Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Ben Marcus (editor), New American Stories ***

I picked up this collection based on its editor. Ben Marcus is a writer whose taste runs to the unusual and avant-garde, to stories with outlandish narrative strategies. At least that's how I remembered the earlier collection he edited; I see now that I rated it a mere two-and-a-half stars. The list of authors whose work I know also promised off-kilter approaches: George Saunders, Donald Antrim, Robert Coover, Wells Tower, Mary Gaitskill, Kelly Link, Lydia Davis.

While New American Stories does include some experimental work ("Play", "Pee on Water"), they are outnumbered by fairly traditional stories ("Paranoia", "Fish Sticks", "The Diggings") and those seasoned with a small science-fiction element ("Madmen", "Standard Loneliness Package"). Given the book's title, a surprising number take place outside of the United States. Almost all of the stories have something to recommend them but none of them was great from front to back (except maybe the short "Going for a Beer" from Coover).

Tonally, my favorite stories were "The Deep" by Anthony Doerr, "The Largesse of the Sea Maiden" by Denis Johnson, and "The Toast" by Rebecca Curtis.
The wedding, my sister said, would not be fancy. However, there would be a hair-metal band, a five-course local organic vegan dinner, and a life-size fair-trade chocolate baby elephant. I'm afraid that my sister went on explaining details about the wedding, and I stopped listening; this is because I caught Lyme disease five years ago and have neurological damage that makes it difficult for me to listen when people talk, especially when what they're saying isn't interesting.

No comments:

Post a Comment