The Four Million

I was familiar with “The Gift Of The Magi”, but had never read it or any other O. Henry stories till now. The stories are interesting and often fun. Read a couple every day for a delightful experience

5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
A collection of short stories set in New York City by O. Henry.

Review
I enjoyed O. Henry's stories when I was young. When I revisited them years later, I found them hard to get into. I think now that that's because I started with Cabbages and Kings, which I found to be slow moving, and which is apparently a set of interrelated stories set in a fictional Latin America. I'm happy to say this collection brings back my original delight.

In these stories of New York City, O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) is full of wit and emotion, with quick, insightful sketches of characters and their lives. This collection includes “The Gift of the Magi”, and that's a fair representation of the rest of the stories. They're clever, surprising, and emotional. O/ Henry often tosses in asides about literature, which I read as jabs at high brow critics who didn't enjoy his stories as much as the less calculating masses.

The masses had it right. The prose isn't lyrical, and it's often overtly bombastic and sentimental – but it's meant to be that way, and it works. I read it as part of O. Henry's overall good humor – he knows the prose is overblown and he knows we're in in the joke. That's not to say there's not some good heartstring tugging going on here – there is, both in the overt and subtle stories. High brow or not, O. Henry knows what he's doing and is masterful about it. Some of the stories are light little jokes, and a lot are very funny,but others reward deeper thought.

The overall mood is upbeat. Even in a story like the Magi, it all works out in the end; true love conquers all. There are stories that end on a down beat, but overall you'll feel uplifted. I heartily recommend this book for both O. Henry fans (who have no doubt read it) and newcomers alike.

My favorites among the stories were:

• “The Gift of the Magi”


• “Between Rounds”


• “Mammon and the Archer”


• “Springtime a la Carte”


• “From the Cabby's Seat”


• “The Romance of a Busy Broker”


• “By Courier”


• “The Brief Debut of Tildy”