A review by pearseanderson
Fakes: An Anthology of Pseudo-Interviews, Faux-Lectures, Quasi-Letters, Found Texts, and Other Fraudulent Artifacts by Matthew Vollmer, David Shields

3.0

I have a deep well in my heart for artifact fiction, and this anthology, often considered one of the best collections of the genre (and I have a signed copy, no less) didn't hit the right notes for me consistently: some great pieces, like the ones by Charles Yu, George Saunders, Laura Jayne Martin, Charles McLeod, but a bunch of others were disappointing. Oh, great, I get to read about Jonathan Safran Foer discuss birds again, whoopee. The ToC here is studded with all-star writers, which I almost liked less than if it had been full of unexpected artifact authors and names I hadn't heard of. "Rick Moody makes a funny works cited" just doesn't fill me with passion to turn the page, but I can see this anthology generally being a good teaching tool. And it's a reprint anthology! Not sure if that makes it better or worse. Always good to see Lorrie Moore's characters write about a man and woman getting their lower torsos blown away with dynamite. 5/10 from me, folks.