Breaking down ‘Best’ collections
Every year the “Best American” collections offer a tasty sampling of essays, short stories, travel writing, even comics. It’s like a literary box of chocolates. USA TODAY dips into four diverse titles.
The Best American Short Stories 2017
Meg Wolitzer, guest editor Mariner, 280 pp.
The 2016 election is very much on the mind of guest editor Meg Wolitzer in her introduction to the Best American Short
Stories. But if any theme emerges strongly here, it’s not angst about our current president. Rather it’s sex, sexuality and every storyteller’s favorite meme, ambiguity. In Chad B. Anderson’s “Maidencane,” a young Baltimore man seems untroubled by juggling both a girlfriend and a boyfriend. In Jai Chakrabarti’s “A Small Sacrifice for an Enormous Happiness,” a gay man in India, his male lover and his lover’s wife engage in a delicate dance of deception. In Leopoldine Core’s “Hog for Sorrow,” a young, well-educated prostitute carries a torch for a female co-worker. Many of these stories, while well-written, are downers. For comic relief, try T.C. Boyle’s “Are We Not Men?,” about a future in which genetic engineering has produced creepy superkids and creatures such as “crowparrots” that scream obscenities at passers-by. It’s a satirical gem, if a tad frightening. Seems that’s where we find ourselves in late 2017. — McClurg
The Best American Travel Writing 2017
Lauren Collins, guest editor Mariner, 285 pp.
This year’s travel writing offers an escape from the political with stories of adventure, genealogy, manual labor, humanism and escape. A mission to Bolivia solves a decades-old mystery but creates a new cold case (Peter FrickWright’s “Cliffhanger”); an exploration of Native American culture in Cherokee, N.C., evaluates the limits of authenticity (Stephanie Elizondo Griest’s “Chiefing in Cherokee”); and a casually undercover pilgrimage to Israel unearths common ground on holy land (Tom Bissell’s “My Holy Land Vacation”). Collins’ curation includes the recount of a Plumeria conference (Gwendolyn Knapp’s “Plum Crazy”) and a soccer team’s risk (Alexis Okeowo’s “The Away Team”). Travel fiends will find fuel for discussion on topics such as language barriers and social media, and likely relate to circumstances that transform our view of template for how travelers travel. Tales from hunting whales (Saki Knafo’s “Waiting on a Whale at the End of the World”) to cleaning cemeteries (Randall Kenan’s “Finding the Forgotten”) remind us that journeys have little to do with GPS. — Day
The Best American Essays 2017
Leslie Jamison, guest editor Mariner, 282 pp.
In the introduction to this year’s collection, American novelist Leslie Jamison works to answer the question: Why does the essay matter? She wonders if such a broken nation has use for this particular art form. After some reflection, she concludes: “An essay doesn’t simply transcribe the world, it finds the world.” In other words, essays matter quite a lot. In the pages that follow, readers will encounter a remarkably diverse anthology. In “Cost of Living,” Emily Maloney reveals how a suicide attempt plunged her into debt. In “White Horse,” Eliese Goldbach affirms the insidiousness of rape culture through a visceral narration of her own assault and its aftermath. Greg Marshall’s “If I Only Had a Leg” is a witty and touching mediation on how precarious coming of age is for the misfits among us. These essays challenge personal and political assumptions and show us life in all it complexities and contradictions. Which in this American moment, and in every other, matters. — Dastagir
The Best American Comics 2017
Ben Katchor, guest editor Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 371 pp.
This year’s roundup of indie comics from graphic novels, magazines and the Internet is a mix of the surreal and the real. There are plenty of oddities in this latest collection — Ben Duncan’s “Get In Where U Fit In” imagines a guy trying to find his way in an orgy where everybody looks like a balloon animal. Kim Deitch’s “Shrine of the Monkey God” revolves around a legend of primates from space. The more down-toEarth stuff plays best, such as Mike Taylor’s slice-of-life “Ranchero” centering on delinquent teen girls. The Trump era is well-represented with Eli Valley’s “Schlonged!,” a grotesquerie about the president’s obsession with size, and Sam Alden’s “Test of Loyalty,” in which an illegal immigrant’s coworkers rally around her. And the autobiographical entries are great: Dapper Bruce Lafitte’s “I Am Better Than Picasso” artistically chronicles Muhammad Ali’s boxing career, and excerpts from Ed Piskor’s “Hip Hop Family Tree” offer tales of Ice-T and the making of seminal rap movie Krush Groove. — Truitt