I write short stories (even had a few published). I read short stories. I critique short story collections (for the The Short Review, www.theshortreview.com). I imagine several dozen if not close to a hundred pass my eyes each year.
“Another Manhattan” by Donald Antrim is one of the best short stories published in the last […]
I write short stories (even had a few published). I read short stories. I critique short story collections (for the The Short Review, www.theshortreview.com). I imagine several dozen if not close to a hundred pass my eyes each year.
“Another Manhattan” by Donald Antrim is one of the best short stories published in the last five years. I would say “ever” but I don’t want to be one of those “instant classic” types. Saying almost anything about this story would be saying too much unless you’ve read it. So I will only repeat here what I wrote to the author on his Facebook page:
“Every time I read it, I feel those characters vibrating on a Richter scale of their own undoing. ” I should have added, from the opening sentence.
Of course, take my bias into consideration. Look at the photo on the home page of this blog. Unequivocally, I am a miserable failure at trying to think of myself as an ex-New Yorker. Still, this story could only be set in Manhattan. And if you’ve ever spent time there, lived there, or dreamed of there, I think you’ll know what I’m talking about.
I’d like to avoid a one-way opinion piece on the story. I would like to “talk” about the story with others. It was published in The New Yorker (December 22 & 29, 2008). Read it (http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2008/12/22/081222fi_fiction_antrim) and, if you don’t mind, come back and let me know. If you’ve read it, blog away!
This guy is worth your time.
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- Error gathering analytics data from Google: Error 404 (Not Found)!!1 *{margin:0;padding:0}html,code{font:15px/22px arial,sans-serif}html{background:#fff;color:#222;padding:15px}body{margin:7% auto 0;max-width:390px;min-height:180px;padding:30px 0 15px}* > body{background:url(//www.google.com/images/errors/robot.png) 100% 5px no-repeat;padding-right:205px}p{margin:11px 0 22px;overflow:hidden}ins{color:#777;text-decoration:none}a img{border:0}@media screen and (max-width:772px){body{background:none;margin-top:0;max-width:none;padding-right:0}}#logo{background:url(//www.google.com/images/branding/googlelogo/1x/googlelogo_color_150x54dp.png) no-repeat;margin-left:-5px}@media only screen and (min-resolution:192dpi){#logo{background:url(//www.google.com/images/branding/googlelogo/2x/googlelogo_color_150x54dp.png) no-repeat 0% 0%/100% 100%;-moz-border-image:url(//www.google.com/images/branding/googlelogo/2x/googlelogo_color_150x54dp.png) 0}}@media only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio:2){#logo{background:url(//www.google.com/images/branding/googlelogo/2x/googlelogo_color_150x54dp.png) no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:100% 100%}}#logo{display:inline-block;height:54px;width:150px} 404. That’s an error. The requested URL /analytics/v2.4/data?ids=ga:66373148&metrics=ga:pageviews&filters=ga%3ApagePath%3D%7E%2Ftag%2Fmanhattan%2F.%2A&start-date=2024-11-25&end-date=2024-12-25 was not found on this server. That’s all we know.
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