McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thriling Tales - Various Authors

As the introduction explains, McSweeney's editor Dave Eggers permitted fellow writer Michael Chabon to guest edit an issue of the quarterly and fill it with adventure (or otherwise thrilling) stories, which Chabon feels are regrettably underrated these days. The result - here put into book form - is a very inconsistent mix of tales, none of which are very thrilling, from a number of well known authors (Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Sherman Alexie, and both Chabon and Eggers). Most of it seems extremely uninspired, if not unfinished, as if - in response to Chabon's solicitations - the writers churned out whatever slop first came to their minds and sent it off. But within the 'treasury' are a few worthwhile pieces - namely, Dave Egger's "Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly" (which can also be found in his book How We Are Hungry); Rick Moody's long, apocalyptic vision of drug use and memory, "The Albertine Notes"; and Chabon's "The Martian Agent, a Planetary Romance" (although it claims to be the beginning to a larger work, and thus seems incomplete). One would probably be better off seeking out these stories in other places, as the rest of the compilation is not worth reading.

BOOOOOOOO!
1.5 out of 5
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