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McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern #37
McSweeney's Issue 37
Our return, after four issues, to pure hardcover bookness features:
- Jonathan Franzen on Upper East Side ambition,
- Jess Walter on the men who ride children's bicycles in Spokane, Washington,
- Joe Meno on women who want to be eaten by lions,
- Etgar Keret and Joyce Carol Oates on murder and language in a restaurant called Cheesus Christ, and at Gate C34 of Newark International Airport, respectively,
and ten more stories besides, five of them strange and beautiful pieces from Kenya that will tell you, indelibly, what it's like to be drunk for seventy-two hours straight in Nairobi or to smuggle contraband jam into the girls' dormitory of the Precious Blood Riruta Secondary School or to fly over the Kalacha Goda oasis in a small plane, at sunset, with your brother in a coffin next to you. Other topics covered include unemployment, drumming vs. painting, and Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square car-bomb attempter.
As if that wasn't enough, this one is our first full-color issue in quite a while, too, with illustrations on every page—order yours today!
- Jonathan Franzen on Upper East Side ambition,
- Jess Walter on the men who ride children's bicycles in Spokane, Washington,
- Joe Meno on women who want to be eaten by lions,
- Etgar Keret and Joyce Carol Oates on murder and language in a restaurant called Cheesus Christ, and at Gate C34 of Newark International Airport, respectively,
and ten more stories besides, five of them strange and beautiful pieces from Kenya that will tell you, indelibly, what it's like to be drunk for seventy-two hours straight in Nairobi or to smuggle contraband jam into the girls' dormitory of the Precious Blood Riruta Secondary School or to fly over the Kalacha Goda oasis in a small plane, at sunset, with your brother in a coffin next to you. Other topics covered include unemployment, drumming vs. painting, and Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square car-bomb attempter.
As if that wasn't enough, this one is our first full-color issue in quite a while, too, with illustrations on every page—order yours today!
256 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2010
2 people are currently reading
118 people want to read
About the author
Dave Eggers
338 books9,470 followersDave 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.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 20, 2024
The artistic design was nothing special. Half of the fun with these books is the uniqueness of their design. This one did not bring it.
Contents:
A booklet tucked into a pocket that was located on the inside of the front cover. It contained four chapters from another book. It was not a good read.
The copyright page had interesting content. It was a good read.
Letters – As always, I loved them.
15 Stories – Five with a special note that they were new from Kenya. I was initially excited about the five because I assumed by pointing them out, that they were going to be above par. That was not the case.
My top three:
“Ambition” – Wife and husband story.
“Take Care of That Rage Problem” – Adult child and parent story.
“Lugo in Normal Life” – Divorced dad story.
Honorable mention:
“The Life and Times of Richard Onyango” – The author included paintings with their story, and that is what I want to acknowledge here. Those paintings were fascinating. The lady with a wine glass staring out the window was the winner.
Three stars to a book that wasn't the greatest of times, but it wasn't the worst.
Contents:
A booklet tucked into a pocket that was located on the inside of the front cover. It contained four chapters from another book. It was not a good read.
The copyright page had interesting content. It was a good read.
Letters – As always, I loved them.
15 Stories – Five with a special note that they were new from Kenya. I was initially excited about the five because I assumed by pointing them out, that they were going to be above par. That was not the case.
My top three:
“Ambition” – Wife and husband story.
“Take Care of That Rage Problem” – Adult child and parent story.
“Lugo in Normal Life” – Divorced dad story.
Honorable mention:
“The Life and Times of Richard Onyango” – The author included paintings with their story, and that is what I want to acknowledge here. Those paintings were fascinating. The lady with a wine glass staring out the window was the winner.
Three stars to a book that wasn't the greatest of times, but it wasn't the worst.
June 8, 2011
I really enjoyed the stories from Kenya. Sometimes I tire of tales of the American things Americans do. I suppose similar things go on in Kenya, but there's a sense that simething more real is behind their urgency.
June 22, 2012
always a fun read, new authors, with wonderful shorts and the book design itself was and is beautiful and a one of a kind!
July 7, 2011
Overall, this was a satisfying issue of McSweeney's. The strong stories were extremely strong, particularly Meno's and Franzen's but I couldn't help but feel Kevin Moffett's story was utterly lackluster. This is the problem with McSweeney's now, certain contributors skate by completely on their name alone. I get the feeling that McSweeney's is turning into a publishing company for Dave Egger's celebrity friends rather than one for unique short stories. /rant
The Kenyan stories will be hit or miss. They are rather drab and uneventful, but as the essay beforehand points out, that's sort of the style over there right now. I found a few to be rather good, but ultimately, I look at them the way I look at all the foreign contributions, a survey of another culture's writing that, while probably not relatable, can at least serve as an exposure to another type of storytelling.
The physical book was pretty nifty this quarter but as someone who is delicate with their books, I was disappointed to see the binding come unglued after the first afternoon of reading. Oh well.
The Kenyan stories will be hit or miss. They are rather drab and uneventful, but as the essay beforehand points out, that's sort of the style over there right now. I found a few to be rather good, but ultimately, I look at them the way I look at all the foreign contributions, a survey of another culture's writing that, while probably not relatable, can at least serve as an exposure to another type of storytelling.
The physical book was pretty nifty this quarter but as someone who is delicate with their books, I was disappointed to see the binding come unglued after the first afternoon of reading. Oh well.
July 17, 2011
A solid issue of McSweeney's, with the always enjoyable letters section. Nice section of recent writing from Kenya, but I wish the introduction had included some glossary or at least a discussion of some of the terms that popped up throughout several of the stories.
Would have given this another star, but for the second time in the 3-4 issues, the binding broke on this copy of McSweeney's within a few days of my starting to read it. I love the design of this issue, and the quarterly in general, but if it starts to come at the expense of the book breaking, why do it?
Would have given this another star, but for the second time in the 3-4 issues, the binding broke on this copy of McSweeney's within a few days of my starting to read it. I love the design of this issue, and the quarterly in general, but if it starts to come at the expense of the book breaking, why do it?
May 20, 2013
As always with McSweeney's, you have your really good and your really meh and that happens especially in the Kenyan section of this issue. Wait, that makes it sound like every issue has a Kenyan section. Only this issue has a Kenyan section and I liked two out the five stories. The non-Kenyan section is pretty solid all around.
January 11, 2021
It's been a while since I've picked up an issue of McSweeney's and this one did not disappoint. Expectations were high given the pedigree of contributors: Jonathan Franzen, Joyce Carol Oates, Jess Walter, Kevin Moffett. One of my favorite features is McSweeney's hunt to document literature from around the world and this issue feature a selction of stories from Kenya. It's a perspective I wasn't familiar with at all, but unfortunately, it didn't offer much to make want to run out dig deeper. Still, we need more publishers who are willing to dedicate pages to more than just our America or Brittish cultures. Some highlights include:
The letters....Oh the letters. I always love the letters. A shout out to Brendan Emmett Quigley for his glimse into the rough and tumble world of puzzle making.
Ambition by Jonathan Franzen. I love Franzen and it's been a while since I'd read his stuff. (wasn't keen on Purity, so I took a break) But his prose just makes me happy.
"Cheesus Christ" by regular Etgar Keret exploration of death was a entertaining.
"Still Looking" by John Hyduk, written about the experience of being unemployed in due a recession 2008 spoke to me, being unemployed due to a pandemic in 2020. Some things don't change I guess.
I loved Joe Meno's "Lion's Jaws" about a man's fascination with a manic pixie dream girl who's life ambition is to get eaten by a lion. Of course it's about more than that...I think.
I was taken for a ride by the crazy adventures of artist Richard Onyango. This is starting to be a genre I like: artist memoirs. Really cool paintings too.
Billy Kahora's "Urban Zoning" about the early days of a young man's spiral into alcoholism (another of my favorite genre's: the trainwreck story) was wonderfully written.
The very clever description of the rules for a boarding in Annette Lutivini Majanja's "It is only the best that comes out" tells a deeper story of childhood oppression, despite it's lack of narrative. Great work.
The letters....Oh the letters. I always love the letters. A shout out to Brendan Emmett Quigley for his glimse into the rough and tumble world of puzzle making.
Ambition by Jonathan Franzen. I love Franzen and it's been a while since I'd read his stuff. (wasn't keen on Purity, so I took a break) But his prose just makes me happy.
"Cheesus Christ" by regular Etgar Keret exploration of death was a entertaining.
"Still Looking" by John Hyduk, written about the experience of being unemployed in due a recession 2008 spoke to me, being unemployed due to a pandemic in 2020. Some things don't change I guess.
I loved Joe Meno's "Lion's Jaws" about a man's fascination with a manic pixie dream girl who's life ambition is to get eaten by a lion. Of course it's about more than that...I think.
I was taken for a ride by the crazy adventures of artist Richard Onyango. This is starting to be a genre I like: artist memoirs. Really cool paintings too.
Billy Kahora's "Urban Zoning" about the early days of a young man's spiral into alcoholism (another of my favorite genre's: the trainwreck story) was wonderfully written.
The very clever description of the rules for a boarding in Annette Lutivini Majanja's "It is only the best that comes out" tells a deeper story of childhood oppression, despite it's lack of narrative. Great work.
August 12, 2023
This is a book about Kenya, character, nature and society. The stories tend to cluster around these issues.[return][return]The most obvious examples of the cluster are the work by Jess Walter, John Hyduk, J. Malcolm Garcia and Etgar Keret which deal explicitly with social systems and the perils/pitfalls of employment or lack of it. Joyce Carol Oates and Nelly Reifler both contribute pieces that deal with the animal world, while Joe Meno's piece connects the animal with the social via the concept of passion. Alcoholism connects work by Billy Kahora and Kevin Moffett, and the nature of character is deftly handled by Jonathan Franzen and Nelly Reifler. Among the Kenyan pieces, Richard Onyango's is a real stand out both visually and verbally. Of the remaining, pieces by Binyavanga Wainaina and Annette Lutivini Majanja give real insight into Kenyan life. Yvonne Adhiambo Owour's piece, while possibly important in terms of Kenyan political history, left me feeling that it didn't quite work, technically.[return][return]The standout piece for me is 'Cheesus Christ', by Etgar Keret, which is like seeing the whole world in a tiny but beautiful Swiss watch.[return][return]The book itself is a work of art. It features a trompe l'oeil cover which, from certain angles, makes it look like there is a second book laying on top of the actual one. Inside, the lovely border illustrations reflect aspects and themes of each story. Unfortunately, due to the weight of the first four chapters of a free John Sayles, the cover tends to come away at the binding - but one often has to suffer in order to be beautiful.
July 8, 2011
This issue of McSweeney's has an interesting concept, a book that looks like a book. In reality it's a normal sized hardback, 250 pages, that has cut off edges and a design that makes it look larger than it is. Cute.
I liked Jonathan Franzen's "Ambition", the story of an intelligent woman who marries a man who makes them rich and allows herself to slip into a passive role, enjoying the luxuries of wealth. That is until she hits middle age and her husband begins an affair with a younger woman.
The always brilliant Jess Walter writes a non-fiction piece of his hometown that was very moving. I don't know much about Spokane, Washington but didn't think it was such a poor place. Walter writes about it beautifully, showing his hometown and himself in sheer honesty. I really liked this essay.
Continuing the non-fiction theme is John Hyduk's essay on his life spent working blue collar jobs. This was probably the best piece of this issue. Hyduk speaks about unemployment candidly and, if like me you've had no work for months at a time, you'll find yourself empathising with this wise, loquacious man who tells his life story through work in a compelling and fascinating way. It's also very zeitgeisty with a number of people going through similar problems all over.
Etgar Keret supplies a humourous short story about a number of people, a cheeseburger franchise owner, a checkout girl, a madman, and a dead man. The wonder of Keret's writing is that he can pack so much into so few pages. I think this story was no more than 3 pages in length.
So those were the highlights for me. There is also a section devoted to writers of Kenyan fiction, an idea similar to previous issues like in 35 when there were a number of Norwegian writers highlighted. However after reading a couple of stories I was very unimpressed. In the introduction to this section, the writers say that Kenyan authors strive for ordinariness and, frankly, that's what you get with these stories. There was a 30 page story about a black man and a white woman who fall in love, the woman dies, and the man takes up a successful painting career painting this woman, but it felt flat and unemotional. The paintings included in the story were excellent but I felt the writing and the storytelling like in a couple of Kenyan pieces just lacked energy and heart.
And finally a few things to point out about the book's appearance: McSweeney's say that every page has a full colour illustration but this isn't the case, a small length-wise design that's repeated for the length of the story is what you get in mono-colour. The glue or paper used to make this issue smells - bad. Like the fish paste glue back in school only worse, like rotting fish. And the book fell apart while I was reading it. The hard cover just came away from the pages. Thankfully Amazon are good at returns so I didn't have a problem there, but compared to the high production of the last issue, this was a very poorly put together book.
In the end, some good pieces, but overall quite a bland issue with poor quality materials used to create it.
I liked Jonathan Franzen's "Ambition", the story of an intelligent woman who marries a man who makes them rich and allows herself to slip into a passive role, enjoying the luxuries of wealth. That is until she hits middle age and her husband begins an affair with a younger woman.
The always brilliant Jess Walter writes a non-fiction piece of his hometown that was very moving. I don't know much about Spokane, Washington but didn't think it was such a poor place. Walter writes about it beautifully, showing his hometown and himself in sheer honesty. I really liked this essay.
Continuing the non-fiction theme is John Hyduk's essay on his life spent working blue collar jobs. This was probably the best piece of this issue. Hyduk speaks about unemployment candidly and, if like me you've had no work for months at a time, you'll find yourself empathising with this wise, loquacious man who tells his life story through work in a compelling and fascinating way. It's also very zeitgeisty with a number of people going through similar problems all over.
Etgar Keret supplies a humourous short story about a number of people, a cheeseburger franchise owner, a checkout girl, a madman, and a dead man. The wonder of Keret's writing is that he can pack so much into so few pages. I think this story was no more than 3 pages in length.
So those were the highlights for me. There is also a section devoted to writers of Kenyan fiction, an idea similar to previous issues like in 35 when there were a number of Norwegian writers highlighted. However after reading a couple of stories I was very unimpressed. In the introduction to this section, the writers say that Kenyan authors strive for ordinariness and, frankly, that's what you get with these stories. There was a 30 page story about a black man and a white woman who fall in love, the woman dies, and the man takes up a successful painting career painting this woman, but it felt flat and unemotional. The paintings included in the story were excellent but I felt the writing and the storytelling like in a couple of Kenyan pieces just lacked energy and heart.
And finally a few things to point out about the book's appearance: McSweeney's say that every page has a full colour illustration but this isn't the case, a small length-wise design that's repeated for the length of the story is what you get in mono-colour. The glue or paper used to make this issue smells - bad. Like the fish paste glue back in school only worse, like rotting fish. And the book fell apart while I was reading it. The hard cover just came away from the pages. Thankfully Amazon are good at returns so I didn't have a problem there, but compared to the high production of the last issue, this was a very poorly put together book.
In the end, some good pieces, but overall quite a bland issue with poor quality materials used to create it.
December 23, 2015
Kind of a middling volume in this venerable quarterly. "The Grove" by Nelly Reifler was heartbreaking and beautiful. Richard Onyango's autobiographical short was the best part of this issue and I generally enjoyed the work from Kenya. "Dust and Memory" was the only dud in that section. "Cheesus Christ" and "Still Looking" were the other standouts. The rest was meh or worse.
September 13, 2011
This issue is beautifully designed, one of the things I love about the magazine. The story by Franzen was really good in my opinion. The Kenyan contributions were less to my liking.
All in all a nice edition.
All in all a nice edition.
May 23, 2012
It had been too long since I had read McSweeney's. Here's another beautiful physical object with some interesting stories inside. The Kenyan stories didn't grab me as much as I hoped they would, but still a lot to like in this volume.
May 16, 2011
Pretty solid, minus the design, strangely enough. MVP: Joe Meno's Lion's Jaws. Honorable mentions to Jess Walter, Richard Onyango, and even that Franzen story was pretty tight. A good un.
June 20, 2011
Beautiful book full of pleasant reading. Pity goodreads app doesn't have possibility to post quotes. I think i would write a few of them!
November 1, 2011
Some good ones:
Moffett, Kevin - Lugo in Normal Time*
Meno, Joe - Lion's Jaws
Owuor, Ynvonne Adhiambo - Dust and Memory
Moffett, Kevin - Lugo in Normal Time*
Meno, Joe - Lion's Jaws
Owuor, Ynvonne Adhiambo - Dust and Memory
September 13, 2011
OMG!!! These stories are fantastic. They're fresh, smart and very interesting. I'm hooked on these books!!!!
January 1, 2013
Statistical Abstract for My Hometown, Spokane, Washington
The Grove
Lugo In Normal Time
Lion's Jaws
The Grove
Lugo In Normal Time
Lion's Jaws
July 9, 2012
Liked Jess Wolter, Nelly Reifler, Edan Lepucki, John Hyduk, Kevin Moffatt, Joe Meno, Richard Onyango stories.
January 4, 2014
I love short stories as much as the next person? But only one of these made me put a whole book by the author on my Amazon wishlist. An okay way to pass a week.
January 13, 2015
Pretty standard for McSweeney quarterly fare.
May 20, 2015
Pretty good short stories in this issue. As usual I enjoyed some more to than others.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews