A Fictional History of the United States with Huge Chunks Missing

Maybe this is just a problem with my expectations, but damn, does this suck. I guess I first realized I was in trouble when I started reading the introduction and realized the editors had a Purpose. Looking at the cover, you'd think this is just a collection of funny short stories, somehow related to American history. I'd be willing to read that book.

This book, however, is a collection of short stories, written by people who think they are Accomplishing Something. For heaven's sake, I was an English major, too, but you don't see me punishing people for that.

Of course, I'm only about a third of the way through this so far, so maybe it gets better. But I'm skeptical, especially after having read Kate Bornstein's horrid Huck Finn story. show more I've got no problem with reappropriating classic works of fiction, and there is certainly humor to be found in the idea of Huck finding work as a cross-dressing male prostitute. When you're dealing with one of the distinctive voices in American literature, however, you simply have to do a better job than this. There's more to writing than just shock value.

...

Having finally finished the book, there are a few stories that were, for lack of a better word, adequate. Sarah Schulman's story was pretty good, although not terribly appropriate to the theme of the book. Neal Pollack did a nice job in his story as well. And the comics were okay.

But on the whole, what a load of crap. It's hard to succeed with a short story. You've only got a limited space to make something attention-getting, while still saying something. Most of these stories manage to do nothing more than waste my time. show less

a hit or miss collection that hits more than it misses.