jackwwang's review against another edition
3.0
Eggers is full of surrealist one paged gems with a killer sense of humor, Manguso gets into her childhood, also surreal in some ways but tenderly autobiographical, Olin Unferth goes off the eep end, more like a fever dream chunked out into micro stories.
melanierichards's review against another edition
4.0
This is the book that made me fall in love with Dave Eggers; trying now to tear through everything else he's written/produced/etc. I was also quite taken with Deb Olin Unferth's rough style; I'd never even heard of her previously, but read through her contribution ravenously. Sarah Manguso, I have to say, is who places my rating at 4 rather 5 stars. Her micro-fiction felt too autobiographical to me—I could see the room where she was writing, could feel her trying to write her way out of boredom...meh. Underwhelmed, I suppose you could say.
donfoolery's review against another edition
4.0
I've been sort of skipping around between the three books, but: so far, so good!
analyticali's review against another edition
4.0
I started the collection over a year ago. Maybe I started in the wrong place, because last night I read all of "Hard to Admit and Harder to Escape" by Sarah Manguso and I loved it. "How the Water Feels to the Fishes" by Dave Eggers is a mixed bag. "Minor Robberies" by Deb Olin Unferth is subtly funny but often a bit depressing. If I could rate them seperately, they'd get a 5, 4, 3 star rating respectively.
As Stacey once observed, the packaging is phenomenal.
As Stacey once observed, the packaging is phenomenal.
joshhornbeck's review against another edition
5.0
"One Hundred and Forty-Five Stories in a Small Box" is a fantastic, three-volume collection of short-short stories. Deb Olin Unferth's "Minor Robberies" is a collection of prose poems that perfectly capture the ways we tell stories to each other - full of repetition, uncertainty, and half-remembered incidents. "How the Water Feels to the Fishes," by Dave Eggers, is the most narratively traditional of the three volumes, and contains some of the funniest and most heartbreaking short stories I've read. Finally, Sarah Manguso's "Hard to Admit and Harder to Escape" is comprised of 81 little narratives that add up to tell the story of a broken young woman, desperate for connection.
sentient_meat's review
4.0
Eggers 3/5
Manguso 5/5
Olin Unferth 4/5
All three volumes were quite enjoyable. Egger's was the weakest of the three, in my opinion, but still had some excellent moments. Both Manguso's & Olin Unferth’s contributions were spectacular. A very fun, funny, and touching collection of extremely short fiction.
Manguso 5/5
Olin Unferth 4/5
All three volumes were quite enjoyable. Egger's was the weakest of the three, in my opinion, but still had some excellent moments. Both Manguso's & Olin Unferth’s contributions were spectacular. A very fun, funny, and touching collection of extremely short fiction.
canadianbookworm's review
3.0
This collection of three small hardcover books in a box is a nice little set of stories. I particularly enjoyed those of Manguso, all of which were a page or less. I liked Eggers stories as well, but found many of Olin Unferth's too dark for my tastes. Short stories are a nice thing to read when you are busy doing this and that around the house as I was, and these are a nice collection, personal and with a sense of humour.
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