The best stories are those that tap into what it intrinsically means to be human. By doing so, we’re connected not only with the characters but also with our fellow readers.
Even the stories that seem out-of-this-world, with settings and characters that differ vastly from our own reality can do this. In fact, sometimes it’s these outlandish stories that hit closest to home.
Below you’ll find seven collections of short stories that do just this — explore our individual and shared experiences, revealing what it truly means to be human in the most unusual ways.
Witness by Jamel Brinkley
National Book Award finalist Jamel Brinkley’s second collection of short stories captures what it means to be human across ten distinct yet interconnected narratives. Set amidst the dynamic New York City landscape, Brinkley explores our actions — taken and not taken — alongside our innate desire to be seen and our constant struggle to see others.
The stories retain their individuality while contributing to the larger theme collectively — a group of teens living in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood as they themselves confront the coming transition out of high school; a little girl in Crown Heights noticing how the unusual weather is impacting her familial traditions as her family barrels towards a massive change; a mother living in a cramped apartment struggling to understand her daughter. (Read the full BookTrib review.)
Aldek’s Bestiary by Romuald Roman
Appearing in English for the first time, Romuald Roman’s collection of 21 connected short stories serves as an unofficial study into the psyche of beloved animals and pets — and humanity. By working animals into his various narratives, he not only portrays them with human-like qualities but positions them as key figures in helping us understand the fragile human mind and its many foibles.
The fiction stories almost read like an autobiography, some tying in political and social issues of the times, all strung together with one animal or pet as the thread. He divides the chapters into stories from Poland, from Philadelphia, about his dog Roxy, and about his wife Marta. The author peppers us with dogs, marmots, weasels, cats, sparrowhawks and others, as well as a chapter devoted to a human animal, a handyman who can fix anything but whose vices compromise his well-being. (Read the full BookTrib review.)
Life and Other Shortcomings by Corie Adjmi
Corie Adjmi’s debut collection of 12 interconnected short stories explores women’s lives from New Orleans to New York City to Madrid, from 1970 to the present day. Providing both a cautionary tale and captivating window into women’s lives, Adjmi portrays the patriarchy and the female experience in an honest, incisive and compelling way.
These women navigate treacherous journeys through landscapes rife with misogyny and physical and psychological abuse, all making different choices: some work, others don’t; some stay married, some get divorced; others never marry at all. Through each character’s story, truths are revealed about what defines womanhood — through their relationships, in their particular culture and era — and how these conditions affect how she views herself.
Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood
At 83, Margaret Atwood has seen more than her fair share of good fortune and tragedy to know a thing or two about the subject. In her first collection of short stories since 2014, Atwood fully embraces the complicated discussion of old age, looking deeply into the heart of family relationships, marriage, loss and memory, and what it means to spend a life together.
Atwood often plays around with perceived realities: the story of a parted soul previously encased in a shell-bound snail, but recently transferred into a young woman of low corporate standing; a future plague that makes kissing a fatal pastime; a psychic-conducted Q and A with the late George Orwell. Atwood also dives into family: a mother’s witchy tales become her life; friends reminisce and joke about old age; new widows discuss the “curious folding nature of time” amid their grief. (Read the full BookTrib review.)
There Go I by Bill VanPatten
In his new collection of short stories, Bill VanPatten rips the bandage off lifestyles, emotions and not-so-well-kept secrets in and around small-town California. His stories often feature recurring themes, touching upon everything from the sexual to the racial to the religious to the traditional.
As an #OwnVoices author, gay and Latino characters are central to VanPatten’s fiction, and he tackles their issues with such variety: how a dying man addresses what he now finds to be his husband’s infidelity for 20 years; a man pondering coming on to a woman at a bar who he learns is transgender; gay love in the office; twin brothers who share a secret; a tomboy who idolizes Amelia Earhart; and unapproving parents at every turn. (Read the full BookTrib review.)
Heartbroke by Chelsea Bieker
Against the backdrop of an unrelenting California sun, Chelsea Bieker reveals a world of loss and love. Across the sprawling Californian landscape, eleven stories follow characters seeking or sabotaging love, often naïve young women flattened by poverty and desperate to cling to whatever helps them make sense of the world.
A woman steals a baby from a shelter in an attempt to recover her own lost motherhood. A phone-sex operator sees divine opportunity when a lavender-eyed cowboy walks into her life. A mother and a son selling dream catchers along a highway that leads to a toxic beach manifest two young documentary filmmakers into their realm. And two teenage girls play a dangerous online game with destiny.
The Angel of Rome: And Other Stories by Jess Walter
Jess Walter’s latest collection is a marvelous gem filled with humor, poignancy, heart and wisdom chiefly written in first-person narration by relatable, well-depicted characters. These twelve stories confidently illustrate and honor the seven ages of man from early childhood to old age, infirmity and death with grace and integrity, examining how each protagonist grapples with their role and purpose in life.
Most of the stories are set in Spokane or have characters born there, starring ordinary working-class people living out their lives, coping with family dramas and searching for existential meaning. A barista crashes a film wrap-up party departing with the unnamed star for a one-night stand. A man moves back home to care for his aging yet rambunctious father who is displaying signs of dementia. A successful screenwriter looks back at the life-changing coming-of-age year he spent in Italy. (Read the full BookTrib review.)
