While some authors - Zadie Smith, Garth Greenwell - have produced good short-stories for this anthology as collated by The Paris Review, others - e.g. John Jeremiah Sullivan - are navel-gazing in the extreme, using words like "jostle" in a bad way while accosting the reader with modern-day Americana suitable for non-readers.

Also, Sarah Manguso's collection of one-liners is interesting and irritating, simultaneously. Prize her for it.