Reviews

The Unprofessionals: New American Writing from The Paris Review by The Paris Review, Lorin Stein

aspeng's review

3.0

While some pieces of this collection were interesting, others seemed to confuse profounduity with intense sexual detail. 

sterlinglacroix's review

4.0

Some really great stories in here that will stick with me for some time mixed in with some forgettable ones. The poetry never resonated with me, but I suppose that's just poetry in general. Of the entire collection, these six stood out to me.

False Spring by Ben Lerner
William Wei by Amie Barrodale
Virgin by April Ayers Lawson
Toast by Matt Summell
Human Snowball by Davy Rothbart
Letter from Williamsburg by Kristin Dombek

losethegirl's review

challenging slow-paced

2.0

Real mixed bag. There were a couple of stand outs, but a lot of it just fell flat. 

pearseanderson's review

4.0

This was really quick writing. Not only were the stories really small arcs, with not too much going on, but the style itself was quick, gut-punching, no-holds-barred, smart and smart-ass. I could tell I was reading young folks and I loved it. Human Snowball is one of my favorite stories of all time, certainly on my top three essays. Now I will not give this a five stars since the anthology lacked a bit of variety in terms of fiction plotlines, all revolving around some unhealthy romantic relationship, and the poetry was a bit washy, but damn, everything else was bright and early. Paragraphs that can kill a man in quality.

dwebster1031's review

5.0

There were a few pieces that didn't quite land for me but the rest were straight bangers

pivic's review

2.0

While some authors - Zadie Smith, Garth Greenwell - have produced good short-stories for this anthology as collated by The Paris Review, others - e.g. John Jeremiah Sullivan - are navel-gazing in the extreme, using words like "jostle" in a bad way while accosting the reader with modern-day Americana suitable for non-readers.

Also, Sarah Manguso's collection of one-liners is interesting and irritating, simultaneously. Prize her for it.