Customer Reviews

McSweeney's Issue 30 (McSweeney's Quarterly Concern)

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The trend of late with McSweeney's is that the better the edition looks, the less content inside. Edition 30 isn't pretty and not one of the more "collectable" editions from an artistic perspective, but it's meaty and full of good stories that are solid and less sarcastic and flippant in tone than many of the McSweeney's collections. The characters are still very unusual, but the writing is less self-aware and showy. If you like McSweeney's sarcastic, some of that is still there in stories like "The Beginning of a Plan". But that sort of thing pales in comparison to the solid writing and character development in the excellent "Pine Cone" , "A Further Interpretation of Real Life Events" and "Retreat".


Stories included are:
Bill Cotter- Pfaff II
Nick Ekkixogloy- Stowaways
Kevin Moffett- Further Interpretation of Real Life Events
Etgar Keret-Bad Karma
Shelly Oria- The Beginning of a Plan
Michael Cera- Pinecone
Carson Mell-Diamond Aces
Matei Visniec-Madness
J. Malcolm Garcia-Cuts
Catherine Bussinger- Foothill Boulevard
Wells Tower-Retreat

An edition worth buying if you're looking for a few hours of solid reading.

The art: This issue is pretty basic, which is on purpose, as it's a throwback issue meant to look like the first McSweeney's. This may be artistic choice or editorial laziness but who cares anyway, because the McS.' art has lately been superb and the stories in this one are over 80% solid.

The writing: Issue 30 has the just absolutely-wow-wonderful "Retreat" by Wells Tower, which unfortunately causes all other stories to pale in comparison, but Kevin Moffett's and Shelly Oria's stories are also standouts, the first a fun and clever metafictional account about an author who's outdone in literary journals by his nonwriter father, the second a sharp idea about stopping and starting time--an idea that's written with the pedantic accuracy of science fiction. It's not just an idea, though, but a strong story around an idea, and has some terrific lines. "Pinecone" by Michael Cera is a lot of fun, an effortlessly readable story even more enjoyable for not being at all "literary." There are only two duds, those by Nick Ekkizogloy and Catherine Bussinger, the first a dull nonstarter, the second an out-of-place exercise in obnoxious sass and clownish characters that's less and less funny the more it strains to be. The other five stories are all solid, potent and effective--an overall strong collection, and another winner.

McSweeney's Issue 30 is solid - good stories, simple throwback design and nice gesture toward Oddi Printing, the Icelandic company that originally took care of McSweeney's printing needs.

The design is interesting - unique and uncomplicated, representative of the time that it was published (Obama taking over for Bush). If the design is light, the font is a bit chunkier, but small, thin drawings scattered throughout each story break up the text well.

Overall, a great collection of stories, many of which contain memorable characters who are realistic, dimensional and relatable. This issue contains Michael Cera's first published story ("Pinecone") and although it's a quick read and interesting with spots of genuine humor, it largely comes off as an inferior extension of Cera's acting. In some areas, descriptions and dialogue seem trite; it's difficult to see the main character at the age and mental stage he's supposed to inhabit, and for the most part, the story carries no dynamic motion that propels anything forward. It's as though this story could (and would) happen on a weekly basis in the life of the main character, Carroll Silver. The character's ranting, perhaps intended to be a mix of clever and cynical, comes off stilted and childish. Fans of Cera will see traces of his movie characters, however, and this seems to be the story's redeeming feature and, I suspect, the reason it was published at all.

The rest of the stories are excellent, including Wells Tower's "Retreat," a story originally published in McSweeney's 23 and now told from the perspective of a different character. I haven't read the original, but am very interested after reading its updated counterpart.

Stories I enjoyed the most include Matei Visniec's "Madness," Shelly Oria's "The Beginning of a Plan" and Carson Mell's "Diamond Aces," all of which have quirky plotlines and characters that shine - you'll wish these were longer stories (the definition of a good short story?). The remaining stories are also enjoyable, and overall, the theme of the issue - rejoice - casts a mellowing irony across the collection as a whole.

This is the first issue of McSweeney's to come out after Bush's presidency and the cover says it all - REJOICE! followed by "It's too late to screw it all up, right?" on the first page. Ah, McSweeney's.

A note about the design because McSweeney's has a reputation for innovative design of their issues. Whether the issue is a newspaper, a cigar box, held together with magnets, or designed to look like junk mail, they usually do something interesting. McSweeney's 30 is simply a paperback. This is a deliberate choice as they explain on the copyright page to go back to the design of their earliest issues and to help out the Icelandic printer's they used to use back then who have fallen on hard times thanks to Icelandic bankers. It's a nice choice as the attention in this issue is on the contents not on the presentation.

Bill Cotter's "Pfaff II" is about two mental patients who fall in love and escape together.

Nick Ekkizogloy's "Stowaways" is about two stoner electricians who have to work through an emergency flooding.

Kevin Moffett's "Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events" is about a wannabe writer/teacher whose father suddenly starts writing and gets published, much to his son's dismay and jealousy.

Etgar Keret's "Bad Karma" features an insurance salesman whose near death experience helps him get more sales of life insurance than anyone else but also gave him a glimpse into a parallel world.

Michael Cera's "Pinecone" is about a washed up actor in his late thirties who yells at a fast food clerk who said she didn't like one of his movies. Surprisingly good story as I was fully expecting to dislike it thinking "stick to acting, Scott Pilgrim!".

Wells Tower's "Retreat" is a story that was published in McSweeney's 23 as told from the perspective of one man in the story. In this revamped version the story is told from that man's brother. It's also the edition found in Tower's book "Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned".

The best two stories are Carson Mell's "Diamond Aces" and J. Malcolm Garcia's "Cuts". "Diamond Aces" is about a man finding out his elderly father is a strip club consultant and has some great funny scenes. "Cuts" is about a director of a non-profit agency tasked with helping the homeless. Awaiting a call about funding for his organisation for the next year, he ponders who to fire and who to keep on. Strangely poignant and funny.

This is one of my favourite issues of McSweeney's with some excellent stories throughout. If you're a fiction fan looking for an engrossing read to keep you occupied for a few hours, this is your book.

I ordered this book as a gift for someone because I really wanted them to have Michael Cera's first published short story "Pinecone." I, too, read "Pinecone", which, if you're a Mike Cera fan (or if you just like funny, Steve Martin-esque shorts), is well worth the price of admission, alone.

I only glanced through the rest of the book, which seemed interesting enough, but wasn't my primary reason for ordering, and I had to wrap it and give it away, anyway.

I will also say that the book is incredibly white. Apparently some sort of "throwback" design to commemorate both Barack Obama and some earlier McSweeney's editions, it sort of comes off looking very plain and bland. There are some small doodles running throughout the course of the book, but it mostly is very stark white paper with a shockingly abrupt and finesse-less black text font. It's just very boring-looking.