A review by crispymerola
The Best Short Stories 2021: The O. Henry Prize Winners by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Pretty solid collection - To The Dogs and From Far Around They Saw Us Burn are the big standouts for me. I quite enjoyed Brown Girls, Grief's Garden, and Two Nurses, Smoking as well. 

White Noise is trying so hard to be an incisive and timely look at Harvey Weinstein but fails on the details, can't believe the literati got hoodwinked by such an outsider piece. 

Really dug the intro where the picking criteria was explored, as well as the q&a section with each of the authors. 

On the whole, something about these picks feel overly considered, somehow both cheeky and self-important - awards tend to be that way, in any medium or industry.