Two Compelling Short Story Collections

Short stories are often harder to write about than novels or memoirs, as one cannot be as specific about the plot, character, settings, etc. when there are a dozen or so separate stories to describe. I remember that my former reading group used to have the same issue -- difficulty knowing what to focus on -- when we discussed short story collections. Of course there are usually things to say about themes, topics, and styles that are true across the stories of a collection. And regular readers of this blog know that I am a big fan of short stories. In this post I will very briefly describe and recommend two recent short story collections that I have particularly admired and enjoyed. The first is “The Office of Historical Corrections: A Novella and Stories” (Riverhead, 2020), by Danielle Evans. This is a book that will make any reader sit up and take decided note. The stories, mostly about African American women, are powerful, original, astringent, relatable (even when the reader has no obvious overlap with the characters’ defining qualities), sometimes humorous, and definitely very frank. Caroline Kim’s “The Prince of Mournful Thoughts and Other Stories” (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020) features very different locales, time periods, and characters, focusing on Korean and Korean-American characters (often but not always women) from ancient Korea to the present. Yet there are commonalities between the two books. Both feature vividly described, intense experiences and emotions. In both, readers learn about cultures that may (or may not) be different from their own, but are also universal in some ways. I sometimes think I overuse the adjective “compelling” when I write about books, but the word certainly aptly describes both of these excellent collections. I promise you that you will find each of them engaging and rewarding.