31 Days of Stories 2021, Day 24: “The Americans” by Viet Thanh Nguyen
The interplay among the characters in Nguyen’s story dramatizes the prickly concerns that crop up in the face of cultural conflicts and commingled histories.
A Blog About Books and Reading
A Blog About Books and Reading
The interplay among the characters in Nguyen’s story dramatizes the prickly concerns that crop up in the face of cultural conflicts and commingled histories.
Diane Schoemperlen’s plaintive tale is about what happens when youthful promise gives way to the creeping disillusion of adulthood.
A fantastical story with origins in myth and fairy tale, Aiken’s narrative imagines the world’s greatest Shakespearean actor as a werewolf.
One of Faulkner’s most exuberant tales, this story of poetic revenge is also uproariously funny.
Eva Crocker’s dual father-and-son narration draws parallels between two characters trapped in their own lives.
Sofi Papamarko’s superhero origin story takes a little-known historical tragedy and imagines a different outcome.
The term “splatterpunk” refers to a highly disreputable, extreme subgenre of graphic horror, but its best practitioners do much more with the form.
Kavan’s story is typical of her technical approach, which telescopes time and proceeds in a kind of modified stream-of-consciousness narration.
Valerie Martin’s long story is about a poisonous artistic rivalry.
Two time Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Vassanji’s story is about missed opportunities and unfulfilled dreams.