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Granta: The Magazine of New Writing #158
Granta 158: In the Family
From Nobel laureates to debut novelists, international translations to investigative journalism, each issue of Granta turns the attention of the world's best writers on to one aspect of the way we live now. This winter issue will feature Fatima Bhutto on her dog Coco, Andrew McMillan on the Goosebumps series, as well as non-fiction by Chris Dennis and Jacob Dlamini and fiction by Debbie Urbanski and Julie Hecht .
232 pages, Paperback
Published April 5, 2022
6 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
Sigrid Rausing
45 books52 followersSigrid Rausing is Editor and Publisher of Granta magazine and Publisher of Granta and Portobello Books. She is the author of History, Memory and Identity in Post-Soviet Estonia: The End of a Collective Farm and Everything is Wonderful, which has been translated into four different languages.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 1, 2022
A middling selection. Only 2 stand outs for me, an extract from Moses McKenzie's debut novel "An Olive Grove in Ends" and Charif Majdalani's report from a Beirut suffering with a crumbling infrastructure
October 23, 2022
This is the usual collection of mostly competent but ultimately so-so stories and articles we have come to expect from this journal under its present editor. The best and most interesting piece is Charif Majdalani’s diary, “Beirut Fragments, 2021”. Do you want to know what the exasperations and perils of daily reality look like when a state fails? Read this. It gets scarier the more you think about it.
August 5, 2022
As I usually do, I skipped one or two that didn’t appeal to me, but most of this issue was fantastic.
January 22, 2025
It was an interesting format to read from. Some stories and accounts better than others but overall interesting. I especially enjoyed "The Physician".
April 8, 2022
This issue was emotionally evocative, but in unexpectedly harrowing ways: every contribution made me feel sad, hurt, lonely, isolated, worried, and/or disconnected. Maybe that was the point: to collect the feelings of the world right now. But finishing this volume just left me feeling relieved for getting through it. And then I realized that *that* may have been the actual intention, as exhausting as it was.
January 15, 2023
This was my 2nd Granta.
Back in 2008, during an unrelenting series of layoffs and cutbacks in my industry, I remember the corporate controller looking at me sadly (after issuing pink slips to 700 employees of our company), and saying “everybody has a story”). I was happy not to be one of the 700, but sad…so sad…for my colleagues, who would now be desperately looking for work.
They each had a story. Fear. Trepidation. How do I feed my family? How do I make my mortgage? Fear. Debilitating fear. First world problems? Ok, yet…Fear, real fear…is real. It’s not a competition.
Yet…I was strangely distant from the majority of these stories. I’m not sure why. But, they were, for the most part, drudgery to get through. And they sapped energy from me as I read them. Perhaps that was the point.
Anyway…through the utter grayness and unrelenting dreariness of these stories, there were some that sparked something in me:
“The Hour of the Wolf”: it kind of bounced all over the place, but it kept me engaged.
“Pure Color”: very interesting approach. I may search out this book.
“Overture”: so odd, but so strange and beautiful.
“The Physician”: Stellar. Moving.
“The Picnic Pavilion”: interesting approach which I really appreciated.
I have more Granta journals on my shelf yet to be read. Hopefully, the next one I select will be more fulfilling.
Back in 2008, during an unrelenting series of layoffs and cutbacks in my industry, I remember the corporate controller looking at me sadly (after issuing pink slips to 700 employees of our company), and saying “everybody has a story”). I was happy not to be one of the 700, but sad…so sad…for my colleagues, who would now be desperately looking for work.
They each had a story. Fear. Trepidation. How do I feed my family? How do I make my mortgage? Fear. Debilitating fear. First world problems? Ok, yet…Fear, real fear…is real. It’s not a competition.
Yet…I was strangely distant from the majority of these stories. I’m not sure why. But, they were, for the most part, drudgery to get through. And they sapped energy from me as I read them. Perhaps that was the point.
Anyway…through the utter grayness and unrelenting dreariness of these stories, there were some that sparked something in me:
“The Hour of the Wolf”: it kind of bounced all over the place, but it kept me engaged.
“Pure Color”: very interesting approach. I may search out this book.
“Overture”: so odd, but so strange and beautiful.
“The Physician”: Stellar. Moving.
“The Picnic Pavilion”: interesting approach which I really appreciated.
I have more Granta journals on my shelf yet to be read. Hopefully, the next one I select will be more fulfilling.
June 27, 2022
Granta 158: In The Family is a mixed bag, rarely peeking above the average.
The issue opens with Fatima Bhutto’s reflections on her dog’s pregnancy. A tragic story of a bond between a human and a dog, like a member of the family.
The curious memoir from Will Rees about his illness touched a personal nerve with me. He is instructed by his doctor to go to A&E. After explaining everything to the triage nurse, the latter write down on a piece of paper "Feels unwell." After a fashion, he is diagnosed with glandular fever. He is in and out of hospital being diagnosed - something sadly a familiar tale.
Chris Dennis shares a memoir of his parents. "If the heart has a great hall then it must also have a dungeon." A dark phrase referencing torture we feel in our life is hidden away.
Sheila Heti talks about her father's death. Tonally mistimed and with the odd phrase like "She knew the universe had ejaculated his spirit into her."
Nathan Harris’ The Physician, is a story during the time of the plague, albeit we are left wondering where the story goes.
Moses Mackenzie’s An Olive Grove in Ends, whose dialogue is in the local vernacular, gradually melds into a teenage story.
Debbie Urbanski’s The Picnic Pavilion, in which three generations spend time together to discuss the family’s hereditary cancer, of which two are already dead. This fantasy tale manages to be an entertaining read about their conversations whilst still being respectful of the subject.
The issue end s strongly with Sharif Madalani’s Beirut Fragments 2021. It is a diary that describes life in a decaying county, and a long way from returning to a functioning city state. As we live through the Ukraine invasion it is a timely reminder of what can occur on a more general level when economies collapse, corruption takes hold, and people adopt creative ways to acquire dwindling resources. The political and administrative regime fails to cope both within itself and the state around it.
Sharif Madalani writes, the poet Paul Valery, says "we must try to live", and describes how people who brought their industriousness with them, decide to leave. Those that continue to live there, find ways to survive - their principal occupation.
The issue opens with Fatima Bhutto’s reflections on her dog’s pregnancy. A tragic story of a bond between a human and a dog, like a member of the family.
The curious memoir from Will Rees about his illness touched a personal nerve with me. He is instructed by his doctor to go to A&E. After explaining everything to the triage nurse, the latter write down on a piece of paper "Feels unwell." After a fashion, he is diagnosed with glandular fever. He is in and out of hospital being diagnosed - something sadly a familiar tale.
Chris Dennis shares a memoir of his parents. "If the heart has a great hall then it must also have a dungeon." A dark phrase referencing torture we feel in our life is hidden away.
Sheila Heti talks about her father's death. Tonally mistimed and with the odd phrase like "She knew the universe had ejaculated his spirit into her."
Nathan Harris’ The Physician, is a story during the time of the plague, albeit we are left wondering where the story goes.
Moses Mackenzie’s An Olive Grove in Ends, whose dialogue is in the local vernacular, gradually melds into a teenage story.
Debbie Urbanski’s The Picnic Pavilion, in which three generations spend time together to discuss the family’s hereditary cancer, of which two are already dead. This fantasy tale manages to be an entertaining read about their conversations whilst still being respectful of the subject.
The issue end s strongly with Sharif Madalani’s Beirut Fragments 2021. It is a diary that describes life in a decaying county, and a long way from returning to a functioning city state. As we live through the Ukraine invasion it is a timely reminder of what can occur on a more general level when economies collapse, corruption takes hold, and people adopt creative ways to acquire dwindling resources. The political and administrative regime fails to cope both within itself and the state around it.
Sharif Madalani writes, the poet Paul Valery, says "we must try to live", and describes how people who brought their industriousness with them, decide to leave. Those that continue to live there, find ways to survive - their principal occupation.
January 8, 2024
Really great issue, particularly the non-fiction. Have to say I hated Julie Hecht’s fiction piece as the narrator was simply too annoying. Beirut fragments by Charif Majdalani was hard to read as the piece was already a year old and the situation has continued to deteriorate— Israel’s recent incursions into and bombings of Lebanon are ominous portents for the future of this city of course. I remember a highschool friend of mine who gushed about their trips to Beirut and how badly I wanted to visit which now seems wholly incomprehensible, an impossibility really.
January 28, 2025
I find Granta a nice corrective. I really like the non fiction, photography and poetry and whilst there is nothing wrong with the fiction I can get short fiction from lots of other places. This issue is rather fiction heavy and only one of the stories ( a piece that I expect was really more creative non-fiction with some liberties about cancer) connected with me. The non fiction was excellent as always although there wasnt an article as I sometimes find that was so amazing it made me really glad to have picked up the issue.
September 12, 2022
As expected, the magazine deals with questions relating to family and the relationships therein. There were a few gems, and these in themselves are sufficient for me to deem this magazine a worthwhile read, albeit not a comforting one. Granta 158 is morose, hauntingly so. I expected a confluence of both happy and sad accounts, but such was not my experience.
April 4, 2022
My first issue of Granta as part of a new subscription, such a wonderful collection, excited to read more. The best was certainly saved till last with Charif Majdalani's 'Beirut fragments 2021'. Other highlights include Will Rees and Debbie Urbanski.
April 24, 2025
Issue 158 of Granta Magazine was a mixed bag. Some texts were so bad I couldn't finish them (the identity ones: Jamaican, Gipsy or Roma, cancer - yes, really) but others were excellent and convinced me to move up the rating. I must mention here Beirut Fragments, 2021, the story of a country going to chaos, a reminder that it could happen to us, anytime.
March 2, 2022
An excellent edition. Not a dud contribution and some wonderful writing from Debbie Urbanski, Moses McKenzie & Nathan Harris.
March 19, 2022
A good set of story’s, photo essays and reports. In particular: Fatima Bhutto, Janice Galloway, Lewis Khan, Debbie Urbanski, Dawn Watson and Charif Majdalani
May 1, 2022
Dit nummer viel me wat tegen. Enkel "The Picnic Pavilion" van Debbie Urbanski kon me bekoren.
May 30, 2022
nice. intense stories of loss and hardship and families
November 11, 2022
A collection of mesmerising stories about families told delicately and with so much respect.
January 6, 2023
One of the more mediocre offerings. Some interesting tales but nothing memorable.
November 21, 2025
A good collection of short stories and poetry, both fictional and not.
Read
August 28, 2022I particularly enjoyed Fatima Bhutto’s reflections on her dog’s pregnancy. Nathan Harris’ The Physician, and Moses Mackenzie’s An Olive Grove in Ends, whose dialogue began nearly unfathomable, but grew discernable as I continued. Debbie Urbanski’s The Picnic Pavilion, in which 3 generations “meet” to discuss the family’s hereditary cancer is a masterpiece.
Charif Madalani’s Beirut Fragments 2021 describes what I imagine will be the life of us all as supply chains snap, resources dwindle, and political conventions grow increasingly fractious.
Charif Madalani’s Beirut Fragments 2021 describes what I imagine will be the life of us all as supply chains snap, resources dwindle, and political conventions grow increasingly fractious.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews