McSweeney's 05: Sometimes Not Believing How Great This All Is

The first McSweeney's issue published as a hardback again challenges what a quarterly magazine can be. Here Editor Eggers seems to be throwing the gauntlet down to show that beautiful, hardbound books can be made at a cost that still allows for a decent profit.
The contents in this issue are a little more uneven than usual. Some entries are downright childish and annoying, others are fine but seem out of place. McSweeney's still seems to be finding its way in these early issues. One gets the feeling that many of the pieces are simply included because they are from the stable of McSweeney's contributors at the time.
The standouts for me were:
Mr. Squishy by Elizabeth Klemm: The pseudonym fooled no one at the time, the author is instantly show more recognizable as David Foster Wallace and indeed, he published this story under his own name a few years later. Classic DFW, it is long, frustratingly detailed and difficult but oh-so layered as it builds to the (non)conclusion.
This We Came To Know Afterward by Susan Minot: Minot travels to Uganda to a rural school where 139 girls were abducted by rebels. Amazingly 109 were released due to the quick actions and negotiations of one of the teaching nuns. Minot stands back and lets the girls tell their stories. Heartbreaking.
Marie Curie, Honorable Woman by Lydia Davis: An accomplished French translator and novelist, Davis submits this "translation exercise," a literal translation of a French popular biography of Mdme. Curie. Filled with awkward, unintentionally funny sentences and a oddly flippant style, this is a great example of something that could only be published in McSweeney's. show less

Uneven in spots, but standout pieces on Curie, Solresol, and Uganda save it.