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McSweeney's Issue 24 (McSweeney's Quarterly Concern): Trouble/Come Back, Donald Barthelme

by Dave Eggers (Editor)

Other authors: Jonathan Ames (Contributor), Donald Barthelme (Contributor), Robert Coover (Contributor), Aaron Gwyn (Contributor), Eric Hanson (Contributor)8 more, Christopher R. Howard (Contributor), Millard Kaufman (Contributor), Joe Meno (Contributor), Grace Paley (Contributor), George Saunders (Contributor), Michael Silverblatt (Contributor), Philippe Soupault (Contributor), Justin Taylor (Contributor)

Series: McSweeney's Quarterly Concern (24)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
280593,522 (3.94)3
With a special section on Donald Barthelme, including remembrances from Ann Beattie, David Gates, and Oscar Hijuelos, and some of Barthelme's barely published and never-collected early work, and a highly theoretical but potentially amazing Z-binding that we can't describe very well here, or even to each other, McSweeney's 24 will never be mistaken for anything else. (Except possibly the June 1978 issue of Popular Mechanics.)… (more)
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» See also 3 mentions

Showing 5 of 5
Really two volumes bound together in a cleverly elaborate trifold binding so that there are two covers. On one side is a book called "Trouble," containing the usual collection of short stories. The only one I can remember is Jonathan Ames's shaggy detective story, "Bored To Death," which he later developed into a very amusing series for HBO. A bonus booklet teases the forthcoming book, "Bowl of Cherries," a first novel by 90-year-old Millard Kaufman.

Flip it over and you get "Come Back, Donald Barthelme," a collection of remembrances of the late writer by his students and friends. It concludes with two previously uncollected stories by Donald Barthelme. ( )
  RobertOK | Feb 23, 2023 |
An except from Millard Kaufman's Bowl of Cherries, a tribute section to Donald Barthelme and a couple of his short stories, and six forgettable short stories. Cool dos-a-dos binding, though. ( )
  JBD1 | Sep 13, 2018 |
Most ingenious binding, ever.
1 vote allenmichie | Dec 31, 2012 |
Like a siamese twin, McSweeny's 24 is a volume with two spines and one back. It is a publication of short stories. The first half contains six tales of troublesome events-- crime, drugs, murder, etc:

"How to Make Millions in the Oil Market" - about an American soldier in Iraq
"Stockholm, 1973" - about a ludicrous bank robbery attempt in Sweden
"Bored to Death" - a Raymond Chandler fan pretends to be a private investigator and gets himself into a mess
"Look at Me" - bloody shooting of patrons in a restaurant for what reason I could not ascertain
"Death of Nick Carter" - a very strange, surreal portrait of an insane asylum with a violent end
"The Last Adventures of the Blue Phantom" - a man breaks into a home, tells a small boy he is a superhero, and takes him along on a criminal escapade...

Strangely enough, I liked the first of these best. And I'm not one to enjoy war stories, especially battle scenes. But the descriptive language was so precisely vivid and new that I enjoyed it for the words alone. The other two I found intriguing were "Bored to Death" and "The Last Adventures..."

If you turn the blue volume around, you find a compilation of writers' reminisces on the author Donald Barthelme, and two of his short stories. I never heard of Barthelme before. I was dubious at first; some of the essays on Barthelme were quite convincing of his brilliance and excellent writing. But, at the end I was just puzzled. "The Bed" left me unmoved, and I could not make head or tails of "Pages from the Annual Report". It felt like reading a conversation in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, or pages of Kafka.

Original review on Dog Ear Diary ( )
  jeane | Jan 23, 2008 |
Issue 24 was my first foray into the realm of McSweeney's, and though it contained several works of merit, I found it not quite as awesome as I had hoped - you know what they say about high expectations! I'm sure it won't disappoint in the future, though! ( )
  cinesnail88 | Dec 24, 2007 |
Showing 5 of 5
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» Add other authors

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Eggers, DaveEditorprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Ames, JonathanContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Barthelme, DonaldContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Coover, RobertContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Gwyn, AaronContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Hanson, EricContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Howard, Christopher R.Contributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Kaufman, MillardContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Meno, JoeContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Paley, GraceContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Saunders, GeorgeContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Silverblatt, MichaelContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Soupault, PhilippeContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Taylor, JustinContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed

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With a special section on Donald Barthelme, including remembrances from Ann Beattie, David Gates, and Oscar Hijuelos, and some of Barthelme's barely published and never-collected early work, and a highly theoretical but potentially amazing Z-binding that we can't describe very well here, or even to each other, McSweeney's 24 will never be mistaken for anything else. (Except possibly the June 1978 issue of Popular Mechanics.)

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