Customer Reviews

The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2004 (The Best American Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was my first "Best American" book, so I wasn't sure what to expect. To be sure, some of the stories just blew me away, but as a whole, I just wasn't impressed by this collection. If I were to reduce my description of this book to "hits" and "misses," I'd have to say that there were fewer "hits." And in the middle of the book is a strange, and I feel unnecessary, illustrated story (?). I had to force myself to finish the book, and when I did, I was delighted to move on to something else. You won't be missing out if you skip this one.

I distinctly remembering receiving a card in the mail that promised Haruki Murakami would have a piece in this book. Instead of Murakami we got Vigo. I don't know, maybe having Mortenson's piece helped sell the book, but It depressed me to have a well-paid movie star as a highlight of this collection, no matter how literary he may be. The last two collections were far more down to earth and genuinely interesting and the introduction by Eggers, although it did crack me up a few times, seemed like he was running out of steam and covering it up with precociousness. It's not that Vigo's essay was bad or anything but why should I care more for his lost notebook of poetry than I would for someone who's been writing poetry all their life and has a much crappier day job and will never ever have the chance to be published in this book. There were less selections this time from regular Joe writers and more from established literary types and just not enough variety. The best two pieces in this book are the one on happiness and the runner from Rwanda. Anyway, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for next time.

This is a good series that I, generally, highly recommend for its fresh new fiction and offbeat nonfiction writing. But this is not a good number in the series.

This collection has two introductions -- never a good sign. Introductions are never really good, and these two, well, reek.

Two pieces redeem the collection. "Big Brother" is an extraordinary short story that is at once very funny and very sad. It touches on issues of race, sex, parenthood, and carrying on with life in the face of death. It's a terrific story that should have been collected in the year's best stories. The other good piece is David Sedaris' very funny story about his adolescence.

Not sure these two stories can justify buying the whole collection, but they certainly won't disappoint.

I picked up this book, having thoroughly enjoyed the last 2 editions and was greatly disappointed by the story selection this year. In the past the selections have all had only one thing in common: they are some of the best pieces of "writing" in the past year. This year there seems to be a theme of nothing but depression. Story after story seems to be nothing but how bad life is and how there is nothing you can do to get around it. Reading this book is akin to watching French films all day then calling your mom and asking her "whats wrong?". The light at the end of the tunnel is a hilarious story from Sedaris about a rousing night of strip poker. Very funny stuff and is just about the only reason I give this book 2 stars.

I thought this book started off a bit slow. Some of the stories were stories like ones I had heard before. I feel like the last few stories in this book were worth the time! They were stories that you couldn't find anywhere else- very unique!
The comics were a nice touch too. ;)

Whether your in college or home-schooling, this is a great book to help you pick up on anything you may have missed in American Lit.

A great read, with a heartfelt Introduction by Viggo Mortensen on the power and passion of the word! --Diana Divine, Los Angeles, CA

Most of the copious volumes from the Best American series are formidable collections in categories that you can really sink your teeth into. You know what you're getting with the Best American writing about Travel, Science and Nature, Music, Mysteries, or even Recipes. But this "Nonrequired" series is either a vanity project for cooler-than-thou editor Dave Eggers, or a dead letter office for orphaned submissions and quirky leftovers. So what does "Nonrequired" really mean as a category? Is it supposed to mean writing from alternative publications or unorthodox sources? That's partially true here, but not entirely, because this volume has submissions from New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, GQ, and Esquire. Is "Nonrequired" supposed to mean cutting-edge styles or offbeat subject matter? With a few noteworthy exceptions, this is not really the case either, because the vast majority of submissions here are completely typical short stories that are often perfectly competent (though sometimes not), but are not out of the ordinary in any literary sense. This is especially curious because there is already a Best American Short Stories collection. Is "Nonrequired" supposed to feature writers from alternative lifestyles, immigrant cultures, or disadvantaged social conditions? That is the case for some of the submissions here, but this also is not consistently the case.

Most awkwardly, this mostly fictional collection has two observational essays and four journalistic articles. Ironically, the four non-fiction articles are the best items here because they deal with interesting subjects, but their placement seems arbitrary and inconsistent. And finally, this book gets off to a horrendous start, with Eggers' so-very-not-funny foreword, and the stultifying introduction by Viggo Mortensen, who acts far better than he writes. So what's the point of having all these writings in this one volume, with the poorly defined category trying to group them together? Maybe it's so Eggers and his group of teen interns with big thoughts can feel like they've served the world, by compiling material that's apparently cool enough for us because it's cool enough for them. But one person's cool is another person's cold. And that's when you can even figure out what the category is supposed to mean [~doomsdayer520~]

Not here...

But, what do you expect from the man who only publishes his friends/lovers? Here, again, you'll find Eggers friends whose work he's published elsewhere, people Eggers knows at the Onion web site, etc. etc. This is a great idea for a Best American book, but sooner or later, McSweeney's is going to have to stop pretending to publish overlooked, outsider, experimental, or even good, work. Where can one really find that, I wonder...

NOTE: I don't want to be over Eggers. I loved the first book. I love the concept of a writer being involved in the entire presentation of his work. I love the thought of McSweeney's. Blah, blah, blah Velocity made me so excited to treasure the words and the design. But the dang book is HORRIBLE. I keep buying these books from his camp and thinking, "Yeah! Experimental fiction!" But I keep going, "Aw. Bad Story."

But okay, I'll bite. I mean, c'mon - Aragorn is sooo hot. And what the hell will he write about?

His intro is a wonderful, thoughtful piece. Eggers' selections held my attention even through my first trip to Paris.

BOYFRIEND: Hey wanna go walk fifty miles in a light drizzle to your favorite designer's boutique where our US dollar means not squat?
ME: Yup. Just lemme finish this story.

What? Fashion is fashion. But you get the point. Know how sometimes you read a collection of stories so voraciously that you enjoy them but can't remember any one story? This is my high compliment for a book of this kind - you'll have memories.