McSweeney's 35

Edited by Dave Eggers

I always feel like it takes me way too long to read my way through an issue of McSweeney's, but I tend to read it between other things, at the pace of only a story or two a week.

This issue is very good, even if it doesn't particularly stand out in terms of its design.  It's a softcover, with a nice but not particularly memorable cover by Jordan Crane.  It's mostly made up of short stories, with a section at the back devoted to Norwegian Literature.  The centrepiece of the book is a 65 page novella by Hilton Als called 'His Sister, Her Monologue'.

This piece is narrated by Richard Pryor's sister, who is also an actress, although she had difficulty finding many parts.  Her main thing is doing voice-overs for porn now; she has a lot of bitterness and displeasure in her, and constantly has to refer to herself as an actress, as if by repeating the fact she can make it so.  Her world view is further complicated by what she sees as her ‘colouredness’.  Strangely, half way into the story, she begins to recount in detail the story of Fran and Gary McCullough.  At first she acts like she knows these people, but really, she’s just extrapolating on their life based upon an article she read about them, and what she saw in The Corner.  This is a very strong piece that encompasses the history of black women on the stage and in cinema.

There are also stories by Roddy Doyle (about a black woman running for an Irish right-wing party), Steven Millhauser (about a town where everyone sees phantoms), and Patrick Crerand (in which a Pontiac Sunfire achieves great fame in a small-town high school, but has difficulty turning these accomplishments into a satisfying life after school).  

I like the Norwegian section, having never read any authors from that country before.  There is an emphasis on the weather in many of these stories, and I could see some parallels with Canadian literature.  I especially liked

'Out in the Open' by Laila Stien, which has a couple fall apart on a camping trip to the Arctic Circle, as they are beset upon by mosquitoes.

My other favourite story here is 'Another Star' by Invar Ambjørnsen.  It has two friends who go out on Christmas Eve dressed in WWII Italian aviators uniforms, high on acid.  They dig out a cave in the snow in a secluded part of town, and spend the night tripping.  Later, they are found by a family and brought inside for Christmas dinner.  This story is very funny, with a couple of moments that genuinely made me laugh.

Other good pieces in this section include 'Two by Two' by Gunnhild Øyehaug, a highly symbolic story of a woman who is trying to decide whether or not she should stay in her marriage; 'Alarm' by Roy Jacobsen, which is about an old man who has had enough with Norway's wonderful medical system; and 'Like a Tiger in a Cage' by Per Petterson, which is an interesting look at one young boy's life and fear of aging.

There is also, in this issue, a collection of painted lunch bags that Robert Barnes created for his daughters during the years they were packing a lunch to school.  These are very charming, and quite sweet.  In all, this was another good installment of McSweeney's.