The Best American Short Stories 2000 (The Best American Series)
When a great annual collection comes out, it's hard to know the reason  why. Was there a bumper crop of high-quality stories, or was this year's guest  editor especially gifted at winnowing out the good ones? Either way, the 2000  edition ofThe Best American Short Storiesis a standout in a series that  can be uneven. Its editor, E.L. Doctorow, seems to have a fondness for the "what  if?" story, the kind of tale that posits an imagination-prodding question and  then attempts to answer it. Nathan Englander's "The Gilgul of Park Avenue" asks:  What if a WASPy financial analyst, riding in a cab one day, discovers to his  surprise that he is irrevocably Jewish? In "The Ordinary Son," Ron Carlson asks:  What if you are the only average person in a family of certifiable geniuses? And  Allan Gurganus's "He's at the Office" asks: What if the quintessential postwar  American working man were forced to retire? This last story is narrated by the  man's grown son, who at the story's opening takes his dad for a walk. Though  it's the present day, the father is still dressed in his full 1950s businessman  regalia, including camel-hair overcoat and felt hat. The two walk by a teenager.  "The boy smiled. 'Way bad look on you, guy.'"My father, seeking interpretation, stared at me. I simply shook my  head no. I could not explain Dad to himself in terms of tidal fashion trends.  All I said was "I think he likes you."The exchange typifies the writing showcased in this anthology: in these stories,  again and again, we find a breakdown of human communication that is sprightly,  humorous, and devastatingly complete. A few more of the terrific stories  featured herein: Amy Bloom's "The Story," a goofy metafiction about a villainous  divorcee; Geoffrey Becker's "Black Elvis," which tells of, well, a black Elvis;  and Jhumpa Lahiri's "The Third and Final Continent," a story of an Indian man  who moves to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Like the collection itself, Lahiri's  story amasses a lovely, funny mood as it goes along.--Claire Dederer