Third Class Superhero (Paperback)

by Charles Yu (Author)
Key Phrases: fat suit, Man of Quiet Desperation, Golden Boy, David Howe (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Issues of identity and insecurity simmer throughout Yu's debut collection, an imaginative excursion into the burrow Kafka built. In "My Last Days as Me," the unnamed star of the hit TV show Me and My Mother chafes at the recasting of his onscreen mother and eradicates the line between actor and character. The unnamed man in "Man of Quiet Desperation Goes on Short Vacation" evaluates his existential condition as frequently as a time-obsessed man checks his watch. And in the title story, "Moisture Man" strives to improve his position in the superhero hierarchy, which means constant self-appraisal and comparison to his more successful counterparts ("fireball shooters. A few are ice makers. Half a dozen telepath/empaths"). Yu flirts with formal experimentation—"Problems for Self-Study" unfolds as a complicated multiple choice test, for example—but tempers his fantastical constructions with level prose. (The first two paragraphs of "The Man Who Became Himself" are "He was turning into something unspeakable" and "At the office, people avoided the issue.") There is abundant humor, though, and Yu allows the reader to feel pathos without patronization; a neat trick, in a compulsively readable collection. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"Audacious . . . Smart, engaging and often deadpan funny." (Kirkus Reviews (starred review) )

"Rich with humor, invention, and humanity . . . Yu emerges as a first-class talent. A." (Entertainment Weekly )

"Reminds one of Kafka, if Kafka had had a geekish passion for science fiction and TV . . . hilarious." (Los Angeles magazine )

"Ambitious . . . funny and inventive." (DailyCandy.com )

"[Yu] show[s] that the short story is not only alive but being reinvigorated in excitingly diverse ways." (Frank Egerton The Times (UK) )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Harvest Books; 1 edition (September 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156030810
• ISBN-13: 978-0156030816
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #648,791 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 1 Excellent Story + 10 Clinical Ones, February 28, 2007

By	A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I'll fully admit that I picked up this book based on the nifty pop art cover, and then after flipping through it and seeing somewhat unusual typography and story structure, I took it home. The title story leads things off and is a very engaging Jonathan Lethem-style tale about "Moisture Man." He's a cut-rate superhero whose power is, as he puts it, very handy in a water-balloon fight, but that's about all. Already past his prime, to "make it", Moisture Man has to be able to fly, and there's only one way for him to do that: the dark side. It's an amusing framework for examining the compromises we all have to make in our daily lives, and easily the most enjoyable story in the book.

The other ten stories are rather precise, almost cold exercises in the craft of short story writing. While some take on imaginative frameworks, such as "Problems for Self-Study", which unfurls as a quasi-math/logic test, or the series of rules in "Two-Player Infinitely Iterated Simultaneous Semi-Cooperative Game with Spite and Reputation", they don't deviate from the central theme of identity and the quest for a meaningful existence that runs throughout the stories. In one story a couple tries to derive meaning and identity via packaged consumer goods and services, in another a man's identity literally splits in two, in another, an actor becomes overly immersed in his role, and so forth. In many of the stories, the characters aren't even given names, just "man" or "woman" or "A" or "B"... Another running theme is the idea of connection (in the E.M. Forester sense), in that many of the characters want to connect with others (family, lovers, friends), but are unable to move themselves to action. Personally, these failed to strike any kind of chord, and the navel-gazing aspect grew somewhat repetitive. Still, fans of the short form should check this out, as Yu's approach is certainly different from most of what's out there.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars can't wait for the next book, October 5, 2006

By	R. Chen - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

refreshingly original. only wish there were more stories to read. if u want an intelligently creative read, this is it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Just okay., February 22, 2008

By	Salmonax (ATL) - See all my reviews

This book was just okay. It was a little on the pretentious side. The title story was good, and that was in the form of a multiple choice test, but none of them really went anywhere. A couple were very hard to follow.