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lysippos's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
kelseyland's review
4.0
A pretty solid collection of creepy short stories edited by Michael Chabon, who is a pretty well-known champion of genre fiction and the short story format and definitely puts his money where his mouth is here. He gets some pretty heavy-hitting contributors, too; for my money the whole collection is worth it just for [a:China Miéville|33918|China Miéville|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1243988363p2/33918.jpg]'s "Reports of Certain Events in London," which uses the awesome old-school framing device of "author just happens upon random documents of undetermined origin." It has a super-creepy [b:House of Leaves|24800|House of Leaves|Mark Z. Danielewski|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403889034l/24800._SX50_.jpg|856555] vibe, and you can also see Miéville messing around with some of the ideas about how public space is defined and shared that crop up later in [b:The City and the City|4703581|The City & the City|China Miéville|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320475957l/4703581._SY75_.jpg|4767909], so that was pretty neat.
I also liked [a:Daniel Handler|7176|Daniel Handler|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1403033761p2/7176.jpg]'s "Delmonico," a straight-up detective story with a badass lady protagonist, as well as [a:Joyce Carol Oates|3524|Joyce Carol Oates|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1454307466p2/3524.jpg]'s super-creepy "The Fabled Light-house at Vina del Mar." I am quickly starting to have the opinion that everything [a:Stephen King|3389|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1362814142p2/3389.jpg] has ever written is brilliant, which hold true for "Lisey and the Madman" here even though it feel a little incomplete.
I also liked [a:Daniel Handler|7176|Daniel Handler|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1403033761p2/7176.jpg]'s "Delmonico," a straight-up detective story with a badass lady protagonist, as well as [a:Joyce Carol Oates|3524|Joyce Carol Oates|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1454307466p2/3524.jpg]'s super-creepy "The Fabled Light-house at Vina del Mar." I am quickly starting to have the opinion that everything [a:Stephen King|3389|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1362814142p2/3389.jpg] has ever written is brilliant, which hold true for "Lisey and the Madman" here even though it feel a little incomplete.
gemmak's review
3.0
McSweeney's exploration of pulp fiction is definitely clever and at times utterly surprising and delightful. All of these smart and wonderful authors got together to have a little fun with genre fiction, to perhaps make the point that putting "genre" in front of the word "fiction" is always a little reductive. At least, that's the point Michael Chabon makes in his unbearably condescending introduction. But tone aside, it's a good point.
Except...not all of these stories live up it. Some really do get mired in cheap twists and grinding plot mechanics. Particular offenders are "The Minaturist" by Heidi Julavits and "The Child" by Roddy Doyle. While both pack a Twilight Zone punch, neither innovate on the form.
The big name authors here, like Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood, and Stephen King, write good stories that sound just like themselves.
There are a couple of fantastic pieces, like Daniel Handler's "Delmonico", Jonathan Lethem's "Vivian Relf", and China Mieville's "Reports of Certain Events in London". But you should read this collection just so you can get to Jason Roberts' haunting, elegiac "7C". It is a brilliant piece of writing driven by a smart concept that stays true to the roots of pulp while drawing much larger questions to the surface.
Except...not all of these stories live up it. Some really do get mired in cheap twists and grinding plot mechanics. Particular offenders are "The Minaturist" by Heidi Julavits and "The Child" by Roddy Doyle. While both pack a Twilight Zone punch, neither innovate on the form.
The big name authors here, like Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood, and Stephen King, write good stories that sound just like themselves.
There are a couple of fantastic pieces, like Daniel Handler's "Delmonico", Jonathan Lethem's "Vivian Relf", and China Mieville's "Reports of Certain Events in London". But you should read this collection just so you can get to Jason Roberts' haunting, elegiac "7C". It is a brilliant piece of writing driven by a smart concept that stays true to the roots of pulp while drawing much larger questions to the surface.
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