insists his dad take him "camping"--in the hallway of their apartment building. The story ends on a hopeful note; like all of LaValle's work, it's beautiful and surprising. Anthologies like this are hard to pull off; not every story is going to land with every reader. But Tinti does a good job curating this one--thematically, it makes sense; the lineup is diverse; and it serves as a good introduction for readers looking for their next favorite fiction writer. Well-curated, eclectic, and thoughtful.

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