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5 out of 5
by
Alan
from
The United States | Oct 28, 2007
This review concerns only Unferth's Minor Robberies:
It is twisted and incompetently brilliant. She is the literary equivalent of a cheeky post punk band--elliptical, experimental, disturbing, anxious, manic, snottily and sincerely casual, falling apart--she whips off tiny snippets. Part of her inimitable voice is her intentional inelegance. Example: ". . . if reincarnation is right . . ." She very much has the tools to say "if the idea of reincarnation holds water," but she doesn't, and it is so much better that way. The formal elements of the punk aesthetic are alive here, if only analogously--she does not actually address or reference the movement at all in content. But the lowness of her language, the wiry tone, the shifting subjunctive style and miniature focus pack the same kind of gut punch, and like the best of those bands, she manages to be both avant garde and entirely guttural. A series of miniatures of the deformed genitals of the human heart, not in the abstract general, but in tiny daily process.
I doubt I'll read the Eggers. Manguso, mayhap.
2 people found this review helpful
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4 out of 5
by
Rae
from
Davis, CA | Nov 19, 2008
I find it really hard to review McSweeney's publications objectively because I am so in love with the empire: the concrete detail, the interactiveness of the publications. The books are live creatures that seem to look back at you. I'm tempted to give this collection five stars just because the co-publication of three micro-story collections in one shared slipcover is such a great gesture.
I love Dave Eggers' work in general. I love where he starts, and where he quits, in almost every one of these stories. Sarah Manguso and Deb Olin Unferth also have some really cool stories in this box - but, having finished the whole package, I felt that a great number of the stories could have been cut from their two books in order to create some more interaction between the three collections. I hated feeling the inclination to compare the three collections when finished - since all of the work was already competing in my mind with comparisons to Lydia Davis (aak! the guilt!) - but I couldn't help it. In the end I wished there was more space for me to appreciate the very best of these stories, because they're so noteworthy. Especially liked Eggers' title story.
1 people found this review helpful
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5 out of 5
by
Ken
from
Longwood, FL | Jun 1, 2008
There are three books in this collection and this is the first installment of what will eventually total three reviews.
"Hard to Admit and Harder to Escape" by Sarah Manguso is a stellar collection of short short fiction. This is my first experience with this type of fiction and it rests somewhere between poetry and short story fiction. Each story is barely a paragraph but packed with content on a level of a good poem. Almost story is ripe for striking up conversation in a high school or college level English class. At times they remind me of those brief experiences in our life that, for some reason, always remain in our memory but not sure why. Most are gems. A great way to scratch the surface of a new genre for any inquisitive reader.
"How the Water Feels to the Fishes" by Dave Eggers is the second collection of the Small Box Trilogy. Eggers continues to demonstrate why he is one of the freshest voices in contemporary literature. These the short short stories/observations included here cover a broad base of topics, but their voice is consistently original and thoughtful. At times, with stories like "No Safe Harbor" or "Good Man", he brings an honest attention to emotion that reminds us of Raymond Carver. But with other stories, like "Alberto", he gives us a glimpse of devilishness. Some are more philosophical. Others more humorous. They are all appetizers. in a way, that are carefully prepared, easily digested, and thoroughly satisfying.
1 people found this review helpful
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4 out of 5
by
unnarrator
from
The United States | Sep 21, 2009
Explanation of rating:
Sarah Manguso FIVE STARS astonishing OMG I love her.
Dave Eggers THREE STARS for his acknowledgedly tepid homage to Lydia Davis.
Deb Olin Unfirth NO STARS because it was so bad I couldn't even finish it.
1 people found this review helpful
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3 out of 5
by
Dan
from
Athens, GA | Dec 26, 2008
I took a professional reviewer's advice and didn't read any one of these three small books of short-short stories straight through. I jumped around, read a few from each as I progressed. Good call, because once I finished the two shorter ones, I was left with "Minor Robberies" by Deb Olin Unferth. The trouble with her book was that I had gotten used to the idea of short-short stories, or flash fiction, or snap fiction, or whatever the form is called. The volumes by Dave Eggers and Sarah Manguso live up to this form (hell, every one of Manguso's stories is maybe 75 - 100 words at the most). Unferth's just seemed like regular short fiction, except that in her filter, making your sentence structure repetitive or sounding like a run-on sentence means it is short-short fiction. Imagine reading a story like that that lasts over ten pages. And since her book was the longest, at the end I was left with only hers and had to read several stories like that in a row. Yet I digress...I only wanted to clarify what happened to earn this just 3 stars. Dave Eggers volume, "How The Water Feels To The Fishes" was pretty funny, and in some cases almost felt like intricately constructed jokes (like the story of finding out how phonographs work - great last line). Sarah Manguso's "Hard To Admit And Harder To Escape" was also interesting and, as I said, are all super short, which gives them an anecdotal feel.