Customer Reviews

20 Under 40: Stories from The New Yorker

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I read this book eagerly, then hopefully, and finally only with determination to finish what I had started. I would finish this book even though I didn't want to. Quick background info: The book is composed of 20 short stories written by various authors from as varying backgrounds as could be possible. Selections were made by editors of the "New Yorker."

Good: The stories make you think. They present the world in a challenging way. Time after time, characters in the stories make startling decisions that, almost inevitably, make you hope you would do better, be wiser.

Bad: Either the editors that chose the selections have a terrificly depressing world-view, or the current state of literary fiction and the people who comprise it have a negative bent. Without exception, every story in this book is depressing, and in some cases, horrifically so. There is no light to the darkness, no good to the bad. Humans are inherently mean, self-centered, evil, and devoid of concious, and in the rare case that an author in this compilation presents a character who is not those things, then that character is devastatingly ruined, either by external forces or people. Don't get me wrong, life is tragic, and in any good story tragedy must occur. But the good authors, and especially the great authors are always able to exact some salvation for the protagonists. Think "Anna Karenina" - even in her death a sense of redemption can be found. Think of "Oliver Twist." The scope of tragedy in that story outstrips any in this book, but in "Twist" not all is lost. Reading this book, though, there radiates only bleakness. Only tragedy, only horrible decisions. You don't even get the pleasure of seeing the failures engender learning. All but two of the stories are tragic, purely for tragedy's sake. And frankly, though I am by no means a major in modern english literature, the writing is standard, prosaic. Hardly evocative, barely setting the scene in most cases. Hollow. I hope the future of literary fiction doesn't rest on these twenty author's shoulders alone. No offense to them, and not having read any of their other works, I am hardly informed. But if these short stories are a reflection of their larger works and these twenty authors represent the best that can be harvested from the "up-and-comers," then the future of literary fiction is a drab, dark, despairing world indeed.

I subscribe to the New Yorker podcast, and enjoy many (not all) of the stories. Most of the stories in this collectionI enjoyed, and I was introduced to several new writers, including Gary Shteyngart whose humorous story cleverly revealed a hyper health and credit rating conscious America. The only story I was disappointed with was The Pilot, but that was partly because I had read another story by Joshua Ferris that was Exceptional.

Not all of the stories end with Leonardo DiCaprio sinking to a watery grave, but none of them end with him standing on the prow of a ship shouting "I'm king of the world!"

The stories are very well written. The talent of the authors is definitely not in question, but not a single story has a happy ending, many of them are horrifying, the rest just dark or depressing. It's fiction, but it had me thinking how people in real life are capable of some similarly horrible things, and there are several stories that are surprisingly disturbing in this book. Maybe that was the point. I kept reading to the end, holding out hope that there was going to be something positive in a story or two, but there was not.

The stories are catchy, the characters are bearable and the plots are generally enjoyable. The best story out of the bunch is probably "Birdwatching" and when compared to that I feel like the rest of the stories tend to fall short. Don't get me wrong this isn't a bad read for an assigned text but it wouldn't be something you could plop down on the couch and just read for the sheer enjoyment of it all.

At least that's my opinion on this book.

So get it if you need some short stories for a class, otherwise find a better collection.