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lucian_childs's review
3.0
I’ve been reading the modern masters of short fiction—Munro, William Trevor, Proulx, Chekov, Cheever, Saunders, Strout, Lorrie Moore—attempting, like them, to write in tightly constructed narrative arcs that still manage to feel lively and organic.
How old-fashioned!
Nowadays, many stories remind me of my neighbor’s English ivy that tries to invade and take over my pristine garden. Tendrils warp and intertwine. They ramble, unconcerned with extracting meaning from the story’s soil. Stuff just happens; get over it.
You’ll find that in McSweeney’s 62: the Queer Fiction Issue. A few of the stories stand out for me from the seeming chaos. In “Palaver,” told, as the title suggests, almost entirely in dialog, we eavesdrop on a mother and son contest. It’s clever and funny and has a lot of heart.
“Docile Bodies” is a master class in misdirection, turning assumptions upside down in the clever and affective ending. “The Chorus of Dead Cousins” is evocative, poetic, funny, a meditation on the ever-present past, the complications of lovers, the beauty and destruction of nature.
“Papi” is a fun, bi-lingual romp, a slice of life of modern Bogotá, with an ending that feels helicoptered in, but that still packs a punch. “Short Stack” is another slice-of-life story that shines, a sad one where pancakes and Grand Theft Auto figure prominently. The fable, “Peppersoup,” another exercise in misdirection, sneaks up on you just like the protagonist does his prey.
The “Geodic Body”— a sodbusters tale of madness and longing—is the outlier, only because of its setting out on the bald prairie of yore. It reminds me of a slightly more experimental version of Karen Russell’s “Proving Up.”
McSweeney’s 62 is a rollercoaster. It made me a little queasy, but I’m glad I went along for the ride. { Cross-posted at my website. }
View all my reviews
How old-fashioned!
Nowadays, many stories remind me of my neighbor’s English ivy that tries to invade and take over my pristine garden. Tendrils warp and intertwine. They ramble, unconcerned with extracting meaning from the story’s soil. Stuff just happens; get over it.
You’ll find that in McSweeney’s 62: the Queer Fiction Issue. A few of the stories stand out for me from the seeming chaos. In “Palaver,” told, as the title suggests, almost entirely in dialog, we eavesdrop on a mother and son contest. It’s clever and funny and has a lot of heart.
“Docile Bodies” is a master class in misdirection, turning assumptions upside down in the clever and affective ending. “The Chorus of Dead Cousins” is evocative, poetic, funny, a meditation on the ever-present past, the complications of lovers, the beauty and destruction of nature.
“Papi” is a fun, bi-lingual romp, a slice of life of modern Bogotá, with an ending that feels helicoptered in, but that still packs a punch. “Short Stack” is another slice-of-life story that shines, a sad one where pancakes and Grand Theft Auto figure prominently. The fable, “Peppersoup,” another exercise in misdirection, sneaks up on you just like the protagonist does his prey.
The “Geodic Body”— a sodbusters tale of madness and longing—is the outlier, only because of its setting out on the bald prairie of yore. It reminds me of a slightly more experimental version of Karen Russell’s “Proving Up.”
McSweeney’s 62 is a rollercoaster. It made me a little queasy, but I’m glad I went along for the ride. { Cross-posted at my website. }
View all my reviews
alysasuh's review
challenging
dark
2.0
Welp, this was not for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Pedophilia
mng's review
5.0
These are some of the best short stories I've read in a long time. The Chorus of Dead Cousins was especially good. Twins broke my brain a bit.
rebecca_ems's review
4.0
Enjoyed these stories the most:
Palaver - Bryan Washington
Trial of Ghosts - Venita Blackburn
Bulldogs - Kristen N. Arnette
Peppersoup - Timi Odueso
The Plant Game - Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya
Glass - Sarah Gerard
Palaver - Bryan Washington
Trial of Ghosts - Venita Blackburn
Bulldogs - Kristen N. Arnette
Peppersoup - Timi Odueso
The Plant Game - Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya
Glass - Sarah Gerard
_annabel_'s review
3.0
Interesting mix of stories, some fascinating, others quite disturbing. I'm not quite sure what to think of most, but I really loved the story Palaver by Bryan Washington, almost completely written in dialogue.
robdabear's review
3.0
Not my cup of tea, but a few great stories.
Favorites, in order of appearance:
Palaver
Bulldogs
Short Stack (this one hit particularly hard)
The Plant Game
I Know How This Dream Ends
Favorites, in order of appearance:
Palaver
Bulldogs
Short Stack (this one hit particularly hard)
The Plant Game
I Know How This Dream Ends
catterwaul's review
3.0
2.5/5. There were a few stories I liked, and quite a few I didn’t, and some that had such jarringly misplaced metaphors that I couldn’t tell whether I actually enjoyed the story or not. But for me the bigger problem was that in 280-some pages of queer stories, not a single person or relationship is happy and healthy. Why can this volume of queer fiction imagine all kinds of magic, but not queer people who aren’t self-destructive or miserable or somehow abused by their partners?