Top ten short stories

 
 

TOP TEN SHORT STORIES

I’ve been wanting to do a Top Ten about short stories for a long time. I love and I hate short stories. When they are done right, they are perfect. They reveal to you a world you did not know existed. They are, as Jacqueline Woodson says, like a match in the dark; they reveal a little but point you towards all the details still in the dark.

 But there are so many bad ones. Sometimes many of us despair and give up, stop reading short stories completely. 

 Please don’t! This is my attempt to entice you back to this story telling form that, I believe, is the most perfect of all. For the last few weeks, I’ve asked myself the question: if somebody asked you to tell them what was the short story that left the most impact on you, what would you tell them, without thinking about it?

 I immediately thought of seven. I spent the next three weeks reading and re-reading quite a few to fill the remaining three spots. Here are the top ten (in no particular order) that I would recommend without hesitation:  

 

1.     A Jury of her Peers by Susan Glaspell

A man is strangled to death while his wife sleeps next to him. While the sheriff tries to investigate the murder, his wife and a neighbour discover clues unnoticed by the men.

A brilliant piece, ever so slowly revealing the embers of rage burning below the surface.

 

2.     So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan

Is there anything I can say about this story that hasn’t been said by almost everyone already? We follow a man on the day he was meant to get married. The reader, if not the main protagonist, is slowly exposed to the dynamics and reasons why the bride decided not to follow through with the wedding.

Similar to Glaspell’s piece, the unveiling of the deeper truth is masterly achieved, one small step at a time, to allow the reader to be baffled by how all the small pieces make an overwhelming statement and indictment, in both cases, on the men in our lives.

 

3.     The Wind by Lauren Groff

This story about a mother trying to flee an abusive marriage with her children, is told from the perspective of the daughter who tells it to her own daughter as a grown up.

Even now, as I’m typing this, my heart is gripped with anxiety for the mother’s efforts, her passionate hope for a better life.

 

4.     Who will Greet You at Home by Lesley
Nneka Arimah

A young African woman lives in a world in which mothers must create babies out of everyday materials (mud, yarn, clay, etc.) and nurture them for a year before the babies can come to life as flesh and blood babies. She sweeps the hair in a hair salon and uses it to create those babies. But things never go quite according to plan.

Part fable, part horror story, imbued with magical realism, this story gripped me like no other. No matter how fantastical the elements in the story, they ring more true than anything you’ve seen on the news.

 

5.     Xingu by Edith Wharton 

As an Edith Wharton reader, you will be familiar with the society presented here. A set of ridiculously rich as well as pretentious ladies form a united group at their lunch and literature group meetings against a newcomer, until the day a well known writer comes to the luncheon, and all they talk about is Xingu.

A delicious satire that makes you want to be there and witness the cringe. It is my favourite Edith Wharton piece.

 

6.     The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
by Ursula K LeGuin

This story is about a fictional society where everything is perfect. Everyone is happy. Well, except for one person, a child. A child that has been burdened with all the suffering so that everyone else can be happy.

It is chillingly dark and touches on the core of our beings, our essence. Are we prepared for others to suffer so that we can be happy? 

 

7.     Recitatif by Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison wrote only one short story, but it is a brilliant one.

It is about two girls who meet at an orphanage; one is white, one is black. They meet several times over their lifetime. At no stage is it clear who is white and who is black. In addition, they are troubled by a memory that may be a false memory or not.

It is masterfully construed to allow us to really look into the eye of race and see it for what it is: a social construct.

 

8.     The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte
Perkins Gilman

This story is written as journal entries by a woman who is seemingly in a holiday house with her husband after giving birth. The woman is grateful that her husband takes her postpartum depression seriously but is also wondering if there is more behind his instructions not to write although she loves to write.

An excellent psychological thriller/horror story before that term had been invented.

 

9.     The Lottery by Shirley Jackson 

The story revolves around ‘the lottery,’ an event when all inhabitants gather and a ‘winner’ is chosen randomly from the box.

The slow build up is done so masterfully that even the most mundane actions acquire an element of horror hard to explain. Jackson does not disappoint when the story reaches its climax. You were right to be afraid.

10.  Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl

The pregnant main protagonist leads the doctor, the two detectives and the photographer around the house after she finds her husband dead, all the while making dinner – a leg of lamb.

I know it’s no longer fashionable to like Roald Dahl, but he really is a terrific storyteller.  The story has all the elements I love – an intriguing main (female) character, bumbling and yet so macho-macho men, a twist and a satisfying ending. What else can you ask for?

  

HAVE YOU GOT A SHORT STORY THAT IMMEDIATELY COMES TO MIND?

 
 
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