Final New Yorker short stories of 2024
Lorrie Moore, "Dance in America," "Paper Losses," "Community Life" - These were the first stories I listened to on pram walks postpartum. The first two, I barely registered, because I was pretty much losing my mind, absolutely shellshocked, and it's a wonder I was able to find it in me to press 'play' on my phone. I've probably read a few if not all of these stories before, as they're compiled in collections I've read previously like Birds in America, Like Life, etc (a good 15 years ago though! I didn't remember ANY of these). "Dance in America" is about a dance teacher visiting an old friend with a sick child (literally had to google this in order to remember), "Paper Losses" is about a disintegrating marriage. "Community Life" by far made the biggest impression on me, about a Romanian woman who emigrates to Vermont and deals with a shitty pretentious boyfriend. This was definitely the story in which I realised wow, okay, I finally have got my brain back and am able to engage with fiction again! Thank God!
Haruki Murakami, “Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey" - this story was amazing, definitely one of the best I've read this year, with a really terrific discussion by Rebecca Curtis. Curtis talks about how Murakami is a writer who makes you want to write, and as a writer that's something you REALLY come to value. I couldn't agree with her more! I loved the strangeness of this story, its unexpected turns. How could you not love a talking monkey in a story? I also love that it's a sequel to a previous story. God, I think Murakami is just SO good; if anything he is underrated.
Murakami, "UFO in Kushiro" - This was also really good, a story from After the Quake. I liked the dark weird sexual stuff, and the mysterious box in which we didn't know what was being delivered. I unfortunately didn't absorb much of the discussion with Bryan Washington because I made the mistake of listening to it during a late night "trying to put the baby to sleep" session.
Tessa Hadley, "The Maths Tutor" - An excellent story that started me on my Hadley binge, in which I'm still immersed (listening to The Past on audiobook currently). I love stories that explore the theme of the life not lived, which seems to be a key Hadley theme.
"The Abduction"- Another one of the best stories I read/listened to this year. What a story this is!! Entertaining and unpredictable and also deeply, incredibly moving in the final paragraph. A great and upsetting coming of age tale. The discussion with Ayşegül Savaş is fantastic - I'm not familiar with her work and want to listen to her short stories next.
"Vincent's Party" - The Hadley binge continues. This was historical fiction, set after the war, and according to the author interview is part of a novella, which explains why it felt a bit incomplete to me, like there was a lot more of these characters' stories that could be told. The final paragraph is great, though.
"After the Funeral", "The Bunty Club", "Dido's Lament", "Funny Little Snake", "Cecilia Awakened," "The Other One," "Coda" - Obsessed with reading more Hadley, I read After the Funeral from the library, simultaneously listening to the ones that were available on the podcast. Out of the New Yorker stories compiled within, "Dido's Lament," "Funny Little Snake," and "Coda" are by far the best. "Coda" is a great lockdown story about spying on your neighbour, a mother-daughter relationship, and Madame Bovary (it's also a great example of how well Hadley writes about imagination and desire). "Funny Little Snake" reminded me of Flannery O'Connor in terms of the drama, and The Graduate-like ending - I really like how Hadley does both plot and character. "Dido's Lament" is SUCH a good character story in terms of the two different POVs - both characters are portrayed pretty devastatingly.
The other four stories listed above range from good to meh, but I wanted to focus on the three I thought were true standouts.
All in all Hadley is 100% a master, I don't understand why she hasn't won a major prize.
Daisy Hildyard, "Revision" - A great story to end the year on. I like how Hildyard acknowleges that Oxford stories are a bit 'meh' (my honest feeling at the story's beginning) but I really, really liked the direction this went in. The concluding paragraphs, with the shifts in perspective, are fantastic, and I also like how the story is driven by the dramatic question of what Gabriel will choose to do.
And that's a wrap! 52 stories, one for each week of the year. I think I will continue listening to/reading New Yorker short stories in 2025 because I've enjoyed doing it this year so much, but I also have SO MUCH LESS TIME THAN I USED TO, so we'll just see what happens.