Didn't read them all, good but many were depressing.

The Best American Essays 2022, edited by Alexander Chee, is an excellent collection of essays that speak to many of the things we all experience in life, but through distinctly personal lenses.

Because essays are personal accounts from very specific perspectives, I think readers are more likely to have a greater preference for or against certain ones as compared to short stories. A couple of these moved me quite deeply while a couple were just good reads (which isn't a bad thing).

I use such collections for times when I have limited time and don't want to try to get back into a longer work but I do want to read. These essays do very well for this, probably even better than most short story collections, because I find myself thinking about the essay as well as the essayist once I have finished. In this way it stays with me even when I have returned to whatever demands my time.

For anyone who enjoys the essay form I would highly recommend this collection. There wasn't quite the variety I would have expected but the quality is certainly here.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )