Reviewed by:Norlan
De Groot Key words: Classic, Fiction,
Short Story, American Literature
Recommended Reading Level:
Grades 10, 11, 12, adult
Theme: The stories are grouped
around these topics: 1) The Big City, 2) Con Men and Hoboes, 3) The Wild
West and the Tame West, 4) Our Neighbors to the South: Domestic,
and 5) Our Neighbors to the South: Foreign.
Summary: Forty-one of O.
Henry’s best short stories, written in the classic O. Henry style with
his characteristic endings.
Strengths:O. Henry was a
master storyteller and it shows.
Weaknesses: O. Henry’s style
doesn’t change much from story to story.
Other Notes: This is a good
book to pick up, read a story or two and then put down again. If you read
it through cover to cover, the stories can begin to feel repetitive.
O.
Henry. Forty-one Stories by O. Henry. Edited by Burton Raffel. New
York: New American Library, 1984.