Customer Reviews

McSweeney's Issue 32 (McSweeney's Quarterly Concern)

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

 

 

This one is fantastic--terrific art by Robyn O'Neil and Michael Schall and terrific stories throughout. The stories all take place in 2024 AD, and across the globe. In the future, everyone's worried about water.

First and best is Anthony Doerr's novella "Memory Wall," which may be the best novella I've ever read. It's a story of three intersecting lives in Cape Town, one of a widower who keeps a memory wall of tapes she can plug into her head, her servant, and the hired young man who sneaks into the woman's house in secret to find the tape with a lucrative paleontological secret known only to the woman's husband. It comes together masterfully and even challenges itself to a last-act finale that betters an already incredible ending. Wells Tower also outdoes himself in "Raw Water," about a couple arriving at a new community built around an inland lake created with excess ocean water. The community, of course, falls apart under Tower's knack and singularity for perception and detail. Chris Bachelder writes about the castaways of a flood in Houston struggling to re-create civilization in the Astrodome, told in 40 small segments. Chris Adrian writes about a black hole appearing in Nantucket that allows people to enter and die painlessly. J. Erin Sweeney writes about the Eastern European offspring of an infamous dictator being shipped with rare dolphins back to their fictional homeland of Karabakh. Sheila Heti writes about Mothers, or devices that advise owners on their most probable destinies, creating a world of amateur physicists frustrating real ones. Jim Shepard writes about Dutch hydraulic engineers called on to design flotation devices to sustain the sinking of the Netherlands. The stories are outstanding one after the next; only two, Heidi Julavits' and Sesshu Foster's, disappoint. The stories are extremely creative, instituting interesting research and clever speculation into imaginative not-too-distant futures. The stories are also fully developed, the writers given plenty of space to explore their worlds--this is one of the most content-rich issues yet.

With three extremely solid issues thus far, the 30s is looking to be McSweeney's best decade yet.

I really enjoyed this issue. Themed, regular locations, setting 2024--what's going on? Some creative choices.

Easily the best story was the opener, Anthony Doerr's "Memory Wall." This is followed by a close second (which happens to be second), Wells Tower's "Raw Water." A very strong leadoff, and now I am interested in both of these authors, to read more of their work.

Other good stories are "The Black Square" and "Oblast." I want to read more Jim Shepard, and I liked "The Netherlands Lives With Water," but for some reason his characters and writing style threw or confused me, where I didn't know who was speaking, or if this was a memory or current. But a good regular-guy story nonetheless. I also liked "Material Proof of the Failure of Everything"--I thought the writing was solid and story well-imagined, except that I didn't really know what was going on much of the time. Some of the weaker stories were "Sky City," "Eighth Wonder," and "There is No Time in Waterloo."

All in all a solid issue. Now I need to get back to the current one.

These stories are perfect for you if you like dystopic fiction (like 1984, Brave New World, or perhaps more relevant, Super Sad True Love Story). Each story is wildly different from the next, but each is riveting and pulls you into a world that is both familiar and hauntingly unknown.

Plus, the illustrations and binding are beautiful...it's a wonderful book to hold in your hand.

McSweeney's doesn't usually feel like a chore but this issue did. The subtitle is "2024AD" where the 10 writers have to write stories set in that year. Most of them choose to write the usual gloomy drivel. Global warming came true! We live in a post-apolcalyptic wasteland where everything is grey and nobody is happy! Of course global warming is real but couldn't any of these guys think of doing anything original with the material? Thankfully a couple of writers chose to put together decent stories rather than advance a mainstream political idea.

The best of these is the increasingly brilliant Wells Tower whose story "Raw Water" features giant pipes siphoning off excess seawater across land into the deserts, thus transforming them into new landscapes. The water however has turned bad and only a few residents remain. Tower creates some great characters particularly the sleazy drunken real estate salesman Arn Nevis and the newly rejuvenated Rodney Booth whose personality is transformed thanks to the water. It's a fantastic story that showcases Tower's talent for characterisation and storytelling, a compelling mix and a good sign that his next book will be the one that makes his name.

Chris Adrian's "The Black Square" features a small stationary black hole emerging in Nantucket. Initially curious, the black hole spawns a cult following with people seeing it as an opportunity for renewal and a new life, or the end of a particularly painful one. The main character goes there to jump in, ending his life, but finds love with another man. The ending is surprising and excellent.

Sadly, those two were the only stories I genuinely enjoyed. The others feature lifeless characters in (loosely termed) stories who blunder about pointing out that there is less available (food, water, energy, everything) than the past. Very dull stuff.

While most of the writing is competent, the stories' joylessness made for an overall dreary read and eventually made me glad when I finished the last page. 2 great stories out of 10. McSweeney's 32 is batting below average.