I have reviewed several short story collections on this blog. However, there is a slight difference this time. Most of the story collections that I have previously reviewed were in Bengali language and all of them were by a specific author. However, the book which I am reviewing today — World’s Most Popular Short Stories — is a collection of short stories by four world famous short story writers. Two of them — O Henry and Saki — wrote in English, whereas Chekhov wrote in Russian and Maupassant in French. Of course, the English translations of the stories of the last two are included in this book.

There are a few points that should be kept in mind while reading or reviewing a book of such nature. First and foremost, it should be kept in mind that the review and criticism is mainly of the book and not the individual writers per se. In other words, it is the compiler and publisher who ought to be reading the review and not the writer (needless to say, as they anyway can’t!).

I have read the Kindle version of this book, so cannot comment on the page quality, font size, typesetting, design and general appearance of the printed version of the book. The e-version is elegant enough, with clear print and font, and modest book cover. There are a few typographical errors, which could have been avoided by another round of proofreading. This was not difficult as the book is only 258 pages long. A noteworthy feature of this book is that the names of the writers whose stories are included in the book are mentioned on the book cover itself. So you already know what to expect and should not be caught by surprise even if you are purchasing it online.

You may ask — why these four writers, what’s so special about them? No doubt, these four writers are indeed counted among the most popular short story writers. O Henry has been widely considered as one of the best short story writers. On the other hand, Chekhov has become a standard for how short stories should be written with articles such as ‘Write Like Chekhov’ appearing every now and then in books and media. So it is not surprising that these four writers are included in the ‘Most Popular’ category as they indeed are. Having said that, it must also be kept in mind that the choice of writers has everything to do with the compiler’s preferences. Another compiler might have included Tolstoy or maybe Turgenev or Gorky. Or maybe some contemporary writer such as Jeffrey Archer instead of the classics included here. And why only men? Aren’t there any women short story writers? Questions and comments such as these will always be put by the readers of this book as long as it is in print.

Next comes the selection of the stories and here the problems only add up. I am at a loss about the criterion followed by the compiler while selecting the stories. The stories are of varied lengths — some too short, some too long. That they are of different moods is understandable as different writers have different perspectives and writing styles. Also, writers like Chekhov try to see the world in all its possibilities. This is what makes reading short stories a colourful experience. However, here the problem lies in proper selection of the stories which could have been given more thought. Stories like The Last Leaf (O Henry) and The Open Window (Saki) have already appeared hundreds of times in nearly all books of these writers, and have already been read and told multiple times. As this book was published in 2020, and is not the first book to explore these writers, it should have considered offering something new to the readers instead of packaging old wine in a new bottle. On the other hand, if the idea is indeed to introduce the readers to the ‘most popular short stories’, even then the selection of stories is misplaced. In other words, if the compiler just wanted to inform the readers about the most popular short stories of the world, then where is the The Gift of the Magi (O Henry) or The Lady With A Dog (Chekhov)?

Finally, the order of the writers could be rearranged to appeal more to the readers. The book starts with Maupassant, and even that with his story The Diamond Necklace. It is good, though predictable. However, the subsequent stories are dull, boring, full of description, but lacking narrative. These have a strong potential to turn off the readers, causing them to either jump to the next story or the next writer, or simply put down the book altogether. Having gone through the complete book, in my opinion the book should have started with O Henry or Chekhov. Even Saki would be good, but certainly not Maupassant, at least not the stories included here.

Each section pertaining to the different writers begins with a brief introduction to the writer and his writing style, followed by his stories. The stories are not the most popular stories of the world, some of them are not even short. The title of the book should have been give more thought.

I intended to use this book for bed-time reading. After all, bed-time stories bring sound and deep sleep. However, with this book in hand. I had difficulty in sleeping.

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Title: World’s Most Popular Short Stories
Publisher: ‎ Srishti Publishers and Distributors
Publication Date: 10 February 2020
Print Length: 258 pages
Price (Kindle): ₹ 199
Price (Paperback): ₹ 295
My Rating:
What Does It Mean?

Source: Ucodesoft