What do you think?
Rate this book
McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern #38
McSweeney's Issue 38
Ariel Dorfman in Paris, with one eye on Chile, Bisi Adjapon in Ghana, Chanan Tigay with the Israeli Arabs of the Desert Scouts Brigade, Nathaniel Rich exploring the Northeast Kingdom, Steven Millhauser somewhere far away, deep, deep in the woods, and new fiction from Dave Eggers—and more stories, besides, plus a comic and color photography and a cover that'll earn you admiring glances in whatever environment you're in. Don't even think about missing this one.
There are three different covers for this issue. Which color our warehouse sends to you is completely randomized. Your local independent bookstore just might have all three.
There are three different covers for this issue. Which color our warehouse sends to you is completely randomized. Your local independent bookstore just might have all three.
253 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2011
About the author
Dave Eggers
347 books9,773 followersDave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is best known for his 2000 memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which became a bestseller and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Eggers is also the founder of several notable literary and philanthropic ventures, including the literary journal Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, the literacy project 826 Valencia, and the human rights nonprofit Voice of Witness. Additionally, he founded ScholarMatch, a program that connects donors with students needing funds for college tuition. His writing has appeared in numerous prestigious publications, including The New Yorker, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
July 10, 2019
Me topé con este libro en una librería de usado y me llamó la atención por su portada: un forro de tela y unos diseños geométricos poco comunes la hacían llamativa, pero más allá de eso la portada no me decía nada y eso, sobertodo, atrajo mi atención. Tampoco había más información an la contraportada, ni en los interiores de los forros, es más, ni siquiera tenía una página legal. En internet averigüé que se trataba de una revista trimestral (aunque no tenía cara de revista) de nombre McSweeney's Quaterly Concern y eso de "concern" (además de unas fotos de soldados árabes en los interiores) me hizo pensar que quizá trataba temas tipo de derechos humanos. Esa perspectiva no me atrajo mucho pero de todas formas terminé comprando el libro por la curiosidad de saber de qué se trataba. No me arrepiento.
Quedé fascinada con el concepto y de hecho estaba totalmente enamorada del ejemplar hasta que llegué al último texto y me di cuenta por qué me parecía familiar el nombre del fundador de la editorial y editor de este y muchos volúmenes de la revista. El último texto resultó ser el primer capítulo de una novela autorada por dicho editor, Un holograma para el rey, de Dave Eggers, que hasta hicieron película. Me parece un poco como hacer trampa que el editor se elija a sí mismo para contribuir a la revista, pero no hubiera estado tan mal si al menos hubiera publicado un texto nuevo, no algo que ya tenía programado para publicar como un libro separado. Eso es una descarada estrategia publicitaria porque además, a mi como lector, ¿qué me deja leer un solo capítulo de su novela? Sin embargo, sinceramente lo que más me decepcionó es que esa novela no me gustó, se me hizo insípida y sin trama. Quizá a Eggers se le da mejor la edición que la autoría, o quizá yo tendría que darle una oportunidad y leer otro de sus trabajos (aunque Un holograma para el rey puede ser su mejor trabajo, pues hasta llegó a la pantalla grande).
En fin. El resto de los textos me gustaron mucho. La revista es una recopilación de textos originales, de diversos tipos. Y me gusta el concepto porque no te casas con leer un solo tipo de narración, un solo género, tema, estilo, etc. El ejemplar empieza con una sección de cartas, incluye cuentos, ensayos, historias de la vida real, hasta un cómic impreso en otro tamaño y material, como inserto, y una publicidad satírica. Los textos me hicieron pasar por muchos sentimientos, me hicieron reír, enojar, me oprimieron el corazón. Creo que, a pesar de mi decepción, estaré leyendo otros ejemplares de la revista.
Quedé fascinada con el concepto y de hecho estaba totalmente enamorada del ejemplar hasta que llegué al último texto y me di cuenta por qué me parecía familiar el nombre del fundador de la editorial y editor de este y muchos volúmenes de la revista. El último texto resultó ser el primer capítulo de una novela autorada por dicho editor, Un holograma para el rey, de Dave Eggers, que hasta hicieron película. Me parece un poco como hacer trampa que el editor se elija a sí mismo para contribuir a la revista, pero no hubiera estado tan mal si al menos hubiera publicado un texto nuevo, no algo que ya tenía programado para publicar como un libro separado. Eso es una descarada estrategia publicitaria porque además, a mi como lector, ¿qué me deja leer un solo capítulo de su novela? Sin embargo, sinceramente lo que más me decepcionó es que esa novela no me gustó, se me hizo insípida y sin trama. Quizá a Eggers se le da mejor la edición que la autoría, o quizá yo tendría que darle una oportunidad y leer otro de sus trabajos (aunque Un holograma para el rey puede ser su mejor trabajo, pues hasta llegó a la pantalla grande).
En fin. El resto de los textos me gustaron mucho. La revista es una recopilación de textos originales, de diversos tipos. Y me gusta el concepto porque no te casas con leer un solo tipo de narración, un solo género, tema, estilo, etc. El ejemplar empieza con una sección de cartas, incluye cuentos, ensayos, historias de la vida real, hasta un cómic impreso en otro tamaño y material, como inserto, y una publicidad satírica. Los textos me hicieron pasar por muchos sentimientos, me hicieron reír, enojar, me oprimieron el corazón. Creo que, a pesar de mi decepción, estaré leyendo otros ejemplares de la revista.
September 25, 2011
"McSweeney's 38" is a regular sized paperback, 250 pages long, quite plain compared to some of the more interesting editions of late. That said, this issue contains the best fiction in any quarterly this year so there's something to be said for content over appearance. Like all issues of McSweeney's there's stories I liked and stories I didn't - I'm only going to write about the ones I liked.
The best story in here is Nathaniel Rich's "The Northeast Kingdom" about the oldest man in the world. Irritated by the attention of family members and the public hounding him for the secret to long life, he fakes his own death and escapes only to find a strange, hidden society in the Vermont countryside. Excellent writing and characterisation, the story sucks you in and gets more and more interesting as it goes on. It's worth picking up this book just for this story.
Roddy Doyle contributes another fine short story, "The Hens", about a Polish girl in Ireland encountering middle class women at war with one another and the hens they keep that sets off a bloody conflict. This had some great moments of humour and was another fine story from Doyle. The man never disappoints, no wonder he's in most issues of this quarterly.
Dave Eggers has an intriguing first chapter to his new novel. A 56 year old businessman takes a job in Saudi Arabia and we get an insight into his troubled personal life as well as a snapshot of modern America. The 13 pages on offer here definitely made me want to read more and I'll keep an eye out for the book in the future.
Jack Teagle`s funny mini-comic found in the middle of the book is pretty decent and he definitely has a unique style that some might like and some might not, mostly because it's quite basic. It's a nice change of pace to the book though.
Ariel Dorfman writes an ok story of a couple visiting Chile, the woman is an artist obsessed with the memorialised dead French resistance fighters of Paris. Dorfman's writing style of extended sentences with the clauses running over each other with only commas to separate them became a bit tedious to read after a while and wasn't nearly as stylish or clever as I'm sure she thought it was. The story, though muddled, had some high points though.
Overall, I found the good stuff outweighed the fair and middling to poor stuff and made this the most interesting McSweeney's of 2011. There's at least a lot of decent fiction to read and that's what McSweeney's is all about right?
The best story in here is Nathaniel Rich's "The Northeast Kingdom" about the oldest man in the world. Irritated by the attention of family members and the public hounding him for the secret to long life, he fakes his own death and escapes only to find a strange, hidden society in the Vermont countryside. Excellent writing and characterisation, the story sucks you in and gets more and more interesting as it goes on. It's worth picking up this book just for this story.
Roddy Doyle contributes another fine short story, "The Hens", about a Polish girl in Ireland encountering middle class women at war with one another and the hens they keep that sets off a bloody conflict. This had some great moments of humour and was another fine story from Doyle. The man never disappoints, no wonder he's in most issues of this quarterly.
Dave Eggers has an intriguing first chapter to his new novel. A 56 year old businessman takes a job in Saudi Arabia and we get an insight into his troubled personal life as well as a snapshot of modern America. The 13 pages on offer here definitely made me want to read more and I'll keep an eye out for the book in the future.
Jack Teagle`s funny mini-comic found in the middle of the book is pretty decent and he definitely has a unique style that some might like and some might not, mostly because it's quite basic. It's a nice change of pace to the book though.
Ariel Dorfman writes an ok story of a couple visiting Chile, the woman is an artist obsessed with the memorialised dead French resistance fighters of Paris. Dorfman's writing style of extended sentences with the clauses running over each other with only commas to separate them became a bit tedious to read after a while and wasn't nearly as stylish or clever as I'm sure she thought it was. The story, though muddled, had some high points though.
Overall, I found the good stuff outweighed the fair and middling to poor stuff and made this the most interesting McSweeney's of 2011. There's at least a lot of decent fiction to read and that's what McSweeney's is all about right?
February 20, 2012
Great letters section.
Really Enjoyed: The Northeast Kingdom, The Hens, Rapunzel, Cred
Enjoyed: Where He Fell, The JPEG, Chapter One
Was Indifferent Towards: Of Women and Frogs
Ok and then there were two nonfiction entries and induldge me a little here because I generally want to read interesting/weird/adjective-here fiction when I get my McSwy's in the mail every three months or whatever (I mean ok I don't usually get around to reading it immediately but you're indulging me remember?) and so when there's a couple lengthy nonfiction thingies in here I usually either sigh and plow through or maybe, just maybe, I think about skipping them, but then of course they're always about like someone being treated terribly or like massive amounts of injustice or something along those lines which makes my white guilt grow even more fervent because I can't even be stopped to take like 90 minutes out of my pleasure reading time to read a 100-ish page (with pictures, mind you, that's how awful I am) explanation of how Bedouin villagers are treated in Israel and for that I'm sorry a thousand times over but I just didn't want to read it even though I actually did read it, the whole thing, every last word.
Alright actually the 9/11 one wasn't even lengthy, it was like ten pages. Maybe I'm just no longer up to snuff as a reader of yours, McSweeney's.
Really Enjoyed: The Northeast Kingdom, The Hens, Rapunzel, Cred
Enjoyed: Where He Fell, The JPEG, Chapter One
Was Indifferent Towards: Of Women and Frogs
Ok and then there were two nonfiction entries and induldge me a little here because I generally want to read interesting/weird/adjective-here fiction when I get my McSwy's in the mail every three months or whatever (I mean ok I don't usually get around to reading it immediately but you're indulging me remember?) and so when there's a couple lengthy nonfiction thingies in here I usually either sigh and plow through or maybe, just maybe, I think about skipping them, but then of course they're always about like someone being treated terribly or like massive amounts of injustice or something along those lines which makes my white guilt grow even more fervent because I can't even be stopped to take like 90 minutes out of my pleasure reading time to read a 100-ish page (with pictures, mind you, that's how awful I am) explanation of how Bedouin villagers are treated in Israel and for that I'm sorry a thousand times over but I just didn't want to read it even though I actually did read it, the whole thing, every last word.
Alright actually the 9/11 one wasn't even lengthy, it was like ten pages. Maybe I'm just no longer up to snuff as a reader of yours, McSweeney's.
December 21, 2011
A lot of good content in here! I enjoyed most of the included pieces quite a bit.
Some highlights:
*Chanan Tigay's lengthy article on Arab soliders serving in the Israeli military.
*Steven Millhauser's re-telling of the Rapunzel story (at first glance this seemed tired territory, but Millhauser takes this tale to some thought-provoking psychological terrain).
*Bisi Adjapon's "Of Women and Frogs," chronicling the sad and tragic happenings of one Ghanaian girl's lonely journey into adolescence.
*Alia Malek's true account of one Pakistani-American family's attempts to uncover what happened to their son, who disappeared in NYC on 9/11.
Looking at that list now...there was a lot of heavy content in this issue, huh?
Even the comic insert was devastatingly sad!
Well, there was also this final, lighter highlight: a hilarious series of letters written by a woman who couldn't remember whether a Helen Hunt interview she once read (featuring a recipe for her grandmother's coconut-macaroon cookies--yum!) originally appeared in McSweeney's or Redbook. Might anyone be able to point her in the right direction?
Some highlights:
*Chanan Tigay's lengthy article on Arab soliders serving in the Israeli military.
*Steven Millhauser's re-telling of the Rapunzel story (at first glance this seemed tired territory, but Millhauser takes this tale to some thought-provoking psychological terrain).
*Bisi Adjapon's "Of Women and Frogs," chronicling the sad and tragic happenings of one Ghanaian girl's lonely journey into adolescence.
*Alia Malek's true account of one Pakistani-American family's attempts to uncover what happened to their son, who disappeared in NYC on 9/11.
Looking at that list now...there was a lot of heavy content in this issue, huh?
Even the comic insert was devastatingly sad!
Well, there was also this final, lighter highlight: a hilarious series of letters written by a woman who couldn't remember whether a Helen Hunt interview she once read (featuring a recipe for her grandmother's coconut-macaroon cookies--yum!) originally appeared in McSweeney's or Redbook. Might anyone be able to point her in the right direction?
August 16, 2023
A curious experience -- I was a fan of McSwys in the late 1990s / 2000s, owned the first 15 issues or so, then was less impressed by the early #20s, and just couldn't be bothered anymore. Found #38 for a dollar at a library book sale and said hey, why not . . . and yikes, all the stuff that was tedious or annoying about McSwys has now completely taken over, apparently. Still the same house writers (Doyle, Levin, Millhauser), who are now way past their prime; still the same preachy politics -- somehow #38 manages to include a didactic piece about Israel/Palestine AND a didactic piece about 9/11, in a tome totaling fewer than 250 pages. The stories are mediocre at best; the twee letters section has become Flanderized into recursive infinite tweeness, etc. I still think the first dozen McSwys are really good (esp. #3 and #8) but apparently the 2010s did not go well for them.
October 2, 2011
This was my first time reading McSweeny's and, I must say, the experience was highly enjoyable. I especially enjoyed "The Northeast Kingdom" by Nathaniel Rich (I fully intend to pick up his book "The Mayor's Tongue"), "The Hens" by Roddy Doyle (oddly enough I just watched the movie "The Commitments" the other night), "Rapunzel" by Steven Millhauser, "Of Women and Frogs" by Bisi Adjapon (a rather disturbing story), "The JPEG" by Rachel B. Glasner, "Chapter One" of a new novel by Dave Eggers (which I'm considering purchasing when it is released), and I thought "Introducing the New Life Cube" by Dan Guterman was hilarious. I look forward to reading the next edition.
Read
November 1, 2013McSweeeney's Issue 38 like the other quarterlies is a really unique collection of short stories, essays, and usually other different types of story types. This issue contains a very special essay though titled The special Populations Unit: Arab Soldiers in Israel's Army by Chanan Tigay. The essay discusses Arab soldiers who join Israel's army but upon death receive no recognition due to fear of retributions upon their family. It's just a very well written potent essay that talks about an issue that gets absolutely no attention and identifies and recognizes a group of people who are rendered completely nameless otherwise.
April 5, 2015
This is a wonderful collection of short stories, comedic letters and thought provoking essays. The highlight was an essay about Palestinian soldiers in the Israeli army, but there isn't a weak entry in the entire volume. I am looking forward to tracking down more of the McSweeney editions. These volumes are a great way to be introduced to authors and literature that I probably would not normally be exposed to.
September 5, 2011
This was a very satisfying edition. Steven Millhauser's contributions are slowly redeeming him from my post-Martin Dressler feelings; that makes me happy! I loved the black humor of the Roddy Doyle story, and I really appreciate that McSweeney's strives to incorporate essays. Loved my Voice of Witness preview! This was one of my preferred compilations... time to renew my subscription!
August 30, 2011
My only gripe is with the ending of "The Northeast Kingdom," which seemed like a first draft ending, especially as compared to how polished the rest of the piece was.
Excellent array of writers/topics. I couldn't put the magazine down.
Excellent array of writers/topics. I couldn't put the magazine down.
September 20, 2011
I most enjoyed The Northeast Kingdom by Nathaniel Rich and Steven Millhauser's Rapunzel. These short stories were good but not quite good enough to make me want to read other works by these authors.
September 13, 2011
A simple, but intriguing design. This issue is filled with enjoyable and interesting reads. The Dave Eggers chapter makes me want to buy the book the moment it is published and the article on Israeli Arabs was an eye-opener for me.
May 28, 2013
Pretty solid issue. The only article I didn't like was The Special Populations Unit (I just didn't care about the topic). The stories were all good especially "The Northeast Kingdom", "The Hens", and "Rapunzel".
August 22, 2011
Utterly fantastic; I can't wait to get more of these in the mail.
August 17, 2011
My favorite part: stories about the soul-grinding pressures of middle age, the killing humdrum. Not everybody cares about stories of English majors who go to New York to make it big in publishing.
February 6, 2016
Some great stories, and some pretty good stories. Also one story I hated. Three stars!
September 12, 2011
Its hard enough to rate a collection by one author. Its even worse when its multiple authors, and includes fiction, journalism, letters, and a comic...
January 2, 2012
It was OK. No real gems, which is what I hope for with these things, although Eggers next novel sounds pretty cool (Chapter 1 was included).
September 28, 2011
Great issue, I particularly enjoyed Roddy Doyle's funny short story and the piece about Arab Israelis in the Israeli army.
October 28, 2011
Great short stories and essays as usual. Always excited to read McSweeneys.
January 28, 2012
Great collection from McSweeney's. Favorites included "The Northeast Kingdom" by Nathaniel Rich, Roddy Doyle's "The Hens," "Rapunzel" by Steven Millhauser and Dave Eggers' "Chapter One."
February 13, 2012
Along with some amazing stories, this issue of McSweeney's also contains a letter I wrote about my neighbor's cat, which lived in an expandable tube.
April 14, 2012
plenty of stories to enjoy. The non-fiction piece about Arabs serving in the Israeli army is worth checking out. I like the mix between fiction and (political) non-fiction in McSweeney´s.
September 16, 2015
Quite a good issue ...I particularly liked the stories by Nathaniel Rich about a very elderly man and by Steven Millhauser about Rapunzel.
September 21, 2011
props to nathaniel rich, bisi adjapon, chanan tigay, and jack teagle
November 10, 2011
What a tasty salad bowl of entertainment!
June 1, 2012
Love Roddy Doyle. But it is taking me longer and longer to finish an issue.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews