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Many articles have been written about our culture’s shrinking attention spans, largely blaming the rise of smartphones for our dwindling attentiveness. So one might reason the short story should be rising in popularity, but there seems to be no such effect. Maybe because short stories often require more from readers. If you miss something about a character when reading a novel, you’ll probably get another chance. But with the condensed story form, short stories distill entire worlds and lifetimes into the most poignant moments, so the reader needs to be paying attention to each sentence—no filler here. Whatever the reason, story collections continue to get less attention than novels. But we’re fans of the form here at Chicago Review of Books. We put together this list to celebrate some of our favorite short story collections of the year.
The Best Possible Experience
By Nishanth Injam
Pantheon Books
Published July 11, 2023
Desire is central to the gorgeous, subtle, and sharp story collection The Best Possible Experience by Nishanth Injam. Injam beautifully portrays various types of longing that bubble underneath the surface of his characters, all of whom are either immigrants from India, members of the Indian diaspora living in the United States, or living in India in the stories themselves. Despite the different circumstances, settings, and situations the characters find themselves in, one thing that unites them is their yearning for something deeper than what their circumstances have to offer them. Farooq Chaudhry spoke to Nishanth earlier this year about this collection, grief, and longing.
Temple Folk
By Aaliyah Bilal
Simon & Schuster
Published July 4, 2023
Shortlisted for this year’s National Book Award, this stunning collection by debut author Aaliyah Bilal features Black Muslims as they reckon with family, faith, and community. A collection dealing with faith of any kind, regardless of the particular religion, should wrestle with the gap between what the characters believe and how they act, and Bilal is a master at drawing those contradictions. The characters come to life in these stories, which are often quiet, but never without an elegant assuredness. And the collection builds, ending on arguably the strongest story of the collection, “Due North,” about a daughter struggling with the recent death of her father, an imam. Temple Folk announces Aaliyah Bilal as a remarkable talent and a writer to watch.
White Cat, Black Dog
By Kelly Link
Random House Trade
Published October 24, 2023
There’s a particular thrill in reading a masterful retelling of a long-told story. An author’s well-considered deviations—settings, characters, explorations of gaps—can bring out new dimensions of the original while amounting to an original in its own right. Kelly Link’s White Cat, Black Dog is a collection of such masterful retellings. Link recasts folk tales from different traditions, plopping, for instance, the French fairy tale “The White Cat” into a world of modern billionaires and “Hansel and Gretel” into that of science fiction. As Rebekah Bergman writes in her review, “Each of Link’s stories feels both brand new and yet somehow, magically, like it has always existed. It is as though Kelly Link is only the latest in a long series of storytellers to pick up these threads and spin.”
Company
By Shannon Sanders
Graywolf Press
Published October 3, 2023
This debut collection by PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize-winner Shannon Sanders introduces us to the Collins family, and a few of their acquaintances, as they prepare for visitors, arrive at someone else’s home, or host in theirs. Leaning into themes of performance and keeping up social appearances, these stories are told with such humor, heart, and grace. From its opening with the prize-winning story, “The Good, Good Men,” to its final story about a couple preparing for a social worker’s visit to approve them for adopting a child, these masterfully written stories will stay with you long after finishing the book.
Witness
By Jamel Brinkley
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published August 1, 2023
Winner of the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence and a finalist for the National Book Award, Jamel Brinkley’s sophomore story collection was among the year’s most highly anticipated. And it doesn’t disappoint. As Monika Dziamka writes in her review, “Racism, police brutality, failing social support systems, violence in social media, economic hardship—Brinkley bears witness to these topics through his characters, while he, with searing beauty and grace, also explores the intricacies of identity, friendship, family, community, growing older, and more—topics at the heart of the many broader, larger issues we face in America today.”
The Last Catastrophe
By Allegra Hyde
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published March 28, 2023
Last year, Allegra Hyde’s Eleutheria was one of our favorite debut novels, and this year, her second story collection is another favorite. As Erika Dirk writes in her review, “For all the ominousness of the title, The Last Catastrophe, Allegra Hyde’s sophomore short story collection is remarkably hopeful. Not hopeful as to the eventual collapse of ecosystems, or the extinction of species, or technology addiction, or pollution, or the state of American politics (though Hyde’s satire on this front is biting enough to be, if not hopeful, quite funny) but hopeful as to the human capacity to find joy in spite of it all.”
Dare the Sea
By Ali Hosseini
Curbstone Press
Published September 15, 2023
The stories in this notable collection explore the lives of Iranian people. Divided into sections—the first half set in Iran, both before and immediately following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and the second half set in different places in America, where the characters are in exile, navigating life in a new country—Dare the Sea is an exquisite collection in breadth and depth.
The People Who Report More Stress
By Alejandro Varela
Astra House
Published April 4, 2023
National Book Award finalist Alejandro Varela has a singular voice. This interconnected collection deals with the anxieties of people living on the margin, with an impressive range of stories in both subject and style. As Rachel León writes in her review, “But part of the magic of the stories in The People Who Report More Stress is they stretch beyond the thematic glue that holds the collection together. They examine long-term relationships, parenthood, communities, and class with humor and heart. They’re inventive and surprising.”
This Is Salvaged
By Vauhini Vara
W. W. Norton & Company
Published September 26, 2023
The stories in Pulitzer Prize finalist Vauhini Vara’s This Is Salvaged deal with loss and estrangement, as well as the power people can exert over others. Even though the stories often deal with dark emotions like shame, Vara manages to bring forth humor and tenderness. The stories are fresh and surprising—one deals with a couple of teenagers auditioning for a job as phone sex operators, another is about an experimental artist trying to replicate Noah’s Ark. But regardless of the subject, under the crackling prose is a glimmer of hope that connection can be salvaged amid alienation.
I Meant It Once
By Kate Doyle
Algonquin Books
Published July 18, 2023
As Arturo Vidich writes in the introduction to the interview we ran with the author, “A good short story can feel like a mystical experience, or leave a reader remorseful, longing. Kate Doyle’s debut is a collection of such stories, linked in subtle ways, that perfectly encapsulate what it’s like to reflect on your youth while you’re still in it. The young women in these stories are on the cusp of changes they’re not sure they want, because to let go of the past would be to lose part of themselves, for better or for worse.” (Also, we ran an excellent essay Kate Doyle wrote about the seriousness of women’s stories.)
Call and Response
By Gothataone Moeng
Viking
Published February 7, 2023
Wallace Stegner fiction fellow recipient Gothataone Moeng’s remarkable debut story collection didn’t receive the attention it deserves. The stories feature women and girls in Botswana—in a village and in the capital city—as they negotiate responsibility, tradition, and modern relationships. There’s a sweeping range to these cinematic and astonishing stories, with incredible scope yet emotional intimacy, making this collection one not to miss.
Enough to Lose
By RS Deeren
Wayne State University Press
Published September 5, 2023
RS Deeren’s debut features much of what we look for in a short story collection. Set in the small Michigan town of Caro, these stories show us a fully realized world of interconnected characters who are fighting to build stable lives for themselves. Deeren brings so much curiosity, care, and love for this often forgotten region, showing both criticism when called for and generosity when needed. And be sure to check out our interview and this book list RS Deeren put together on working-class books.
Wednesday’s Child
By Yiyun Li
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published September 5, 2023
Through the myriad stories in Wednesday’s Child, Yiyun Li examines grief and the effect it has on us like one might examine an uncut gem. The distance she keeps between us and the characters invites us to look deeper than the surface, into the murky depths of human emotion and response. These are not stories of resolving grief so much as learning to live in spite of it, but they show that life is still possible, even when it feels like it isn’t. Wednesday’s Child is a generous, warm read, despite the difficult themes—and one whose weight will be carried long after you close the cover.
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