The Best American Short Stories 2024

Every collection of the Best American Short Stories carries a tone and theme in its own. The 2024 edition is a diverse collection of lived experiences across place and time. Every orientation, gender, race, class, and circumstance is represented and explored. Guest Editor Lauren Groff has carved out an edition that stands out. Every story offers powerful commentary on the shortfalls of modern life and struggling with one’s own lived experience. My favorite quote from the collection perfectly captures the the malaise of modernity. “America unfurled in every direction…Even the homeless pushed shopping carts here.” – Alexis, “Democracy in America.” For all the progress, the absurd remains. Many of the stories offer a first person perspective which makes one wonder where memoir ends and fiction begins. I tired to select some favorite stories from the collection but the reading truly got better and better as you go along. This collection reaffirmed why the short story is my favorite form of story telling. Brief vignettes into the lives of others while still managing to say something profound.