Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
One Hundred and Forty Five Stories in a Small Box: Hard to Admit and Harder to Escape, How the Water Feels to the Fishes, and Minor Robberies
In the grand tradition of Neapolitan ice cream, ZZ Top, and Cerberus, the tri-headed guardian of Hades, this set combines individual, short fiction collections by three talented practitioners of the short-short form. Manguso’s Hard to Admit and Harder to Escape is a series of crystalline recollections of her childhood misadventures; Eggers’ How the Water Feels to the Fishe...more
Hardcover, 300 pages
Published
October 28th 2007
by McSweeney's
(first published September 20th 2007)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
1,255)
This review concerns only Unferth's Minor Robberies:
It is twisted and incompetently brilliant. She is the literary equivalent of a cheeky post punk band--elliptical, experimental, disturbing, anxious, manic, snottily and sincerely casual, falling apart--she whips off tiny snippets. Part of her inimitable voice is her intentional inelegance. Example: ". . . if reincarnation is right . . ." She very much has the tools to say "if the idea of reincarnation holds water," but she doesn't, and it is s...more
It is twisted and incompetently brilliant. She is the literary equivalent of a cheeky post punk band--elliptical, experimental, disturbing, anxious, manic, snottily and sincerely casual, falling apart--she whips off tiny snippets. Part of her inimitable voice is her intentional inelegance. Example: ". . . if reincarnation is right . . ." She very much has the tools to say "if the idea of reincarnation holds water," but she doesn't, and it is s...more
I find it really hard to review McSweeney's publications objectively because I am so in love with the empire: the concrete detail, the interactiveness of the publications. The books are live creatures that seem to look back at you. I'm tempted to give this collection five stars just because the co-publication of three micro-story collections in one shared slipcover is such a great gesture.
I love Dave Eggers' work in general. I love where he starts, and where he quits, in almost every one of thes...more
I love Dave Eggers' work in general. I love where he starts, and where he quits, in almost every one of thes...more
There are three books in this collection and this is the first installment of what will eventually total three reviews.
"Hard to Admit and Harder to Escape" by Sarah Manguso is a stellar collection of short short fiction. This is my first experience with this type of fiction and it rests somewhere between poetry and short story fiction. Each story is barely a paragraph but packed with content on a level of a good poem. Almost story is ripe for striking up conversation in a high school or colle...more
"Hard to Admit and Harder to Escape" by Sarah Manguso is a stellar collection of short short fiction. This is my first experience with this type of fiction and it rests somewhere between poetry and short story fiction. Each story is barely a paragraph but packed with content on a level of a good poem. Almost story is ripe for striking up conversation in a high school or colle...more
Explanation of rating:
Sarah Manguso FIVE STARS astonishing OMG I love her.
Dave Eggers THREE STARS for his acknowledgedly tepid homage to Lydia Davis.
Deb Olin Unfirth NO STARS because it was so bad I couldn't even finish it.
Sarah Manguso FIVE STARS astonishing OMG I love her.
Dave Eggers THREE STARS for his acknowledgedly tepid homage to Lydia Davis.
Deb Olin Unfirth NO STARS because it was so bad I couldn't even finish it.
1 like · like · see review
view all 4 comments
I took a professional reviewer's advice and didn't read any one of these three small books of short-short stories straight through. I jumped around, read a few from each as I progressed. Good call, because once I finished the two shorter ones, I was left with "Minor Robberies" by Deb Olin Unferth. The trouble with her book was that I had gotten used to the idea of short-short stories, or flash fiction, or snap fiction, or whatever the form is called. The volumes by Dave Eggers and Sarah Manguso...more
it seems i am not the only one who only read the deb olin unferth volume -- libraries (rightly, thankfully) catalog these as three separate monographs.
deb olin unferth is really good. these short-short stories are really good, thoughtful, beautiful, spare. i learned that i am perhaps not the biggest fan of this form -- not that i think unferth is limited by it, or that her stories could benefit from expansion, but that my tendency as a reader is to digest books in large chunks. this is never a p...more
deb olin unferth is really good. these short-short stories are really good, thoughtful, beautiful, spare. i learned that i am perhaps not the biggest fan of this form -- not that i think unferth is limited by it, or that her stories could benefit from expansion, but that my tendency as a reader is to digest books in large chunks. this is never a p...more
Three collections of Flash Fiction, all of them original and inspiring. Egger's 'How The Water Feels To The Fishes' is quite wonderful. I am taking them apart at the moment, looking for the joins, trying to see how it was all done.
Manguso's 'Hard To Admit and Harder To Escape' is a much more unified collection of simple morality tales, all first person, all told in a clearwater kind of voice. Their compact unity is awesome.
A lot of 'Reviewers' (a strange breed) seem to be proud of the fact that...more
Manguso's 'Hard To Admit and Harder To Escape' is a much more unified collection of simple morality tales, all first person, all told in a clearwater kind of voice. Their compact unity is awesome.
A lot of 'Reviewers' (a strange breed) seem to be proud of the fact that...more
I'd been trying for a while, in a remarkably half-assed way, to get a copy of this, partly because I was worried that when I did get it it wouldn't be as good as I'd hoped.
And well, I needn't have worried. The Eggers' stories aren't great, but well, no one buys the book for the Eggers' stories. They are the ringers of the bunch, the hook to get you into the other, vastly better books.
I read Manguso's book of Columbus poems or whatever it was, and didn't think so much of it. I liked this one a wh...more
And well, I needn't have worried. The Eggers' stories aren't great, but well, no one buys the book for the Eggers' stories. They are the ringers of the bunch, the hook to get you into the other, vastly better books.
I read Manguso's book of Columbus poems or whatever it was, and didn't think so much of it. I liked this one a wh...more
Much as I love Dave Eggars it was Deb Olin Unferth that sold me this book. Out of her backpack. She gave me a really good discount. I'm awfully gratefully, it turns out I really like tiny ickle bitty stories. I like them a lot.
Because of this book, I'm going to try a little experiment this summer. The idea is that I'll write a short-short story each day for a certain period of time. Maybe I'll start it on my birthday and then go until a month later. Maybe I'll go longer. Maybe I'll start earlier, but probably not tomorrow.
There's also plenty in here to serve as seeds for projects for Creative Writing and/or Sophomore English. One: use your name as the title for a story. Two: Imitate "The New Rules." Three: Various adv...more
There's also plenty in here to serve as seeds for projects for Creative Writing and/or Sophomore English. One: use your name as the title for a story. Two: Imitate "The New Rules." Three: Various adv...more
This is a beautiful boxed set and some really great stories inside each separate collection. I found each author's voice distinct and interesting, even as I wished there was a little more crossover in tone between the three to hold it together. Eggers was my favorite volume, and Deb Olin Unferth's work was also quite interesting and marked by some very profound pieces. The weakest volume in my eyes was Sarah Mangusos's simply because I found many of her stories to feel a little too navel-gazing...more
This is the book that made me fall in love with Dave Eggers; trying now to tear through everything else he's written/produced/etc. I was also quite taken with Deb Olin Unferth's rough style; I'd never even heard of her previously, but read through her contribution ravenously. Sarah Manguso, I have to say, is who places my rating at 4 rather 5 stars. Her micro-fiction felt too autobiographical to me—I could see the room where she was writing, could feel her trying to write her way out of boredom....more
I realized that I should have read these in the opposite order. I started with Manguso's Hard to Admit..., which turned out to be my favorite. It is very pleasingly off-kilter and disquieting. Unferth's Minor Robberies was next. Similar to Manguso's in tone but more self-conscious. Eggers' How the Water... was just not very good; most of the works felt like entry-level writing class experiments (not that I could do better). If I had started with the Eggers, I could have ended with a bang.
“Still we love and are unloved, still we understand no one, still we and our love die, still reality is hard to admit and harder to escape, still the essential moments are unexpected but nothing is new, still we were wrong about the past but the future is about to begin, still things make sense, still there is but one reliance.” — Sarah Manguso, Hard to Admit and Harder to Escape
This book doesn’t take long to get through. It’s 81 short stories — and by short, I mean short. None are longer than a...more
This book doesn’t take long to get through. It’s 81 short stories — and by short, I mean short. None are longer than a...more
The first book I read was Deb Olin Unferth's Minor Robberies. As with any book of short stories, some are awesome, some are not. Some use language in really impressive ways, and some are so overly wrought they make me cringe. Some pack powerful emotional punches, and some leave me thinking "What was the point of that?" Some blow my mind, and some are way over my head. The ones that stick with me the most are "Deb Olin Unferth" and "To Do," because, shockingly enough, I think like that, or almost...more
Jun 23, 2009
Anna
added it
Hey so does anyone else hope that Dave Eggers' "How the Water Feels to the Fishes" has something to do with that bit in Infinite Jest where the old fish says to the two younger fish, "How's the water today, boys?" and swims off and then one young fish says to the other, "What the hell is water?" I read that when David Foster Wallace mentioned it in his Kenyon speech and didn't realize it was in IJ cause I hadn't read it yet. I think it's in one of Don Gately's reflections.
ANYWAY. The little Dave...more
ANYWAY. The little Dave...more
Clever idea, nicely executed... up until now I haven't been a fan of Eggers's work, but many of the stories in "How the Water Feels" grabbed me by the throat. I'll be looking to read his stuff from now on... Manguso is more of a poet, and maybe for that reason her pieces show a lot more care with the language. They read really well. Many of them are emotionally effective, and a few are very funny. But some of them seem to just kind of sit there being formal and blurring together... My own view i...more
After reading two of the books in this set, I'm bringing my review down to 4 stars [see update below:] because: I'm tired now. A bit weary, that is, of short encapsulated clever witty storybits that are making me feel old-fashioned for not always getting it.
As I noted the first time I posted on this, I loved Sarah Manguso's contribution, Hard to Admit and Harder to Escape: sharp, poetic, witty, and often devastating. She has a really distinctive voice, and taken altogether the collection has coh...more
As I noted the first time I posted on this, I loved Sarah Manguso's contribution, Hard to Admit and Harder to Escape: sharp, poetic, witty, and often devastating. She has a really distinctive voice, and taken altogether the collection has coh...more
I'm going to have to break this review into categories.
Overall presentation: Five stars, absolutely. This boxed set of three small hardcover story collections is a pleasure to hold, to touch, to admire. Soft earth tones with a muted pinstripe pattern, gold stamped title, well designed spine.... I just loved reading these books.
Minor Robberies: Four stars. This collection of three to five page stories was quirky, intriguing, emotionally apt, and satisfying. I particularly liked "One She Once Was"...more
Overall presentation: Five stars, absolutely. This boxed set of three small hardcover story collections is a pleasure to hold, to touch, to admire. Soft earth tones with a muted pinstripe pattern, gold stamped title, well designed spine.... I just loved reading these books.
Minor Robberies: Four stars. This collection of three to five page stories was quirky, intriguing, emotionally apt, and satisfying. I particularly liked "One She Once Was"...more
I found this collection in a record store. Three mini volumes by Sarah Manguso, Deb Olin Unferth and Dave Eggers neatly packed together in an impressive package. It's like buying three already used and very interesting sketchbooks. Further along, you may notice that reading one of these books while on public transport has a tendency to make you feel like you're hanging out with its author. It's the McSweeney's literary equivalent to a pizza night, which incidentally is something their website re...more
Absolutely stunning collection of short fiction-probably my favorite. The cover is gorgeous, matched only by the authors' unique take on the flash genre. These works are exemplary of the genre, well-revised, well-conceived, and often breathtaking. For any who are interested in short fiction, or simply wish to consume a story in less than a moment, pick this collection up and begin reading. You will not be disappointed.
This collection of three small hardcover books in a box is a nice little set of stories. I particularly enjoyed those of Manguso, all of which were a page or less. I liked Eggers stories as well, but found many of Olin Unferth's too dark for my tastes. Short stories are a nice thing to read when you are busy doing this and that around the house as I was, and these are a nice collection, personal and with a sense of humour.
I took these three tiny books to the park on a sunny morning and proceeded to read all one hundred and forty five stories. Three hours later, I picked up my bike and rode away satisfied. It was like a long brunch of many courses and several well-timed mimosas and I was terribly sad when I found there were no more to be had. For those who feel their reading lives are lacking fiction, these stories will recharge the brain bank.
This little box has provided great subway fodder for the past week. Though Eggers's volume "How the Water Feels to the Fishes" wasn't all that exciting (same old same old), Sarah Manguso's "Hard to Admit and Harder to Escape" is a fine collection of profound little vignettes - tight hunks of writing that I often wanted to read twice. Childhood mixes with artists' colony mixes with the writer's years as a maladjusted art student eager for social acceptance. But the point is that though all these...more
I checked out Sarah Manguso's "Hard to Admit and Harder to Escape" from the library, a tiny little blond book that can fit in the palm of your hand. I really enjoyed her voice and her style -- her short, piercing vignettes that paint a vivid picture of one young woman's fraught experiences and mindset. Interesting and provoking. What style.
Similar to Steve Martin's instructions on folding soup, Dave Eggers has a great explaination for how radios work. Nobody knew how radios make sound, so it was grand team of people that carfully took one apart to see how it worked with surprising results. I love that kind of stuff.
YES!!! Three books, three authors, 145 short stories, endless pleasure. Of course, Dave Eggers' book was my favorite. He has this way of writing that pulls you in, makes you think all these wonderful ideas, then drops you back off in the real world. Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am. The other two are just as ace!
Deb Olin Unferth's shorty-short stories pack a punch and leave you wanting to find out more about her, her writing, anything you can devour.
You know when you have three things and they're all...more
Deb Olin Unferth's shorty-short stories pack a punch and leave you wanting to find out more about her, her writing, anything you can devour.
You know when you have three things and they're all...more
This was one of my first forays into short fiction (quick fiction, flash fiction, etc) and while the collections here are a bit uneven, they are also very interesting. You need to get into a rhythm of the flow of the stories for maximum pleasure, I think.
This is a great collection of tiny stories. I didn't find a single one in here that I didn't like. They really seemed to go well together. Each author had their own flavor, but there was a certain unity to the whole thing. I could really see why these were all put together.
There are 145 stories in this box from three different authors. There's some fun with language and some very pretty lines, but that's about it. Of the 145 stories, maybe eight or nine are worthy of anything.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Dave Eggers is the author of six previous books, including his most recent, A Hologram for the King, about a struggling businessman pursuing a last-ditch attempt to stave off foreclosure, pay his daughter's college tuition, and finally do something great. In this novel the author takes us around the world to show how one man fights to hold himself and his splintering family together in the face of...more
More about Dave Eggers...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
