McSweeney's Issue 46: Thirteen Crime Stories from Latin America

McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern #46

by Dave Eggers (Editor), Rodrigo Hasbún (Contributor)

In thirteen electrifying stories, our very first all-Latin-American issue takes on the crime story as a starting point, and expands to explore contemporary life from every angle—swinging from secret Venezuelan prisons to Uruguayan resorts to blood-drenched bedrooms in Mexico and Peru, and even, briefly, to Epcot Center and the Havana home of a Cuban transsexual named Amy Winehouse.

Featuring contemporary writers from ten different countries—including Alejandro Zambra, Juan Pablo Villalobos, Andres Ressia Colino, Mariana Enriquez, and many more—McSweeney’s 46 offers an essential cross-section of the troubles and temptations confronting the region today.
It’s crucial reading for anyone interested in the shifting topography of Latin American literature and Latin American life, and a collection of writing to rival anything we’ve assembled in years.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Anthologies

271 pages, Hardcover

First published December 10, 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

[Greg]

It seems unfair to pigeonhole a collection like this into a certain "star" rating. The stories were all over the board, a few 3 stars, a couple 2 stars, many 4 stars, maybe one 5 star story. I particularly liked "The Dirty Kid" by Mariana Enriquez. Very disturbing and dark, just a terrifically written and plotted story. The book as a whole is an interesting/novel concept from McSweeney's, and only a couple of the stories fall flat. So it seems like a success. Most stories are very intriguing, rarely a waste of time. I have to admit this is the first volume I've read though, so I don't have a standard to compare it to. It got me interested in a couple new writers though, what more can an anthology really hope to do?

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of 'crime' stories from several Latin American countries. Few if any of the authors will be familiar to American readers, although a couple have novels translated into English (e.g. Alejandro Zambra). In several stories, it was hard to figure out what the crime was as the entire story was set in a world of crime. Sometimes there was no crime until the very end of the story. Two or more were set in the world of transexual prostitutes, though they were labeled transvestites. This perhaps is a result of translation or may reflect different understandings of the terms in the countries in which the stories were set. My favorite story by Carol Bensimon 'Horses in the Smoke' is set in Porto Alegre, the city I lived in Southern Brazil in 1999. There is no crime, except the beating of a protestor by two skinheads he confuses for secret police. In another story, set in Honduras, '1986', the rebellious son of a rich family is sent to a mental health center that is supposed to use alternative therapies. It is a fraud perpetrated by an American, where inmates are tortured and even starved. The crime/mystery genre is fairly new in Latin America. Most of these writers are young novelists, not mystery or crime writers. The collection gives a sense of the lawlessness that is too common in many Latin American countries. The stories are uniformly dark - no cozy mysteries here. That's fine with me as I am not a lover of what I call the "Agatha Christie" style of 'oh my, there's a body in the garden - how inconvenient'.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding collection of short stories from thirteen Latin American writers. As relevant today as when it was published ten years ago. Highly recommended.

[Heather Pagano · Rating 3 out of 5]

First time reading McSweeney's We grabbed a copy of McSweeney's from Powell's on a recent visit to Portland.  As dedicated eBook readers, I can't even remember the last time we bought a paper book, but apparently paper is the only way to read McSweeney's.
 
Crime fiction, Latin American or otherwise, is really not my cup of tea.  Lucky me, that was the theme for the issue.  That said, the overall quality of the writing and translation was pretty high.  And there were two stories in the collection I genuinely enjoyed and still think about from time to time.  I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed the letters to the editor in McSweeney's, I've never found readers' letters so entertaining!

[Bonnie Cassidy]

I have added a new shelf...did not finish. I rarely walk away from books, but there have been a few of late that I have stayed away from long enough to just remove from my list. This compilation of crime fiction short stories just wasn't for me at the time. Sadly, I think I have given up on my McSweeney's subscription because in general, I would never pick up a book of short stories if there was a novel available to me.

[Maya Berinzon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to give a single review for a collection of short stories about crime in Latin America, but there were definitely two themes: transgender women and corrupt police/public officials.

[Ostap Bender · Rating 3 out of 5]

The books in McSweeney’s “Quarterly Concern” are singularly beautiful, and such a tactile pleasure just to pick up and hold, much less read from. In this edition, thirteen writers from ten different Latin American countries were asked to write contemporary crime stories set in their home countries.

I thought almost all of them were above average, with only a couple of exceptions – Roncagliolo’s ‘The Face’ (meh), and Carvalho’s ‘Jealousy’ (ugh). One of the ones I liked the most was ‘Bitches’ by Jorge Enrique Lage (Cuba), in which a man tries to track down a transsexual he met in rehab and who told him how the police and manipulated her into drugs and prostitution. Another was ‘Artist’s Rendition’ by Alejandro Zambra (Chile), which cleverly has a writer within his story making up a story out of memories of a girl who was abused. Lastly ‘So Much Water So Far From Home’ by Rodrigo Hasbun (Bolivia) has four 50-something gals meeting up for a weekend getaway; there is sadness in the past and present, and Hasbun uses the right touch.

The rest of the stories held my interest, but they seemed a little monochromatic. Common themes are police and government corruption, false imprisonment, revenge killing, and drugs. In his story, Zambra indeed comments “…he does think it’s necessary to move the protagonists down in class, because the middle class – and he thinks this without irony – is a problem if one wants to write Latin American literature”.

On the other hand, in several of the stories, the author takes a shot at government incompetence or corruption, which I appreciated. The best example of this was in ‘America’ by Juan Pablo Villalobos: “At the end of the day, how long has it been since there was a serial killer in Mexico? (Not counting the presidents of the Republic, of course.)”

My rating may be a half star on the low side, as I love everything about McSweeney’s. Even the letters to the editor printed at the beginning of the book are interesting and erudite in their own right. I get the feeling of peeking into a circle where editors who love books and truth and beauty are finding stories out of love for their readers and the literary art form, a circle where intelligence without pretentiousness reigns. It’s really quite refreshing and I’ll likely become a subscriber.

On issue #46, it’s all solid, good, worth reading, but there was no “wow” story for me, and I suppose that’s the reason for giving it 3.5 stars.

[Gerard Van Elzen · Rating 4 out of 5]

By far the most enjoyable issues of McSweeney's, the fantastic quarterly short story publication edited by Dave Eggers, are the ones with a thematic theme. Here, the theme was 'South American crime stories'.While not all of the stories attain the same high level, special marks of ditinction have to be handed out to a couple of the contestants here:

-to Rodrigo Hasbun for'So much water so far from home',
-to Mariana Enriquez for 'The Dirty Kid',
-and of course to the great Alejandro Zambra for 'Artists Rendition'.

The happy winners can come and collect their prizes at my place in Antwerp, Belgium.
By the way, great artwork again, McSweeney's! It's always an honour to put your quarterly in my already overflowing bookcase.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

I liked some of these crime stories more than others, but overall this is a pretty solid collection. The theme was a good one and it was interesting to see how all the different contributors interpreted it. I definitely found a few new authors to look up and read more from!

[Ryan Masters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really remarkable translations in here. Dark, funny, weird. Excellent.

[Jack Heller · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed collection. My favorites are probably "The Dirty Kid" and "1986." There are some good ones, but too many seem incomplete.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so excited to read this installment of McSweeney’s Quarterly that I stole it right off my sister’s shelf and flew it 2,500 miles away to my own abode. I paid no heed to her relentless begging and pleading to “Don’t take my book! I haven’t read it yet!” I had visited her a few months before when she had shown off her new purchase to me. “Can I take it?” I asked her then. She sang her unyielding tune of “No, I haven’t read it!” That time I listened to her, but silently I vowed that I would be back and that book would be mine.

Finally the day came and I saw it sitting on her shelf, untouched for months, piled beneath a dozen other books. I knew what I had to do. I stealthily slid over to the bookshelf to slip the book out. But the damn book was not easily dislodged. I took apart the book stack, throwing novels this way and that as I frantically tried to get to the bottom of the pile. Needless to say, I was found out. “You aren’t!” the sister cried. “I am!” I yelled, stomping my socked foot on the ground to signal there would be no further discussion. As I hid the book in the bottom of my traveling bag (just in case she tried to pull a fast one) I smiled at my thievery and how it was the perfect way to begin reading this particular book, a book all about crime.

Instead of summarizing the book myself, I’m going to insert a quote from the introduction that says everything I would like to say, but better and in a more concise fashion. “This issue of McSweeney’s sprang from a desire to bring together a collection of stories that would offer a comprehensive sample of new Latin American fiction. To tie it all together, we selected a single target — thirteen writers from ten different countries were asked to write a contemporary crime story set in their home country.”

I thought, “This is going to be magic!” I should know by now never to go into a book with too high of hopes, because I will inevitably be let down. That sounds harsher than I want it to. It was a good collection of stories, some better than others. Although all the stories were hugely different there were a few reoccurring themes that popped: transvestites and police corruption. There was also one commonality between them all: the complete lack of magical realism (which I was forewarned about in the introduction, but a girl can have dreams).

I think my overall problem with the collection is that the focus was too narrow. It started to get dull after the third or fourth story. I’d like to see what the authors would have done had they been given free rein. To sum up, I do think the collection is worth reading, but I would do so a story at a time instead of straight through.

www.harperreview.com

[A-ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I saw the theme for this issue, I was at first disappointed, then intrigued. Honestly, I've never been a fan of crime fiction (at least not detective stories), but the whole Latin American twist and that the editors felt that they had enough quality crime stories to make an engaging issue spurred me on to delve into this with an open mind. Clearly, they gave the writers a general, "Hey, write a crime story" type prompt, because the interpretation of a "crime story" was stretched quite a bit. The diversity was interesting. Oddly enough, I really enjoyed the opener, "The Face", which was a detective story. Not surprisingly for me, the highlights are those that had but a loose connection to my preconception of crime fiction, including: "The Dirty Kid" about a woman desperately trying to believe that people can be good; "Artist's Rendition" which was for me the best of the bunch; "Jealousy" which was a nice form experiment, but wasn't perfectly executed; two stories, "So much Water so far from home" and "In the dark core of the night" were a bit difficult to follow, but beautifully written. I don't like to put down stories, but I have to note that "Bitches" was absolutely terrible. Overall, this issue was a bit of a slog. I found myself eyeing other things on my shelf, but pushing through because I'd paid for it.

[Timons Esaias · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the subtitle (and the previous volume of McSweeney's) you might guess that this is a reprint anthology. Instead, they solicited new stories involving crime from thirteen Latin American writers that they thought the American audience should know about. Some are established writers, others are rising stars. I note that about half of them are living outside their country of origin.

The collection is certainly solid, no clunkers in here. There is a remarkable consistency to the stories, however. They are universally bleak, and these short pieces didn't give enough of a sample to distinguish the styles. If I had been told they were all by the same author, I'd have believed it.

The stories are not, for the most part, about solving crimes. They are not about the restoration of order. Injustice, corruption, and tragedy are the themes. Revenge is more likely to be the positive outcome (when there is one) than justice.

Once again, I admire McSweeney's for bringing foreign writers to American attention (I note earlier Icelandic, Australian Aboriginal, and Rwandan samples from the volumes I've read). I'd be happy to read more by any of these writers.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good collection with quite a few authors whose work I would read again. My favorite piece was the first one, "The Face" by Santiago Roncagliolo. I also really liked that McSweeney's seemed to use an expansive definition of "crime fiction" which allowed for a variety of stories (in both both plot and style). Finally, I enjoyed the fantastic illustrations by Ciro Hernandez that accompanied each story.

Only three things detracted from my overall enjoyment of the book.

(1)I would have enjoyed it more though if I knew more about Latin American politics and culture

(2) I would have liked more gender balance in the authors selected. Only 2/13 pieces were by women.

(3) I really disliked, the third story, "Bitches" by Jorge Enrique Lage. The violence and sex felt unnecessarily gratuitous and the transsexual prostitute character was a trope/stereotype rather than a fully developed character."

[Brian Pagano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Solid Issue of Mcsweeney's One of the things I love about Mcsweeney's is that you never know what the next installment might bring. This issue was entirely made up of crime stories by latin american authors. As always with Mcsweeney's, the quality of the writing was high, the editing was spot on, and, for this volume, the translations were terrific. Several of the stories in the first half of the issue echoed very similar themes and situations. That in itself was an interesting window into other cultures. But, for me, it was the penultimate story that was worth the price of admission. "So Much Water So Far From Home" at times bordered on the sublime. A few stories fell flat, but none were bad. Looking forward to the next issue.

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

This edition of McSweeny's is an anti-travel guide to Latin America. Maybe it's depressing that the themes of these Latin American writers pray on the typical fears of North Americans; kidnapping, crooked or disinterested police, randomized killings, drugs, and poverty are pervasive in these stories. Yet they are also compelling, and each story is haunting in its description of the beauty of Latin America, it's allure, complicated family relationships, emerging struggles for democracy, and old colonial pressures. I would rate most stories a 4.5 and many will stay with me forever. A few were less compelling but interesting in their structure or character development. It's definitely R-rated (no kids), and while the hardcopy is expensive I felt it was worth it.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited when my first issue of McSweeny's arrived. Each volume that shows up is absolutely exciting and beautiful in its own way.

The only problem is that exhort stories, particularly books of them just don't resonate with me at all. Some of the stories in here are really deep and interesting and exciting.

Those interest in crime stories and foreign literature, you will be pleasantly surprised by what Is contained within.

I just can't say that I loved it. I am a read who needs more time to dig in deep and connect with characters, or I need exposure to stories in isolation.

It's an issue of my own reading habits than those of the book itself, again which absolutely beautiful.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really don't know how to rate this. I'm between three and four. I value the experience of having read Latin American translated crime fiction, it's just that I don't think that this is a genre for me.
But some of the stories were so beautiful and sharp, and others were shockingly violent and hard to get through, despite most of the stories averaging about 20 pages. I aim to give a whole book of Latin American crime fiction a try soon to give it another shot.
The collection itself, is of course, beautiful to look at and well done all together. Another creative and wonderful issue from McSweeney's.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent anthology of crime writing from Latin America, one that, however, has successfully driven from me what little interest I ever had in visiting Central and South American countries, which here are presented as far from recognizing the rule of law as possible: corruption, at every level of business and government, is pandemic, women are treated with unbelievable contempt, and death is never further away than a momentary tic of irritation. As usual for McSweeney's, the usual caliber any single issue would make a "year's best" anthology for anybody else.

[Zack Quaintance · Rating 4 out of 5]

More than any anthology of stories I've read in some time, I'm coming away from McSweeney's Latin American crime issue with a list of writers to learn more about. Not crazy about the crime motif, but I really enjoyed the breadth of international writers included.

Favorite stories:

>>"Artist's Rendition" by Alejandro Zambra

>>"The Dirty Kid" by Mariana Enriquez

>>"America" by Juan Pablo Villalobos

[Brandon Forsyth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sad to say I didn't enjoy this issue of McSweeney's as much as I usually do. Not sure if I can pinpoint why - perhaps I was expecting more traditional genre fiction, or something about reading the translated stories rather than in their original language, but something just felt tonally wrong to me the whole time. A few strong stories, as always, though, particularly 'The Dirty Kid' and 'So Much Water So Far From Home'.

[Devin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not every story in this collection of gritty, Latin American crime fiction is great. But the ones that are manage to transport the reader to some startling places. Many of the best tales reside at the front, leaving a bit of a slog through corrupt alleys toward the end. As a whole, this turns out to be a vividly fresh take on crime fiction and a welcome addition to a genre that has been seeing a renaissance of late.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

mixed in quality and with often quite liberal interpretations of the crime genre. the selections are all interesting, some of them a little on the thin side. particular favorites were the closing story about riots in brazil, and a story about vengeance against a sexual predator as witnessed by his own friend.

[Isla McKetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading this collection of crime stories from across Latin America. At first I was bothered by how often the women were merely babes for the slaughter, but then I realized it's part of the trope in the US as well (not my favorite part of the trope, but...). Some really creative stuff in here and always nice to get glimpses of other places.

[Jim Lang · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very solid collection of crime stories from Latin America, which don't all fall into the traditional definition of a crime story. As always, McSweeney's does a great job of curating interesting and unique stories.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories are truly haunting, some are less so. You can always count on McSweeney's. Eggers and company don't miss often and when they do it's not by much. I enjoyed the exposure to a bunch of Latin American authors.

[Lui Vega · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wanted this to be good. Started out really strong, but eventually the translations got in the way of this. Works well as an idea, but it's execution left me wanting better written stories, or better translated stories. Damn. Damn damn damn.

[Jason Linden · Rating 3 out of 5]

A disappointing issue. A few great stories, but several feel phoned-in. Also, only two women? Come on.

[Ryan Roth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven collection of short stories based in South America. Some are really good, others average, a few were poor. I expect more from McSweeneys.