Customer Reviews

McSweeney's Issue 17 (McSweeney's Quarterly Concern)

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

 

 

Breaking from their standard issue of a hard-bound book filled with stories and other writings, McSweeney's #17 is perhaps the most daring way to market a literary journal yet. Unlike other issues, you can't flip through this one for four hours at the bookstore, so either satisfy your curiousity and buy it or let it remain a mystery. However, once you get over the packaging and presentation, it's still a traditional issue of McSweeney's, complete with a book of stories, a tongue-in-cheek "Yeti Researcher" (similar to the article about Giant Squids in issue #11) which will be an excellent "gag" to slip on your local library's magazing rack, beautifully reproduced art (this time in color: a bonus) and a few other extras. It is these "extras" that makes McSweeney's stand out from any other lit mag--more so than its fiction.

If you're new to McSweeney's, this might be a good issue to start with, especially if you're more visually inclined. However, if you're a short fiction purist, preferring substance over style, start with issue #11.

Note: NO DVD INCLUDED in issue #17. If the package included a DVD, made to look like an AOL free-trial CD, I would wholeheartedly give issue #17 five stars.

McSweeney's has been "pushing the envelope" since at least issue 4, which came out as a collection of pamphlets. The last issue had a comb, and this comes with a helpful sticker letting the reader understand that this incoherent mass is designed to look like a bunch of junk that comes in the mail. The sight gags are sometimes quite funny (the holiday sausage catalog was rich), and some of the other items were definitely worth reading. One envelope began with a spam form letter, exhorting the reader to pay close attention to the Nigerian email writer's favorite story, and then the next 30 pages covered a well written story about a tragedy on the North Shore of Chicago. I couldn't grasp how the spoof, Yeti Researcher, a send up of a humdrum academic journal, was any funnier than your typical middling social scientific journal that contains real career-advancing crap. My package definitely did not contain a DVD. On the McSweeney's web site, it states "Please note that the debut issue of Wholphin will be included with Issue 18 of McSweeney's"

I find most issues of McSweeney's unbearable-- the stories a pain to read, the gimmicks self-indulging and vain, and a putrid hipster aura oozing out of the copyright page and whereever David Eggers can manage to squeeze it into the margins. When I saw this issue, though, I was fascinated with the prospect of creating such an absurd pile of mail. Three years later I finally ordered a copy and I was not disappointed. There really are a lot of brilliantly creative minds at McSweeney's, for all its failings, and in this issue someone's fantastic pipe dream of an idea was realized. The gags are funny, each piece of mail brings new surprises, and while I am reluctant to spoil it, the very scientific-looking Yeti Researcher journal immersed me so completely I was wondering whether it was real, and the story in the Nigerian scam letter was so good that I went out and preordered the full version from Amazon. This issue is everything the packaging promises, and well worth the price. Buy it as a present for yourself, or for anyone you know who would appreciate such a quirky fantasy.

We picked this up at a book fair where the publisher had a booth. For the entire time we looked at the various McSweeny, Believer and Wholpin wares, I thought this shrink wrapped packet was the usual packet festival promoters give vendors. All of a sudden it occurred to me that it might an actual issue of theirs and I asked. What a refreshingly funny idea!

I'm a person who would have trouble resisting a package left sitting on a bus bench, and have to play the warnings I've read all over London in my head to avoid opening such things. Naturally this bundle called loudly to me - and to my daughter. Not so much my husband - not until we got home and opened it, that is. The three of us laughed - no - guffawed - over the junk mail for over an hour. We haven't even gotten to the books yet, and the thing has been well worth the price already. Where else can you get therapy for three for so little? This stuff (and their other issues) is so good we subscribed to McSweeney's - and Wholpin - and Believer - and their Book Release club. Bravo! Dave Egger and company.

BTW - the Wholpin debut dvd comes with issue 18 - which can be found here:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1932416382 I don't know where it says it comes with issue 17, but it probably wasn't ready in time for publication so they put it in the next issue.

In the spirit of fun and surprise, I'm not going to tell you what comes in the issue 17 bundle, let alone critique each item. Other reviewers have done so, which I think is unfortunate. This is the sort of item you have to buy on blind faith, take as a whole, and not nitpick which items are worth reading and which aren't. Some will love it, and others won't but if you really hate it, it's the perfect gift for your neighbor who reads all her junk mail.

McSweeney's 17 is designed to look like a bundle of junk mail. So you have a couple of letters which are actually stories, you get a clothes catalogue for conjoined twins, attractively designed chocolate baskets brochure, a Yeti magazine, a magazine of short stories called "Unfamiliar", and a manila envelope with beautiful artwork printed on card. Suffice it to say, no one is doing what McSweeney's is doing in the literary world.

And some might well roll their eyes at the list above but chances are you're a fan if you're even reading this. McSweeney's is always concerned with the design and presentation of their quarterleys as much as the content but this edition is mostly concerned with presentation.

The two stories I enjoyed, out of a dozen or so, was an extract of a novel by Peter Ferry called "Accident", which takes the form of a letter. It's a meandering story of a teacher telling his class about an accident he witnessed and about his life. "Handlebar" by Eric Hanson in the magazine "Unfamiliar" is about George W Bush growing a handlebar mustache and thus distracting the nation from heinous activities his administration is committing. It's a witty satire and well written.

It's almost worth it just to spend the time unwrapping and exploring the various bits and pieces that make up this issue. It's like a literary toy. It would've been nice if there were some great stories here but unfortunately most are just average.

McSweeney's 17 may feature the most innovative packaging of any of the issues, and is for that reason in itself worth owning. It's an issue made to look like a bundle of mail, with plenty of things to explore and discover.

I will spoil some surprises: The "Pantalaine" catalog in the picture is a very funny fake catalog of conjoined clothing meant for group wear. There's also a "Tyrolian" catalog of different artful sausage baskets, a private investigator's photographs of red cars and perch, several art cards on posterboard, and a copy of Yeti Researcher magazine, with, apparently, nonfiction articles about honest-to-goodness yeti research. Obscurantism at its most inscrutable, but with a spirit of care, creativity, and joy in its conception.

As far as what's here to actually read, the fiction in 17 is weak and sparse, with about 10 very short, mostly blah stories, one awful graphic short, and a memoir by Peter Ferry, which comes as a typewritten letter introduced as a Bangladeshi woman's favorite short story. Again, concept is king, and it's very well done here. The innovation of presentation is the point.

All ideological tirades against materialism aside, this is a superb Thing to Own. Very creative, very enjoyable, a delight to open and explore.