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The Best American Essays 2011 (The Best American Series) 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

by Edwidge Danticat (Editor), Robert Atwan (Editor) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 30 ratings
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The acclaimed author of Breath, Eyes, Memory presents an anthology of personal essays by Hilton Als, Christopher Hitchens, Zadie Smith and others.

In her selection process for this sterling volume, Edwidge Danticat considers the inherent vulnerability of the essay form—a vulnerability that seems all the more present in today’s spotlighted public square. As she says in her introduction, “when we insert our ‘I’ (our eye) to search deeper into someone, something, or ourselves, we are always risking a yawn or a slap, indifference or disdain.”

Here are intimate personal essays that examine a range of vital topics, from cancer diagnosis to police brutality, and from devastating natural disasters to the dilemmas of modern medicine. All in all, “the brave voices behind these experiences keep the pages turning” (Kirkus Reviews).

The Best American Essays 2011 includes entries by Hilton Als, Katy Butler, Toi Derricotte, Christopher Hitchens, Pico Iyer, Charlie LeDuff, Chang-Rae Lee, Lia Purpura, Zadie Smith, Reshma Memon Yaqub, and others.
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  1. ISBN-10
    9780547678436
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0547479774
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publisher
    Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. Publication date
    October 4, 2011
  7. Part of series
    The Best American: Essays
  8. Language
    English
  9. File size
    2124 KB
  10. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005GLXUYQ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1st edition (October 4, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 4, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2124 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 327 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 30 ratings

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
30 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Glenda
5.0 out of 5 stars Puzzling Out the Human Condition
Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2012
Verified Purchase
I picked up this book for my Advanced Writing class at college. I had never actually read many essays. I'm not sure if I'd have really known what an essay was if it bit me in the tukus. That being said, this book and the class I'm taking, has opened me up to a wonderful new world of writing. Each essay is trying to further puzzle out the human condition. I'm no philosopher, and I generally find it frustrating to let questions spin and spin around in my head when they can't be answered. For some reason, the essays in this book actually empower me. It's the darnedest thing because I'm not easily motivated. They make me want to write. I do write every day now. It's my dream to one day be published in this book.
3 people found this helpful
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Greg Linster
4.0 out of 5 stars As Usual, A Nice Collection of Essays
Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2013
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Most guest editors in "The Best American Essays" series have done a fantastic job curating. In 2011, Edwidge Danticat was no exception. One of the great things about the format of this series is that you are bound to be introduced to some incredible essays; unfortunately, you'll also likely encounter a few that don't quite fit your tastes. As is usually the case with this series, Danticat picked some powerful and moving essays, but I was disappointed with a handful of her other picks as well. The following essays were my favorites: "What Broke My Father's Heart" by Katy Butler, "What Killed Aiyana Stanley-Jones" by Charlie LeDuff, and "Generation Why?" by Zadie Smith.
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raquelita
5.0 out of 5 stars Reflections of Two Dozen of Our Best Non-Fiction Writers
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2014
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I'm still reading it but I'm learning so much about writing and the writers' themes, ranging from inner silence (Iyer) to death in Detroit (LeDuff) that I can hardly put it down. I live in Mexico, have fallen in love with the works of Latin American writers but this book makes me proud of our writers north of the border.
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William L. Gordon
5.0 out of 5 stars Worth Reading
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2013
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This collection of essays was great. All were interesting. This book was worth the money I paid for it. I hope to pursue more of these annual collections.
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Jeri
4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable Year
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2014
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The 2011 edition struck me as being a bit stronger than the past couple of years, but then again, the annual contents of this anthology are always a bit subjective. I particularly enjoyed the serious tone of "What Broke my Father's Heart" and the implications it raises for an aging population and quality of life. Another favorite for me was "Beds" due to its episodic nature and haunting tone.
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Iraj Isaac Rahmim
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best reads of the year...
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2011
Verified Purchase
The Best American Essays is one of the best reads, year-after-year. Containing 15-20 essays on fascinating topics and, all, brilliantly written. And now, available on the Kindle too (and voice-enabled).

Very highly recommended.
11 people found this helpful
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Soozie
5.0 out of 5 stars neccessary reading
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2014
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These collections are wonderful. Get a glimpse of the best and the brightest and when you are done look for more that these great writers have written.
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Caraculiambro
1.0 out of 5 stars a lean year, judging by what we have here
Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2012
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"Buddy Ebsen," by Hilton Als. Incontinent and gimmicky essay about the forces that have shaped the author's personality -- mainly "queers." More of a list than an essay: am I, the reader, really expected to supply all of the author's meanings for him? Good example of literary prestidigitation: this is what happens when connotations are asked to bear too great a load.

"Port-au-Prince: The Moment," by Mischa Berlinski. Largely forgettable depiction of a surreal landscape. The author happened to be in Haiti when the recent temblor hit. Berlinski seems unsure what to do with the material.

"What Broke My Father's Heart," by Katy Butler. Yowch. Difficult-to-take essay about the author's attempt to either remove her father's pacemaker or disable it so he can die.

"Auscultation," Steven Church. An appreciation of the stethoscope and mechanically-aided listening in general. When you reflect that that stuff about the miners was pretty much shoehorned in, you realize the author ain't got much.

"After the Ice," by Paul Crenshaw. A worthy, though occasionally wobbly essay wherein the author mediates on the violent, pointless death of a nephew and what it might mean.

"Beds," by Toi Derricotte. What crud. How did this get in here? The author begins by cataloging beds she's slept in but drifts into the relatively uninteresting tale of how her father abused her. An undisciplined and logorrheic essay masquerading as a carefully focused one. The author is still hiding behind words.

"Grieving," by Meenakshi Gigi Durham. Compelling and memorable essay about how the author's husband was denied tenure. After having their lives ripped inside-out, the couple sees the decision reversed.

"A-LOC," by Bernadette Esposito. Incoherent and annoying essay about plane crashes. The essay is so elliptical and time-jumpy that even after reading it carefully I'm not sure if the author was actually in a plane crash, trained about what to do if she were in one, dreamt she had been in one, or some combination of the three.

"Topic of Cancer," by Christopher Hitchens. The best essay in this book: Hitchens effortlessly out-writes everybody else, recounting his transition from the state of feeling completely healthy to the state where you are certainly gravely ill. You feel like you're in the room with him.

"Chapels," Pico Iyer. An appreciation of the silence and spirituality that fill chapels and other spiritual structures. It's an okay essay, but saying that chapels are infused with a special magic is not the same thing as conveying that special magic on the page, something I don't think Iyer does very well.

"Long Distance," Victor LaValle. Intriguing essay about the author's losing a ton of weight and his struggle to re-conceptualize himself after having done so.

"What Killed Aiyana Stanley-Jones?" by Charlie LeDuff. The piece, combining personal rumination with investigative journalism, attempts, languidly, to get to the bottom of a senseless, violent death of a Detroit girl. Upon finishing, one is left with the feeling that you can never really get at a satisfying WHY, regardless of how much gumshoeing one does. But since that was everybody's initial assumption anyhow, it's not clear to me what this essay accomplishes.

"Magical Dinners," by Chang-Rae Lee. Utterly ordinary and unsurprising glimpse of growing up in an immigrant family in New York in the 1970s.

"What Really Happened," By Madge McKeithen. Gimmicky recounting of what it was like for the author to visit the man in prison who murdered someone close to her and find him unrepentant.

"Rude Am I in my Speech," by Caryl Phillips. Author compares her father's struggle to assimilate in a foreign culture with that of Othello. Ho-hum.

"Lucky Girl," Bridget Potter. Harrowing essay about what it was like to try to have an abortion before Roe vs. Wade.

"There Are Things Awry Here," by Lia Purpura. This one is so pretentiously drawn that I'm not completely sure what it's about. Apparently the author is teaching English to flight cadets and the essay is comprised of her somber musings about the dreary, godawful, purposeless landscape over which her students fly?

"Patient," by Rachel Riederer. Relatively well-paced recounting of what it was like for the author to have her leg mangled in a bus accident. She couldn't figure out how to end the essay, though.

"Pearl, Upward," by Patricia Smith. Based on this essay, the author has zero reliable insights about anything. This piece is her attempt to reconstruct her mother's mental landscape about the time she was conceived.

"Generation Why?" Zadie Smith. An extended rumination on the character of Mark Zuckerberg and the kind of person that uses Facebook generally. Well-worn material.

"Travels with My Ex," by Susan Straight. The author, a white woman, describes a couple of episodes where the police have appeared to be picking on her black husband or other blacks she has known. The essay's pivotal episode has the police pulling over a van because one of the occupants did not have his seatbelt fastened. If this is the worst Ms. Straight can come up with . . .

"A Personal Essay by a Personal Essay," by Christy Vannoy. Written in a unique voice, the essay trots out a rogue's gallery of hackneyed essay clichés. The unusual narrative strategy doesn't amount to excellence, and serves more to confuse than to enlighten.

"Unprepared," By Jerald Walker. The author takes one paragraph's worth of material -- about the time he narrowly avoided becoming a grim statistic - and stretches it out to four pages. Mostly blubber.

"The Washing," by Reshma Memon Yaqub. The author, an American Muslim, recounts what it was like to perform the ceremonial funeral washing of a female relative. This turns out to be pretty much what you'd expect if you were asked to imagine something like that. Good example of an insight-less essay that was doubtless only included because of the author's religion, since it's filled with solemn but self-righteous statements such as, "Islam teaches us . . ." If you think this a harsh take, ask yourself how probable is it that the editors would have included an essay that was filled with non-ironical statements such as, "Christ teaches us . . ." That'll be the day.
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