Dangerous Laughter

Millhauser has some really really interesting ideas, unfortunately, he doesn’t have a very discerning editor. Each of his stories intrigues me for a short time, then loses its appeal, and then really, really wears out his welcome. If this collection was half the length or had twice the stories, it’d be a good one, as it is, Millhauser needs a new editor, or an ability to viciously cut the chaff.

2/5

You Are Not a Stranger Here

Ugh and ugh. This is one of the few books that gets relegated to the “abandoned” folder, and, for me, with good reason. Haslett looks into psychological disturbance, mental illness, and is relentlessly depressing in his portrayal of it. Which would be okay! Really, it would! It’s just that all his accounts are so monotonous, that I couldn’t bother myself to stick with it.

1/5

Dubliners

I was so giddy to actually finish something by James Joyce, even though I know this is absolutely nothing like Ulysses in either style or function. What it is, is a telling little portrait of Dublin, rife with pederasty and poverty and mean-spiritedness, mostly, but sometimes nice things, maybe, sometimes.

3/5

One Good Story, That One

I really, really enjoyed Green Grass, Running Water, and I always have a soft spot for short stories, so I picked this up. The good news is that it reminds me of his novel. The bad news is that it reminds me of his novel a lot. There are stories that are practically recycled, they’re so close, and while I did enjoy it, I wasn’t quite sure why King decided it was a good idea to plagiarize himself.

3/5

Self-Help

Lorrie Moore's stories continually astound me. This collection, hinging on break-ups and endings, made me laugh, cry, and other cliches. I desperately want to devour everything she has ever written, and I hope that doesn't sound as creepy as it seems.

5/5

Who Do You Think You Are?

A well-woven collection of short stories, loosely chronological, with the same protagonist. Early, the stories have a brutal quality, with devastating moments thrown in almost casually. Unfortunately, as the protagonist grows, there are fewer and fewer of these moments. Regardless, it is worth reading for the picture of frustrated poverty it paints in te beginning, even if the picture fades later.

3/5

Girl With the Curious Hair

I have heard many great things about David Foster Wallace, especially in regards to Infinite Jest, and I picked this up, because I’m a sucker for the short story. But these were abysmal. When Wallace isn’t aping real life people as characters in what feels like sanctioned, literary fan-fiction, he’s writing stories about punks that only really serve to remind me how little I like the idea of that scene. Wallace sometimes shocked me, but he just as often bored me, and this all just left a bad taste in my mouth.

1/5

First Love and Other Novellas

Samuel Beckett upsets me with his abilities. These were originally in French, Beckett’s second language, though I read the versions translated by him. And even in translation, they have a flow and style that feels unique, and very Beckett. Beckett loves the destitute and the men who never quite fit in, and he does them wonderful service in these four tiny stories, each containing much more than that which their page count would attest. These are dense, and they are lovely. However, Beckett does fall down occasionally, and eventually these stories began to blend, as Beckett sticks quite closely to themes. While he is a great stylist, he should look into a new subject sometime.

3.5/5

Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures

Within the first twenty pages I was going to give this collection up. It got better, and I'm glad it did, but the writing style certainly leaves something to be desired. Luckily, Lam has some very interesting ideas, so the stories did keep me immersed, however, I am unsure why this got so much praise from literary circles. These are interesting stories, but this is not literature.

3/5

Birds of America

I have a special place in my heart for short story collections, and Moore's brilliant collection epitomizes why. Each story deals with different sorts of helplessness and unhappiness in gently different ways, and the tenuous threads of other themes--feminism in particular--are exposed over the course of the collection. I'm very, very excited to read more of Moore's works (no pun intended).

4/5

The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God

Another from Keret; I read three of his collections in short order, and this was the second I read. The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God is every bit as good as The Nimrod Flipout, if a little bit more serious, more sad. Each of these stories is funny, mostly, but the laughter leaves a really bitter taste in your mouth. Which is the perfect palate cleanser for me, and these stories are startling in their poignancy.

4.5/5

Third Class Superhero

There's a problem here. On the one hand, I'm utterly infatuated with Yu's ability to toy with style, to create meaning in so many ways within one short story collection. On the other hand, Yu focuses so much on the style of his stories, how to make them creative, unique, that the actual story, the important part, gets lost in his experiments.

Ironically, the story for which this collection is titled is both the strongest and the most straight-forward. I do like Yu's experiments, I just wish he had them under control.

2.5/5

The Nimrod Flipout

This was a really pleasant surprise. Keret's stories are hilarious and full of the fantastic, but they're grounded it something that makes them more than just quick larks. Keret has the talent to pack a lot of meaning and a lot of craft into these short stories, some of which are only three or four pages long, all of which are immensely readable and almost addictive.

What fascinates me, though, is the sheer prevalence of Germans. Keret's stories generally involve outsiders, but none so many as Germans, Germans who finance Israel, Germans who boyfriends cheat on girlfriends with, with whom characters will have a fling. Within that is an exterminator who calls himself "The Eichmann of Termites", an unsettling image in modern Israel. Here, the balance to peaceful, understanding relationships are constantly undercut, and that is a thread that continually pops up.

Keret's stories are quick and breezy, but the undertones regarding the Germans is one thread of many. Keret deftly juggles the funny, the absurd, with more grounding images, and it's his skill in this that makes these stories such a pleasure to read.

4.5/5