Book Review- The Best Of O.Henry

The Best Of O.Henry

Author: O.Henry

ISBN-13: 9788179928332

Binding: Paperback

Publisher: Jaico Publishing House

Number of Pages: 268

Genre: Fiction 

Language: English

Price: Rs. 195 (Got a review copy from publishers)

About the Book

The Best of O. Henry, this is a collection of short stories from the vast corpus of work that O. Henry has left behind. These selected stories not only give the reader a chance to read some of the best known of his works but also bear ample evidence of the wide range of his writings.Humorous and energetic, O. Henry’s stories are marked by coincidence and surprise endings. They offer an insight into human nature and the ways it is affected by love, hate, wealth, poverty, gentility, disguise, and crime. O. Henry’s depiction of his characters and their unique situation continues to weave their magic over readers almost a hundred years after the author created them. This is a must-read for all short story lovers as well as for those who want to take a dip into the world of classics.

About the Author

O. Henry was the pen name of the American writer William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910). O. Henry's short stories are well known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings. William Sidney Porter was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina. His middle name at birth was Sidney; he changed the spelling to Sydney in 1898. His parents were Dr. Algernon Sidney Porter (1825–1888), a physician, and Mary Jane Virginia Swaim Porter (1833–1865). They were married April 20, 1858. When William was three, his mother died from tuberculosis, and he and his father moved into the home of his maternal grandmother. As a child, Porter was always reading, everything from classics to dime novels; his favorite works were Lane's translation of One Thousand and One Nights, and Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy.

Shimanti Says

A good short story collection never fails to replenish the dingy and dried up thought processes associated with our mundane lives.  When I came across the collection “The Best of O.Henry” published by Jaico Publishing House , I was filled with enthusiasm. However , a quick browse through the content left me a tad discontented since the anthology lacks some of the most famous short stories by this distinguished American writer like ‘The Ransom of Red Chief’ , ‘The Last Leaf’ , ‘A Retrieved Reformation’ and ‘The Clarion Call’. On perusing the stories, I also came across some typographical errors.

The book, however, contains some of the choicest short stories compiled together to provide us with a glimpse of the true artistic genius of the prolific writer who wrote more than 350 short stories in his lifetime. Commencing with an enigmatic character like Margrave August Michael von Paulsen Quigg in ‘A Bird of Baghdad’ , who possesses the gift of a skilful mind and a generous heart and aids a prospective suitor in winning the heart of his ladylove by being able to answer a riddle, Henry goes on to explore the psyche of people hailing from varied sections of the society.

While some of the stories like ‘A Technical Error’ and ‘After Twenty Years’ , culminate in a shocking revelation of the identity of one of the core characters, others like ‘Girl’ throws one into hysterics. Yet stories like ‘An Unfinished Story’ , ‘A Little Local Colour’ and  ‘The Detective Detector’ plunges us into a world of unseen images and patterns and presents us with the unexpected. The language being lucid and the style being truly appealing, the book is a pleasant read.

Reviewed by Shimanti for Dreams and Drama