McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories

this book was my bible all summer of 2006. i felt small and incomplete without it. i discovered these people: ayelet waldman, kelly link, jason roberts, and poppy z. brite. the atwood, d'ambrosio, and oates are gorgeous, as well. now, when i look at the book on my shelf, i feel warm.

i think i'm searching for these stories all over the place - the fabulous, the surreal, the ghosty-headed - but still literary. still full of something else entirely.

Look, if you're gonna make me, I have to confess that the only reason I own, read, and will keep this book is because it's the only publication of an early short story version of [Lisey's Story] from Uncle Stevie. Yes, Atwood's first-person tale of a monster is a little interesting. And Oates' story about a guy going bat-shit crazy on a tiny island is readable. Oh, yeah, Roddy Doyle's story about a creepy kid ghost who won't go away is pretty, well, creepy. Sadly, Straub's entry tries a little too hard to be clever. And Just don't know what to say about Steve Erickson - but that's probably what he's going for. Nope, this is a King book.

5 bones for the King story,
2 bones for the rest of the book.
Highly Recommended for the King show more collector, otherwise, not so much. show less

McSweeny’s Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories is more or less a snoozefest, ranging from the lackluster with potential (D’Ambrossio, Mieville- I know many love the Mieville but I found it to have inconsistent pacing and a glaring lack of tension) to the entirely unenthralling (Handler, Brite, Letham), from the tedious (Doyle, Erickson) to the unfinished (Straub), and, of course, the predictable (Julavits, Waldman). The stories from the heavy-hitters (Atwood, King, Mitchell, Oates) are all engaging and enjoyable, but the real star of this collection is Jason Roberts’ incredibly inventive 7c. And something must be said for the wide variety in this collection in terms of subgenre- no two stories are the same brand of suspense, show more and, in this way, Michael Chabon is successful in his project of challenging what exactly ‘genre’ means. Too bad 2/3rds of this collection turned out to be astonishingly boring. show less

this book was my bible all summer of 2006. i felt small and incomplete without it. i discovered these people: ayelet waldman, kelly link, jason roberts, and poppy z. brite. the atwood, d'ambrosio, and oates are gorgeous, as well. now, when i look at the book on my shelf, i feel warm.

i think i'm searching for these stories all over the place - the fabulous, the surreal, the ghosty-headed - but still literary. still full of something else entirely.

Wow, I'm glad I won this book in a contest, because if I'd paid for it, I'd feel ripped off. The stories are very much a mixed bag. I really enjoyed the stories by China Mieville, Daniel Handler, and Jason Roberts. I thought the stories by Margaret Atwood, Ayelet Waldman, Heidi Julavits, Poppy Z. Brite, and Joyce Carol Oates were okay. The stories by Stephen King, Jonathan Letham, and Charles D'Ambrosio were boring. The stories by Steve Erikson, Roddy Doyle, and Peter Straub just left me confused. David Mitchell's story was so bad I nearly gave up on the book.

I bought this short story collection for a never-before-published new story by Stephen King, but ultimately, I was disappointed by the caliber of all the stories in the anthology, including King’s. Either the short story form has lost all meaning for me, or these great authors – such as Margaret Atwood, Peter Straub, Joyce Carol Oates, Jonathan Lethem and King – are merely phoning it in.

You’d think I’d know better. You’d think I’d learn. But then, I am so confused.

“What I Should Have Learned” - an essay for an assignment from 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Clonts. I enjoyed next to nothing with the McSweeney name on in. I have tried three “McSweeney’s Quarterly Concerns”, and…nothing. I mean, I can only remember one piece of one story and, while I feel like it was akin to “The Most Dangerous Game”, I know that couldn’t have been it.

“Why I Keep Falling Into the Trap” a fantasy written for extra credit in Mrs. Cornet’s 7th grade class. The only McSweeney’s that provided any interest to me was the Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales – a collection that harkened back to old style science show more fiction. I assumed I would see the same in this collection. I also enjoy Michael Chabon’s work (and he edited the Mammoth Treasure). Finally, in spite of my less than luke-warm response to other McSweeney collections, I am actually rapturous in my feelings for Eggers work on “The Best American Non-Required Reading” collections.

“What I Read for the Month of August (Pt II)” a critical analysis prepared for “Reading and Liking It”- Mr. McClain’s critical reading class for high school sophomores. There is little to warrant the time in this collection. Most of these pieces read as if the authors just learned the genre (science fiction, suspense, terror – I guess it goes a long way to say I can’t really figure out the genre this is meant to homage.) They are trite ideas that aren’t even really explored – a kind of “Gee, here’s a neat idea. Don’t you think it’s neat, too? Okay, it was neat, I’m done.” I walked away from most wondering, “So what?” Now, there are experienced people here (Stephen King, Peter Straub) and, while these stories are fine, it doesn’t feel like their best work.

Look, that is enough. I was going to go on more, but I’ve run out of archival essays, and it isn’t worth your time to read more bad news. Likewise, it isn’t worth your time to read this collection. Snag a couple of the stories if you’re kind of interested, but good luck finding the ones that are adequate. show less