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janetlun's review
5.0
McSweeney's loves to mess with the concept of "book" and they've done an exceptional job in this issue. It's sort of a box that unfolds to reveal:
- A book of short stories. Nine stories,164 pages.
- "Mr. Nobody At All", by Ann Beattie with Harry Matthews, a long short story or short novella in a separate paperback.
- An oversized set of 15 cards, comprising the interactive short story "Heart Suite" by Robert Coover. It's the ace through king cards, plus a joker and one explanatory card. Each card has a few paragraphs of the story. You can shuffle the cards and read a different story each time. It is set in the world of "Alice in Wonderland".
- A comb. (Yes, a comb, as in combing your hair).
Each is securely packaged, and it folds up into a shape like a hardback book, so it fits just fine on your bookshelf.
All the stories are fine, but I particularly like "Mr. Nobody At All." It is set at a memorial service, and you hear one person after another speak about the dearly departed. You get a picture of him, but mainly a picture of all the people around him. It's wonderful.
- A book of short stories. Nine stories,164 pages.
- "Mr. Nobody At All", by Ann Beattie with Harry Matthews, a long short story or short novella in a separate paperback.
- An oversized set of 15 cards, comprising the interactive short story "Heart Suite" by Robert Coover. It's the ace through king cards, plus a joker and one explanatory card. Each card has a few paragraphs of the story. You can shuffle the cards and read a different story each time. It is set in the world of "Alice in Wonderland".
- A comb. (Yes, a comb, as in combing your hair).
Each is securely packaged, and it folds up into a shape like a hardback book, so it fits just fine on your bookshelf.
All the stories are fine, but I particularly like "Mr. Nobody At All." It is set at a memorial service, and you hear one person after another speak about the dearly departed. You get a picture of him, but mainly a picture of all the people around him. It's wonderful.
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