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McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern #60
McSweeney's Issue 60: Photography Issue
McSweeney’s 60 features eight original stories, each accompanied...by cinematic, full-color photography from award-winning photographer Holly Andres. There are tales of healing powers discovered in a neighborhood market and retiring baseball stars, of ill-fated father-daughter float-plane trips and a romance with the ghost of an old Hollywood heartthrob.
Featuring original stories by: Afabwaje Kurian, Leigh Newman, Neal Hammons, Mai Nardone, Santiago José Sánchez, Mark Chiusano, Chelsea T. Hicks, Molly McCloskey
Featuring original stories by: Afabwaje Kurian, Leigh Newman, Neal Hammons, Mai Nardone, Santiago José Sánchez, Mark Chiusano, Chelsea T. Hicks, Molly McCloskey
- GenresShort Stories
92 pages, Paperback
Published May 26, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
July 3, 2021
Loved this photography volume. The photos had a very 70's/80's feel to them and I don't know if it's because of that, that my brain set all the stories in that time period too (because I know at least a couple of them are set in the present day), but somehow it all fits together.
Standouts for me were African Variety Healing Market by Afabwaje Kurian about a family whose mother discovers she can heal; and A Fresh Start Ruined by Chelsea T. Hicks, also about a family, just significantly more dysfunctional and less magical. My favourite was This Life or Another by Santiago Jose Sanchez. Again, about a dysfunctional family (apparently that's my jam right now). The descriptions of the boy waiting at school for the mother who never showed up were heartbreaking.
Standouts for me were African Variety Healing Market by Afabwaje Kurian about a family whose mother discovers she can heal; and A Fresh Start Ruined by Chelsea T. Hicks, also about a family, just significantly more dysfunctional and less magical. My favourite was This Life or Another by Santiago Jose Sanchez. Again, about a dysfunctional family (apparently that's my jam right now). The descriptions of the boy waiting at school for the mother who never showed up were heartbreaking.
October 13, 2020
Eight short stories are included in this edition from the good folks at McSweeney’s, and while any such collection invariably has its ups and downs, I liked a lot of them and the variety editor Claire Boyle gave us. The tall format with two columns per page wasn’t my favorite, and I missed the letters to the editor, but it was still a pleasure to read.
A summary of the stories:
Variety African Healing Market, by Afabwaje Kurian – 4 stars. There is deftness in the storytelling about this Nigerian immigrant family whose mother finds out that she seems to have the gift of faith healing. Lots of little touches and details, told with restraint, and the bits about the responses from the church and the police are pitch perfect.
High Jinks, by Leigh Newman – 4 stars. Two tweenage girls take a boat trip with their dads in Alaska, and Newman gradually reveals their family life and its dysfunction. Particularly creepy but incredibly honest is when the fathers each act better and borderline flirt with the other man’s daughter, and Newman is a master of restraint when she writes of it. The details of the Alaskan wilderness and fishing for salmon also make it clear she writes from her own experience.
The Future-Ghost of Charles Bronson at Home Depot, by Neal Hammons – 3.5 stars. Pretty impressive for his first published work, the sketch Hammons creates of a son growing up with a mother who has made poor choices in men is touching. Invoking the fantasy of Charles Bronson as a source of protection for her, a projection of what the son himself has had to do over the years, is creative, as is narrating the story as if the reader is the son, which also amplifies the empathy – just imagine this being you, he seems to say.
The Tum-Boon Brigade, by Mai Nardone – 3 stars. Interesting setting, a couple of guys who respond to emergency calls in Bangkok to take the dead away and sometimes to help the survivors to hospitals, in order to “Tum Boon” (Do Good) for their karma. One is a drug addict, the other is trying to help a young woman who is also a drug addict. It had promise but it’s bleak and doesn’t go anywhere interesting philosophically, or with its plot.
In This Life or Another, by Santiago Jose Sanchez – 2.5 stars. A dreary story of a young boy growing up in awful environment – an absent, abusive father, a mother who “forgets she is a mother,” an older brother who introduces him to marijuana, and guerilla warfare in the countryside, prompting military curfews. None of those things is developed enough, and by contrast, the writing style itself feels overwrought and often awkward, as if Sanchez was trying too hard.
Sanchez Day, by Mark Chiusano – 4 stars. A baseball story that has little elements of the game, like the various superstitions and rituals, but which is also an interesting character study of two players, a veteran catcher and a rookie pitcher. It’s well written and clever in how it gradually reveals nuances in both men.
A Fresh Start Ruined, by Chelsea T. Hicks – 3.5 stars. I loved the Native American representation, and learning that Osage word for orange, ze zhutse eko, means “red and yellow, like that,” but the writing style was a little awkward for me, and the story of this dysfunctional family only mildly interesting.
A Little Like God, by Molly McCloskey – 4 stars. A young woman in Washington D.C. has a fling with a guy straight out of A Few Good Men (You want me on that wall; you need me on that wall!) and tries to come to terms with their political differences as well as wonders about the things he is trying to keep America safe from. The writing here is excellent, making me want to seek out McCloskey’s other work. It also had my favorite quotes:
On getting used to people:
“It is said that every novel educates us about its own conventions, teaching us how to read it as we go along. The same, surely, can be said of people. They teach us how to desire or love them, schooling us in themselves. Those oddities and predilections that at first seem so alien and off-putting slowly work their way into us, until one day we realize we’ve crossed a line without realizing.”
On sex:
“There was something intensely pleasurable, and also melancholic, about being on that bus at that hour with all the commuters, the smell of him still on me, the morning fugginess of the crowd, the vehicle’s slow, spasmodic lurch. Being delivered back to humanity like that, after the dire isolation of sex. I have heard of people who claim to feel connected to all of creation when in the act, but I’m not one of them. I feel like the last person alive, or someone flung to the far reaches of the galaxy. But then I’d board the bus and I would feel it, everything rushing to meet me, each one of us teeming with worlds. I felt enveloped, in the throes of indiscriminate love, as though I had traveled a great distance and seen many things and was home now, and earth, I can tell you, had never looked so good.”
A summary of the stories:
Variety African Healing Market, by Afabwaje Kurian – 4 stars. There is deftness in the storytelling about this Nigerian immigrant family whose mother finds out that she seems to have the gift of faith healing. Lots of little touches and details, told with restraint, and the bits about the responses from the church and the police are pitch perfect.
High Jinks, by Leigh Newman – 4 stars. Two tweenage girls take a boat trip with their dads in Alaska, and Newman gradually reveals their family life and its dysfunction. Particularly creepy but incredibly honest is when the fathers each act better and borderline flirt with the other man’s daughter, and Newman is a master of restraint when she writes of it. The details of the Alaskan wilderness and fishing for salmon also make it clear she writes from her own experience.
The Future-Ghost of Charles Bronson at Home Depot, by Neal Hammons – 3.5 stars. Pretty impressive for his first published work, the sketch Hammons creates of a son growing up with a mother who has made poor choices in men is touching. Invoking the fantasy of Charles Bronson as a source of protection for her, a projection of what the son himself has had to do over the years, is creative, as is narrating the story as if the reader is the son, which also amplifies the empathy – just imagine this being you, he seems to say.
The Tum-Boon Brigade, by Mai Nardone – 3 stars. Interesting setting, a couple of guys who respond to emergency calls in Bangkok to take the dead away and sometimes to help the survivors to hospitals, in order to “Tum Boon” (Do Good) for their karma. One is a drug addict, the other is trying to help a young woman who is also a drug addict. It had promise but it’s bleak and doesn’t go anywhere interesting philosophically, or with its plot.
In This Life or Another, by Santiago Jose Sanchez – 2.5 stars. A dreary story of a young boy growing up in awful environment – an absent, abusive father, a mother who “forgets she is a mother,” an older brother who introduces him to marijuana, and guerilla warfare in the countryside, prompting military curfews. None of those things is developed enough, and by contrast, the writing style itself feels overwrought and often awkward, as if Sanchez was trying too hard.
Sanchez Day, by Mark Chiusano – 4 stars. A baseball story that has little elements of the game, like the various superstitions and rituals, but which is also an interesting character study of two players, a veteran catcher and a rookie pitcher. It’s well written and clever in how it gradually reveals nuances in both men.
A Fresh Start Ruined, by Chelsea T. Hicks – 3.5 stars. I loved the Native American representation, and learning that Osage word for orange, ze zhutse eko, means “red and yellow, like that,” but the writing style was a little awkward for me, and the story of this dysfunctional family only mildly interesting.
A Little Like God, by Molly McCloskey – 4 stars. A young woman in Washington D.C. has a fling with a guy straight out of A Few Good Men (You want me on that wall; you need me on that wall!) and tries to come to terms with their political differences as well as wonders about the things he is trying to keep America safe from. The writing here is excellent, making me want to seek out McCloskey’s other work. It also had my favorite quotes:
On getting used to people:
“It is said that every novel educates us about its own conventions, teaching us how to read it as we go along. The same, surely, can be said of people. They teach us how to desire or love them, schooling us in themselves. Those oddities and predilections that at first seem so alien and off-putting slowly work their way into us, until one day we realize we’ve crossed a line without realizing.”
On sex:
“There was something intensely pleasurable, and also melancholic, about being on that bus at that hour with all the commuters, the smell of him still on me, the morning fugginess of the crowd, the vehicle’s slow, spasmodic lurch. Being delivered back to humanity like that, after the dire isolation of sex. I have heard of people who claim to feel connected to all of creation when in the act, but I’m not one of them. I feel like the last person alive, or someone flung to the far reaches of the galaxy. But then I’d board the bus and I would feel it, everything rushing to meet me, each one of us teeming with worlds. I felt enveloped, in the throes of indiscriminate love, as though I had traveled a great distance and seen many things and was home now, and earth, I can tell you, had never looked so good.”
July 31, 2020
Story-wise a decent issue of McSweeneys. It’s been rough about every other issue seeming like filler or devoted to pet projects or ideas that don’t pan out. It seems like a lot of the value went down with the raise in subscription prices.
March 22, 2021
I have been a subscriber to McSweeney's Quarterly Concern ever since I picked a copy of Issue #2 off the rack in the bookstore. It's a wonderful endeavor, dedicated to crossing boundaries and to being entertaining all the while. One never knows what it will look like, or where it will take you, and there is too little of that in the literary world.
Issue #60 is a mixture of photography (two-page interior color images, and a four-page foldout exterior cover photo) by Holly Andres, and eight short stories by eight different authors. Two of the authors list Iowa Writer's Workshop in their bios. One is Thai, one Columbian American, one Osage, one Nigerian. Three hims, four hers, one them.
The writing is uniformly strong, and generally emotionally wrenching. Half of the stories have downbeat endings, a quarter end on the down side of status quo, and two have ambiguously upbeat endings. This is the common ratio of American literary fiction these days.
The word grimace occurs only once, by my count. That's a good sign.
While I did not single out any of the stories for special admiration, I can say that they were engaging. I am regularly carping about second- and third-tier literary stories that they don't bother to bring the reader along for the ride; as though fiction was supposed to be a test of fortitude and character rather than something you'd read for itself. That wasn't a problem here.
The photographs are obviously staged, and shot by a museum-level artist. They are meant to illustrate, or at least be mood-setters for, the stories. Narrative photography, as it were. It's nice to see them, but for some reason I didn't connect with them.
My bottom line review: strong, no sizzle.
Issue #60 is a mixture of photography (two-page interior color images, and a four-page foldout exterior cover photo) by Holly Andres, and eight short stories by eight different authors. Two of the authors list Iowa Writer's Workshop in their bios. One is Thai, one Columbian American, one Osage, one Nigerian. Three hims, four hers, one them.
The writing is uniformly strong, and generally emotionally wrenching. Half of the stories have downbeat endings, a quarter end on the down side of status quo, and two have ambiguously upbeat endings. This is the common ratio of American literary fiction these days.
The word grimace occurs only once, by my count. That's a good sign.
While I did not single out any of the stories for special admiration, I can say that they were engaging. I am regularly carping about second- and third-tier literary stories that they don't bother to bring the reader along for the ride; as though fiction was supposed to be a test of fortitude and character rather than something you'd read for itself. That wasn't a problem here.
The photographs are obviously staged, and shot by a museum-level artist. They are meant to illustrate, or at least be mood-setters for, the stories. Narrative photography, as it were. It's nice to see them, but for some reason I didn't connect with them.
My bottom line review: strong, no sizzle.
August 15, 2020
the stories from minority/international communities were best, but overall this was a pleasing collection and the photos were really attractive. i suppose the narrative style was a little narrow, but it made something cohesive out of the varied backgrounds.
also, i'm not gonna read letters sections anymore. this one had none, and was very good.
also, i'm not gonna read letters sections anymore. this one had none, and was very good.
September 5, 2020
A decent collection of stories here, but fewer resonated with me than the previous issue. There was a sort of discomfort about all of them that made 60 a mild chore to read. My favorite would have to be "The Tum-Boon Brigade." The accompanying photography from Holly Andres is fantastic. Looking forward to 61.
October 6, 2020
A decent collection of short stories. I'm new to McSweeney's and kept waiting for some kind of connection to hit or explanation for why the pages in front of me were what they were, but I guess it's just random collections meant to be enjoyed? In this case the stories all caused some level of discomfort a a reader, which I guess can be counted as a connecting trait.
August 12, 2023
This is a book about the possibilities of the visual in stories. It's a great format, large and easy to read, focused on the story and image. The accompanying photographs are beautiful and stimulating. The slip case is a nice touch too. I found almost all bar one of these stories worked like a charm. They were, in many cases, emotionally affecting and insightful.
September 1, 2020
One of the best issues I've ever read! The full-color photographs accompany well a set of stories that just need to be read to be believed. McSweeney's bringing down the house during this pandemic, THANK YOU!!!
November 15, 2020
These stories just didn’t really land for me. I thought the photographs were great, and expertly chosen scenes to be represented. The oversized book was nice for the photos but made reading a bit awkward as well. I guess they can’t all be gems!
November 26, 2024
Loved the Photography in this issue, which reminded me of the work of Cindy Sherman, conjuring up an entire plot in the scope of one picture.
Outstanding stories for me:
-Afabwaje Kurian: Variety African Healing Market
-Mark Chiusano: Sanchez Day
-Molly McCloskey: A little Like God
Outstanding stories for me:
-Afabwaje Kurian: Variety African Healing Market
-Mark Chiusano: Sanchez Day
-Molly McCloskey: A little Like God
August 17, 2020
It's the experience - the oversized magazine/book plus the great photos and excellent writing
August 31, 2020
I swear Mcsweeney's just keeps getting better and better with every issue.
September 9, 2020
Another very solid collection of short stories in this McSweeney's. I love the cinematic photos by Holly Andres that accompany each story, and the overall feel of this book.
November 4, 2020
The last issue was hard to top! I enjoyed the variety of stories, and I didn’t have any single out favorites but the photography was gorgeous!
November 16, 2020
Design 5*, photos 5, Kurian 4, Newman 4, Hammon 3, Nardone 3, Sanchez 1, Chuisano 3, Hicks 2, McCloskey 5*
December 15, 2020
Another really good edition. Excellent writing and Holly Anders photos make the stories come alive in a very unique way.
August 5, 2021
Beginning, middle and end—who needs it? Presenting problem, impediment, a resolution that goes aha!—we’re so over it. At least that was the argument at a recent City Lights Bookstore event with experimental storytellers Lidia Yuknavitch and Lance Olsen. I am attracted to the proposition and anxious to read their new books, “Verge” and “My Red Heaven.”
In contrast, McSweeney’s Issue 60 collects eight stories that are actualized by their conventional structures in ways that feel lively, lived-in and organic.
Set in the vibrant African immigrant community of Urbana, Illinois, “Variety African Healing Market” tells the story of a girl whose well-intentioned family gets swept up by forces beyond their control.
Anyone who has read Leigh Newman’s Alaskan memoir “Still Points North” will be on familiar ground with “High Jinks.” It’s a loving account of a father-daughter float trip that is at once light-hearted, funny and imbued with loss.
Through poetic language, in “In This Life or Another” we are plunged into the perspective of a boy who “lives between the world and his head,” who pines for his “mother who forgets she is a mother.”
“The Tum-Boon Brigade” takes us into a Bangkok that feels both exotic and intensely familiar, where volunteer accident responders nightly embark on a Buddhistic quest to accumulate boon or karmic merit.
“A Fresh Start Ruined” opens a window onto one evening of a family who has one foot firmly planted in contemporary American life and the other in Osage tradition.
“A Little Like God” weaves issues of national security, archetypal fear and Armageddon with the downward trajectory of a love affair.
One of the pleasures of reading McSweeney’s is every issue’s uniquely beautiful book design. Here the photo illustrations by Holly Andres act as visual commentary to each of these exceptional stories. { Cross-posted at my website. }
View all my reviews
In contrast, McSweeney’s Issue 60 collects eight stories that are actualized by their conventional structures in ways that feel lively, lived-in and organic.
Set in the vibrant African immigrant community of Urbana, Illinois, “Variety African Healing Market” tells the story of a girl whose well-intentioned family gets swept up by forces beyond their control.
Anyone who has read Leigh Newman’s Alaskan memoir “Still Points North” will be on familiar ground with “High Jinks.” It’s a loving account of a father-daughter float trip that is at once light-hearted, funny and imbued with loss.
Through poetic language, in “In This Life or Another” we are plunged into the perspective of a boy who “lives between the world and his head,” who pines for his “mother who forgets she is a mother.”
“The Tum-Boon Brigade” takes us into a Bangkok that feels both exotic and intensely familiar, where volunteer accident responders nightly embark on a Buddhistic quest to accumulate boon or karmic merit.
“A Fresh Start Ruined” opens a window onto one evening of a family who has one foot firmly planted in contemporary American life and the other in Osage tradition.
“A Little Like God” weaves issues of national security, archetypal fear and Armageddon with the downward trajectory of a love affair.
One of the pleasures of reading McSweeney’s is every issue’s uniquely beautiful book design. Here the photo illustrations by Holly Andres act as visual commentary to each of these exceptional stories. { Cross-posted at my website. }
View all my reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews