McSweeney's Issue 44

McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern #44

by Dave Eggers (Editor), Jessica Hopper (Contributor), Stuart Glover (Contributor)

With a stunning set of stories from some of the finest writers toiling away today—including breathtaking new work from Rebecca Curtis, Stuart Dybek, and Jim Shepard, and the Southeast Asian prison novella the world has been waiting for, from Mr. Wells Tower—and an all-hands-on-deck appraisal of one of the most keen-eyed cultural commentators of our time, with contributions from Rachel Cohen, Errol Morris, Geoff Dyer, David Hockney, Jonathan Lethem, Ricky Jay, and many, many more, McSweeney's 44 offers one of our best assemblages yet. We even found some very nice leatherette, to wrap around it. Don't miss this one!

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

300 pages, Hardcover

First published May 14, 2013

About the author

Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is best known for his 2000 memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which became a bestseller and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Eggers is also the founder of several notable literary and philanthropic ventures, including the literary journal Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, the literacy project 826 Valencia, and the human rights nonprofit Voice of Witness. Additionally, he founded ScholarMatch, a program that connects donors with students needing funds for college tuition. His writing has appeared in numerous prestigious publications, including The New Yorker, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine.

Reviews

[Lannie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great short stories as well as some pretty good ones. A decent portion of the issue was dedicated to a person (Lawrence Weschler) I neither knew beforehand nor really cared about by the end, which keeps the whole issue below a four-star for me.

That isn't to say that any of the pieces (about Weschler) were bad at all; they were well written and cool in a some ways. And Weschler himself is interesting and talented enough, it seems. But I didn't get much personal entertainment from them, which offset the rest of the issue's weight in other places.

In short, it's a really good issue that just wasn't for me.

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about making a mark. All six main stories here are very strong and insightful. Rebecca Curtis has a stand out piece about the question of how much to give and take. Joe Meno's piece is somewhat heavy on the symbolism but enjoyable enough. Pieces by Jim Shepard and Wells Tower both threaten to be overwhelmed by their authors differing stylistic quirks but equally prove themselves worth reading in the end. Two short pieces by Stuart Dybek and Tom Barbash both pack a punch.

[Stella B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

a friend found this for me in a belgium bookstore and I have to say it blew me away. big fan of short stories, big fan of oddities 💗

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

McSweeney's is a quarterly something that generally includes short stories and articles, and was created by Dave Eggers. I say that it is a quarterly "something" rather than magazine or journal or book, because it is really none of these. Sometimes it comes with the stories loose in a box, sometimes it looks more like a magazine. Usually, it looks a lot like novel, which is the case with 44. The main contributors to 44 were Joe Meno, Rebecca Curtis, Tom Barbash, Jim Shepard, Stuart Dybek, and Wells Tower. There was also a 82 page tribute to Lawrence (Ren) Weschler, to which many others contributed.

One of my favorite parts of 44 were the letters to the editor, which were all witty and quirky, and generally what one would expect from McSweeney's readers who are hoping to get published themselves.

Jim Shepard wrote a particularly un-McSweeny-ish story that I really liked called "The Ocean of Air", about the Montgolfier brothers who were the first to invent a hot air balloon safe for human travel. I also liked Stuart Dybek's piece, "Happy Ending" which tells the story of a man, Gil, attending a party thrown by a mogul who claimed to be unhappy. Gil shows the mogul how happy he is by inventing a scenario which would make his life much worse. Another interesting story was "Birthday Girl" by Tom Barbash, where a driver who is possibly (almost surely) drunk hits a young girl, and then tries to make things right.

The story by Wells Tower, "The Dance Contest" is well written and interesting, but also strange. It is about a man named Osmund Tower, the fictional father to Wells, who finds himself imprisoned in the luxury wing of the Theb Moob Mens' Prison in Thailand, due to his naivete. While he may be in the best possible part of the prison, it is a prison none the less. The Captain in charge comes up with the idea of rewarding the prisoners with prizes, based on their performance in a dance contest, as judged by Internet viewers. Cruel and unusual? You decide. What I didn't get about this piece is why Tower wanted to make it seem like his character was his father. Why not just name him Tom Sutherland or Osmund Miller?

Although I, personally, didn't need such a long, funereal, tribute to Ren Weschler, he seems to be a person I should know more about. I would recommend starting with the Errol Morris conversation with Weschler, and then skipping ahead to Jonathan Lethem's tribute. If they leave you wanting more, 44 is well stocked. As always, I finished McSweeney's feeling a little smarter (and maybe a little more smug) than when I started.

To read more of this review, please click here: http://sonotarunner.blogspot.com/2014...

[Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first Quarterly I've read in awhile and it was really a great issue to read to get back into these guys. The stories were all really high caliber. Personal highlights for me were the Rebecca Curtis, Stuart Dybek, and Wells Tower shorts, which surprised me because I really bought this issue for the Jim Shepard and Joe Meno stories. I was also pretty happy with the Ren Weschler tribute. Others here have pointed out that the Errol Morris interview is the best part. The other contributions were hit or miss, but like the Donald Barthelme tribute from issue 24, I think the point is really to bring an influential teacher and writer to the fore for others to explore on their own time. I know I'll be picking up some of his work. In the end, this was a beautifully packaged, highly entertaining issue.

[Jim Lang · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always love a solid issue of McSweeney's, and this one was no different. There's a large section concerned with the writing and cultural efforts of Lawrence Weschler, a writer who I didn't think I was familiar with, but who I now realize I've read in the New Yorker a number of times. This was a very nice tribute to a person who has been a huge influence on a large number of writers. The rest of the book is made up of short stories. I particularly liked Jim Shepard's story about early hot air balloon-makers, and Joe Meno's story about a late night hunt for a bear in a small town. Wells Tower provides the best story in this issue, with 'The Dance Contest', which is about his (hopefully fictional) father's experiences in a Thai prison. Great stuff.

[Mayka · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first McSweeney's quarterly I've read, and it's definitely getting me into short story anthologies. Admittedly, I did not read the full quarterly because I just know -zero- about Lawrence Weschler and did not feel compelled to read all those tributes.

BUT! I did love Wells Tower's story. It was like Orange is the New Black meets Kill Bill meets...great writing? Absolutely one of the best shorts I've ever read. Will be looking into more of his work soon.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

sort of a mixed feeling here. the fiction was all very good, especially the long (fake) story about wells tower's father in a thai prison. the closing art piece was excellent too. but the lawrence weschler recognition section seemed a little too much like a collection of premature obituaries. apart from the interview, which was quite good.

[Brandon Forsyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll be boring and agree with a lot of the commentators here - the Wells Towers story is absolutely incredible. I didn't enjoy the Rebecca Curtis or Jim Shepard stories, but everything else is solid. And now I have to read all of these Lawrence Weschler books, so thanks McSweeney's!

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great stories and a fascinating collection of material in tribute to Lawrence Weschler that made want to read more of his work (I have only read Everything That Rises: A Book of Convergences, which I found highly stimulating).

[Jason Linden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice issue. I love how adventurous McSweeney's always is.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rebecca Curtis and Wells Tower. Enough said.

[Mills College Library]

Coll.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid. The Wells Tower story, the Errol Morris-Lawrence Weschler interview alone worth the price of admission. Good stuff.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have done without the Weschler tributes, but "The Gusher" and "The Dance Contest" were fantastic.

[D'Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really good stories in this issue, though I did find the Lawrence Weschler tributes pretty boring. Granted, people who dig Weschler were probably very happy.

[M-----l · Rating 3 out of 5]

That's 4 stars for the fiction and 2 stars for the 80 pages about Lawrence Weschler.