Selected Stories From the O. Henry Prize Stories 2002

By: Larry Dark, Dave Eggers, Joyce Carol Oates

Narrated by: Ron McLarty, David Pittu, Barbara Caruso

Established early in the last century as a memorial to O. Henry, this annual collection has consistently offered a remarkable sampling of contemporary short stories. Each year stories are chosen from large and small literary magazines and a panel of distinguished writers is enlisted to award the top prizes. The result is a superb collection of inventive, full-bodied stories representing the very best in American and Canadian fiction.

Stories included are:

• The Ceiling by Kevin Brockmeier
• Scordatura by Mark Ray Lewis
• The Butcher's Wife by Louise Erdrich
• Do Not Disturb by A. M. Homes
• Memento Mori by Jonathan Nolan
• Charity by Richard Ford
• Good Old Neon by David Foster Wallace

  The O. Henry Prize Stories 2002 is available in print from Anchor Books.

©2002 by Anchor Books, a Division of Random House, Inc.
(P)2002 Random House Inc.

Critic reviews

"Interesting and unconventional." (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Great Read

If you like short stories, the kind that gets published in prestigious literary magazines and literary journals, reading the O Henry Prize Stories is a must.

Of course it's all a matter of taste (as far as which stories you like) but if you're like me, a writer, who's learning how to write good short stories, then it's highly beneficial to hear these short stories read.

Well done, maybe they'll do audio versions for the Pushcart Prize Stories too?

10 yard penalty... unecessary roughness!

Stories OK, just hard to listen to hours of 4 letter prose!

Brilliant!

Brilliant!

mixed bag

Although this certainly has its high points, I found them to be too few and far between, and often found myself feeling impatient and anxious for it to be over.

Miserable, dark and disturbing stories

After listening to the first half of this book, I simply had to put it away - forever! With each story I became more confused and depressed. The tales seemed to just end, out of the blue, leaving me stranded in a pool of despair. What point was each author trying to convey? Several naratives began with a brief explanation that would have been more useful at the end of each story. By the time I had finished each one, I simply didn't have the energy to rewind and re-listen to the synopsis to sort it out. I just wanted it to be over. Unless you enjoy reading torturous sagas, pass this one up.

Not particularly entertaining

Although the narrators did a fine job with the material, the stories were neither engaging or moving. The only technical issue I had with this selection was that there was little or no pause between stories, and the later stories had no introduction, which could be confusing. A few times, it took me a moment to realize that one story had finished and an entirely different one had started.