The Paris Review Issue 252

by Emily Stokes (Editor), Kelley Deane McKinney (Managing Editor), Dennis Zhou (Senior Editor)

Genres: Short Stories, Poetry

217 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2025

Reviews

[Bryce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed The Fête, The Visit, and interview with Marie NDiaye. fun bit of art as well. a perfect addition to my performative male halloween costume.

[Wendy Liu]

Loved the Tom Crewe story (The Fete), which reminds me in many ways of the Larkin poem An Arundel Tomb, plus the lovely interviews with Marie NDiaye and Fanny Howe.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following N+1 Issue 50, "Harsh Realm," this was the second literary magazine issue I had read. Though I did enjoy it, my enjoyment of The Paris Review Issue 252 came from a very different place than the N+1 issue.

I will admit that I have only read a single issue of either magazine, so my judgements here are from a generally narrow place. While I enjoyed N+1's personality more than The Paris Review's, The Paris Review seemed to have a consistently higher quality of writing than N+1. Three of the pieces in this issue particularly stood out to me: "The Fête," which mastered a sense of summery nostalgia for a time well over a century before I was born, "The Visit," which featured a painfully accurate depiction of how small inconveniences can boil over into a massive argument, and "After the Haiku Period," which seemed somewhat trite upon first glance but featured some interesting symbolism upon closer reading.

I did not care for the interviews as much as the short stories, as I simply found them less interesting, and most of the poetry was too surreal for me to make sense of. I think that this was made up for by the visual art sections, though. This issue was admittedly hard to put down at certain times and I appreciated how simple it was to pick up and quickly read it for a few minutes. I already have the next issue in my possession and am looking forward to reading it relatively soon.

[Jerry Muzsik · Rating 4 out of 5]

WHERE I discovered ANUK (Anuk Arudpragasam).

One quote from first story:

Not holding her hand-only cradling her fingertips. It was most unlike him, yet like him all the same. This was how it would be, she told herself, to be married to him: a vague, tentative, fin-gertipping sort of love. If she ever married Edmund, it would mean she had become vague and tentative herself. It didn't bear thinking about.

[Maggi Z · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Visit - Anuk Arudpragasam

[Raffael Hirt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Tom Crewe's "The Fête" and Anuk Arudpragasam's "The Visit"

[Dieuwke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed “the fête” by Tom Crewe and “the visit” by Anuk Arudpragasam (a man! He really nailed the women and their dynamics) and both the interviews

[william · Rating 4 out of 5]

packed with so much. every story, interview, poem, and picture was gorgeous

[Jose Carpio · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Visit by Anuk Arudpragasam was the standout in this one

[C Sarah S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly enjoyed almost everything in this issue. The opening story and The Visit were outstanding. But I also loved the babysitting story, the closer, and both interviews.

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty good issue, the final 2 stories were not for me, but the rest was really good. the art was simple but well done.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t like anything in this one, unfortunately.