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Storytelling is often stronger when told from multiple points of view.  This week I’m reading contemporary fiction. What defines contemporary? If I had to guess, I would say sharp dissatisfaction—a stew of cynicism salted with poignancy.

“Home”, by Jayne Anne Phillips, The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories, edited by Tobias Wolff

A mother and daughter stand on either side of the daughter’s molestation by her father. Each woman nurses their grievous wound privately, and tries to find common ground.

• “Moonwalk”, by Susan Power, The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories, edited by Tobias Wolff

I love this line in this story about a woman overheard by her daughters as she faces the truth about her life on her deathbed:

She believed reservation life was out of balance, a place where everything that was trivial took an inordinate amount of time, while the momentous things occurred with obscene rapidity. 

• “The First Day”, by Edward P. Jones, The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories, edited by Tobias Wolff

A tightly written account of a small black girl’s first day at school. As the story builds, we learn what this cherished daughter is up against. No matter. This is my mother: In this phrase we see the strength of her mother through her daughter’s eyes, before she learned to be ashamed of her mother.

• “Superstition”, by Kara Mae Brown, Bluestem Quarterly

A tragic accident is viewed from the perspective of the negligent babysitter, her friend, a TV news reporter, and a TV viewer who happened to encounter the little boy before he got hit by truck and killed. Omens play a role and reach in many directions.

• “Tradition”, by Jennifer Peake, The Metric

Flash fiction that packs a brutal reality into a celebration. The revelers have one point of view, the omniscient narrator another. Chilling.

• “The Pine Man’s Shed”, by Hunter Liguore, Forge

This story is a 2012 Pushcart Prize nominee. That it is told from the sole POV of a suggestible young man focuses the story on what people are willing to give up to get connection, affirmation and love.

• “Train”, by Joy Williams, The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories, edited by Tobias Wolff

A young girl rides a train that shuttles her between lives she has tenuous connections with. A telling sentence:

She was surrounded by strangers saying crazy things, and had been for quite some while.