The Best American Short Stories, ed. by Junot Diaz (2016)

The title best describes the intent of this series, presented in its current format with a "name" guest editor, since 1978. 

Book review: The Best American Short Stories 2016, that ambitious claim assumes a significant responsibility. When Junot Diaz, author of the beyond brilliant The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, was announced as the editor for 2016 my hopes were raised, but this installment was disappointing. There are some notable names: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Louise Erdrich, Lauren Groff, John Edgar Wideman. There are some good stories: "Wonders of the Shore" by Andrea Barrett (so aware), "The Prospectors" by Karen Russell (my favorite), "On This Side" by Yuko Sakata (so good), or "Williamsburg Bridge" by John Edgar Wideman (or is this my favorite?). But it's hard to accept that this book contains the best short stories of the year from U.S. and Canadian magazines (no Canadian magazines included -- sorry), because then it must've been a bad year for the form. About a third of the stories seemed successful, but too many seemed incomplete or the product of an undergraduate writing workshop, when young writers believe they're the first people to have ever experienced life and write about it. Some seemed like medicine: read this because it's good for you. Diaz is to be acknowledged for giving young writers publicity, but the intent here is to identify the best stories in the country, not up and coming authors; there are other outlets for that. This series should be, like the New York Times, the publication of record. Thirty years from now researchers should be able to look back and use The Best American Short Stories as the barometer of what was considered good writing in 2016, and I don't want to believe that the short story has fallen on such hard times. Sure there are interesting ideas, good sections, nice lines, insightful sketches, but are these really the best stories written? My other regret is that I don't have the time or money to read all 3,000+ stories that Ms. Pitlor does annually, so I rely on this book to give me what I should've read during the year. I scour used-book shops looking for back copies of The Best American Short Stories, because of the usual high quality of this series, which may be the reason for some of my personal disappointment here. Every year this should be a 5-Star book. I'm not saying you won't find stories to enjoy, just that it may be about a third, even though we all enjoy different flavors. There was an interesting series of doubles here: two stories each about a parent reacting badly to a child's problem, suicides from heights, thieving couples, bored affairs. Thirteen stories here are by women, seven by male authors, about the same ratio as last year. Undoubtedly there's something here for you, as long as you're willing to read through the rest. [3 Stars]