I’ve been reading the Pushcart Prize series since it started in 1976. As the years went by, the volume grew and grew. This 2014 edition is 653 pages! As usual, I found the poetry awful. I can’t recommend any of the poems. The fiction in this volume is mediocre. But the essays are great! I loved “Human Snowball” by Davy Rothbart where Rothbart travels to Buffalo, NY to try to reconnect with his high school sweetheart. Charles Baxter’s “What Happens in Hell” tells the disasterous story of Baxter’s trip to L.A. “The Healing” by Howard Norman centers around the murder/suicide that occurred in Norman’s house. “Father of Disorder” by Jessica Wilbanks interweaves entropy with the author’s dysfunctional family. Andre Dubus III’s “Writing & Publishing a Memoir: What the Hell Have I Done?” relates what happens on Dubus’ book tour (it isn’t pretty). Hal Crowther writes “Out of Date: The Joys of Obsolescence” that captures what every 60-year-old feels. Finally, “The Gentleman’s Library, A Nowaday Redux” by Bill Cotter describes a dream job: building a private reading library for a patron. Marvelous! So I can only recommend about a third of this collection. But, your mileage may vary.
The essays sound worth reading to me. And I’d recommend that Dubus memoir highly.
Jeff, the Dubus essay was one of my favorites in this anthology. I’ll have to look for the memoir.
I wonder why the fiction is so blah. That’s disappointing. Have you always found it to be mediocre or is this volume unusual?
I think, from reviews I’ve read, that the quality of the Pushcart collections has deteriorated steadily over the last two (maybe more?) decades.
Patti, I have always found the fiction and especially the poetry in these PUSHCART PRIZE anthologies to be week. The essays, almost always, are very good.
Rick, the early PUSHCART PRIZE anthologies were half their present mammoth size and were twice as good. Less is more in this case.
I hate week poetry, too. It’s interminable.
Oops, Bob! I meant weak. Freudian slip…