McSweeney's Issue 74: 25th Anniversary Issue

McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern #74

by Claire Boyle

McSweeney’s National Magazine Award–winning Quarterly Concern celebrates our first quarter century of being an occasionally actually quarterly publication as so many mid-twentysomethings do (drenching ourselves in a sea of nostalgia for our misbegotten youth and looking forward into the promise of the future) with one of our most dazzling issues to date!

Coming to you housed inside a deluxe tin lunchbox illustrated by the legendary Art Spiegelman, McSweeney’s 74 features a portfolio of pareidolia art by Spiegelman himself, wherein he teases out images from random watercolor inkblots; original pieces by Lydia Davis, Catherine Lacey, and David Horvitz printed onto pencils; and three packs of collectible author cards, packaged in real tear-away baseball-card packaging and featuring some of the finest writers of our time, including Sheila Heti, Hanif Abdurraqib, George Saunders, Sarah Vowell, Michael Chabon, Eileen Myles, and many more.

Find all this plus the official McSweeney’s Anthology of Contemporary Literature: a book composed of some of the greatest works of McSweeney’s past decade, with a new introduction by longtime editor Claire Boyle. Here you’ll find award-winning, shortlisted, anthologized, and otherwise feted and beloved stories from Lesley Nneka Arimah, T.C. Boyle, Mimi Lok, Kevin Moffett, Adrienne Celt, Bryan Washington, Samanta Schweblin, C Pam Zhang, Eskor David Johnson, Julia Dixon Evans, and more! Dive in with us, readers, as we bathe in the warmth of the past, and get ready for our next quarter century of always thrilling and unexpected literary work.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

Paperback in lunchbox

Published June 27, 2024

Reviews

[Paul Dembina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about McSweeney's these days. Getting hold of it in the UK is becoming more and more difficult. I've resorted to getting a subscription but the postage accounts for 30% of the cost.

Yet again we have unusual packaging but I feel it's getting out of hand, this edition comes in a metal lunchbox with pencils (why?) and author trading cards

The book itself is just a "best of" anthology so although they are pretty good I've already read them in previous issues

[Rick Larsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating and diverse, just like me!

[Ostap Bender · Rating 3 out of 5]

McSweeney’s Issue 74 comes in a school lunchbox, includes a few packs of “artist cards” fashioned after baseball cards, and some pencils, creative packaging which I don’t normally go for, but found clever. Unfortunately, the issue is just a “greatest hits” collection, said to be covering the “last ten years,” but with no story older than Issue 50 from 2017, meaning I had already read all of these, and not long enough ago to want to revisit them again, though I did for a few anyway. The distribution of the 14 stories (counting the 3 one-page efforts as one) was as follows:

Issue 50 – 1 … Aug, 2017
Issue 52 – 1
Issue 53 – 4
Issue 56 – 1
Issue 57 – 2 … Oct, 2019
Issue 62 – 1
Issue 63 – 1
Issue 65 – 1
Issue 67 – 1 … Aug, 2022

If you haven’t been a subscriber or a regular reader, you may enjoy this collection, even if I would quibble over some of the choices (which the editor fully admits is subjective). If you are a subscriber, you might feel more effort should have been made to delve deeper into the catalogue, or to not present this in the main Quarterly Concern series. Overall, a disappointment with the editing, not the writing.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the packaging and really appreciated the pamphlet explaining a bit about the Spiegelman artwork. I thought the author cards were neat but I was bothered by having to tear the wrapping - I wish they could have come up with a way for them to be opened without being damaged. I chose not to reread the stories, since this was an anthology and I’ve read the stories in past issues but I did enjoy skimming through and seeing the accolades many of those stories received following their original publication.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a strong collection of stories, which isn't surprising since it's a 'best of' collection.

I found the majority of the stories hitting me, with the strongest being (in no order):
-The Women in the Closet
-The Next Day and the Days Ever After
-Palaver
-An Unlucky Man
-Vinegar on the Lips of Girls

Many of these have a strong element of suspense and comment on human nature and desires. An Unlucky Man in particular has been sitting with me for the past couple of days.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a "best of" compilation and really does have some stand-out stories included. Some were new to me and some were re-reads but an excellent assemblage all around.

It's also an extremely pleasing format with the lunchbox and the trading cards and pencils, the book itself has that classic English class cover layout.

Peak McSweeney's.

[Kaylee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely curated collection of stories I missed the first time around. Enjoyed most of these a lot (for various reasons - clever, prose, general idea). Realized I don't really read many short stories and how much I crave a resolution - which isn't a common short story thing to offer. Interesting little side effect of reading this issue...

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the author trading cards and the fun lunchbox design ... and since I missed a few years of McSweeney's I appreciated the stories in the collection that gathered several of the best stories of recent times. If you've read the magazine consistently then those stories will be re-reads, but it was perfect for me.

[D'Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I was not very enthusiastic about the main book in this issue being an anthology of stuff that had already been published. But since I have the memory of a goldfish, the majority of the stories felt new to me even though I'd read them all before. The lunchbox is pretty cool as are the little things inside of it. A very good issue over all.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing concept - the issue is contained in a lunchbox illustrated by Art Speigelman. Inside are trading cards of famous contemporary authors (pretty cool) and an anthology of greatest hits from 2017-2024 issues. I loved the concept. I just wished that there was more original writing.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. (All killer, no filler?) I’ve been reading McSwys since 2000 and this might be the best issue yet.

[Alissa Sheldon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun one, McSweeneys.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

a

[Paul van Zwieten · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good set of stories - I liked those of Emma Hooper, Mimi Lok, Samantha Schweblin and C Pam Zhang best.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obviously a best of McSweeney's is going to be a good collection. Most of these stories are from before I subscribed, so they were new to me. Others were more recent picks that I enjoyed re-reading. "Brigit" is a particularly powerful one as is "The Woman in the Apartment" and "The Girls Who Smell of Vinegar." Also, this issue comes in a lunchbox with poetry pencils and author trading cards.