A review by emilyinherhead
McSweeney's #69 by Dave Eggers, Claire Boyle

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

This is one of the strongest McSweeney’s collections I’ve read in recent memory. Usually there are a few stories that aren’t for me, or about which I have “meh” reactions, but not here. No skips! Even the letters at the beginning were especially strong.

These stories are all over the place in topic and plot details, but there’s a common undercurrent of weirdness that I really loved. 

A few favorites from the collection:

• “The New Toe” by Zach Williams, about a father who is giving his son a bath when we notices a sixth toe that has sprouted on his son’s left foot 
• “18 or 34 Miles from Perennial Square” by Max Delsohn, in which two trans masc lovers go camping, and when one wanders away from the campsite after a disagreement, he finds and hunts a wild dick in the woods with the hopes of having it transplanted onto himself
• “True, False, Floating” by Mel Kassel, about a young woman who, as part of her bachelorette party, invites three friends to have a bizarre and invasive rib-reading procedure
• “The New Maite” by Yohanca Delgado, in which the titular Maite, mentally and emotionally struggling after a couple of miscarriages, goes to Dunkin Donuts for coffee and ends up meeting a clone of herself