sharonfalduto's review
3.0
A book of short stories, written by Edwidge Danticat, Nick Hornby, AR Kennedy, and a bunch of other people I don't remember. The only objective was to create a character. Good short stories with compellingly written characters, for the most part. From all walks of life.
bougainvillea's review
2.0
This was an ok book. That's the problem with short story collections, especially those with several contributors. Some stories are beautiful, some are funny, and some are just blah. The most vivid ones for me: Judith Castle (I could just see her!), Lele, Magda Magdalena, Judge Gladys Parks-Shultz (I loved this one! Perfect.), Puppy, and Soleil. Oh, and Roy Spivey, I liked that one, too. Theo definitely intrigued me. I wasn't too keen on the illustrated stories, it's just not my thing. I'll definitely be looking out for some of these authors now.
mattstebbins's review
3.0
Some of these stories were great ("Lele," for instance) and some were clever ("The Liar" comes to mind); some were somewhat familiar ("Hanwell Snr," "Perkus Tooth"), and some were mildly amusing ("Frank," certainly). Most, though, seemed awfully full of themselves and awfully thin on flesh and development... MFA jerk-off work, to be impolite. At least it was a fun concept?
[3 stars for the occasional flash that made me temporarily forget the droll-ness of the rest.]
[3 stars for the occasional flash that made me temporarily forget the droll-ness of the rest.]
margeryk101's review against another edition
3.0
Really, this should be 3.5 stars: there were a few stories that just didn't appeal, otherwise it would be a four-starrer.
Fave stories:
Judith Castle
Gordon
Hanwell Snr
Lele
The Liar
Puppy - excellent
Theo - giant
A nice introduction to some new authors.
Fave stories:
Judith Castle
Gordon
Hanwell Snr
Lele
The Liar
Puppy - excellent
Theo - giant
A nice introduction to some new authors.
whitneyborup's review
5.0
Maybe I'm too easy of a critic, but I just about loved just about every story in this book.
donutcome4me's review against another edition
3.0
Een beetje hit en miss. De ene schrijver is de andere natuurlijk niet en het zijn meer korte karakterschetsen voor een goed doel, waardoor er nogal wat niveau en kwaliteitsverschillen zijn ontstaan. Al met al toch een fijn tussendoortje.
jwmcoaching's review
4.0
Zadie Smith's short story collection for charity is a pretty worthwhile read. Not only does she contribute one, but so do 22 of her contemporaries. Nick Hornby, Dave Eggers, Vendela Vida, Jonathan Lethem and many others all create a new character which their piece revolves around. Each piece is titled after said character with a narrator that is usually telling us about them, i.e. rarely does the specific character tell the story. Some of them are a miss, but nearly half of them are great, with most others that fall in between. The best are the ones that tell a story that neatly fits into a small space, but not too neatly.
kunigunde's review
challenging
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
jacquelynjoan's review
I can't say whether the stories were "good" because I didn't study that kind of thing. I can only say that I did not enjoy the first five, enjoyed one or two.
I kept thinking I would give up, but deciding to try one more. I thought I'd like Zadie Smith's because I liked White Teeth (but did I really even like White Teeth?) but I gave up halfway through and decided to see if there were one or two others I'd like to read.
I read and liked Edwidge Danticat's Lele.
I started Hari Kunzru's Magda Mandela, but immediately gave up as it reminded me of the first story, David Mitchell's Judith Castle which stuck me as a man writing about an annoying woman. The character didn't seem real or believable at all. And not fun either.
Johnathan Safran Foer's Rhoda was better.
I didn't read any others.
I was hoping for this to be an NPR/WNYC-ish vibe of The People in Your Neighborhood. Maybe I'm spoiled by too much Sesame Street and Neighborhood Slice on NYCTV.
I kept thinking I would give up, but deciding to try one more. I thought I'd like Zadie Smith's because I liked White Teeth (but did I really even like White Teeth?) but I gave up halfway through and decided to see if there were one or two others I'd like to read.
I read and liked Edwidge Danticat's Lele.
I started Hari Kunzru's Magda Mandela, but immediately gave up as it reminded me of the first story, David Mitchell's Judith Castle which stuck me as a man writing about an annoying woman. The character didn't seem real or believable at all. And not fun either.
Johnathan Safran Foer's Rhoda was better.
I didn't read any others.
I was hoping for this to be an NPR/WNYC-ish vibe of The People in Your Neighborhood. Maybe I'm spoiled by too much Sesame Street and Neighborhood Slice on NYCTV.
jo24's review
3.0
I'm not done with this book but it's great for quick short story reads- which is all I can manage right now.
And it has some great characters from awesome authors.
"The instruction was simple: make somebody up," explains Zadie Smith (who edited the anthology...).
Includes David Mitchell, ZZ Packer, Toby Litt, Dave Eggers, Clowe, Nick Hornby and others. Also proceeds from the purchase help support Eggers non-profit.
And it has some great characters from awesome authors.
"The instruction was simple: make somebody up," explains Zadie Smith (who edited the anthology...).
Includes David Mitchell, ZZ Packer, Toby Litt, Dave Eggers, Clowe, Nick Hornby and others. Also proceeds from the purchase help support Eggers non-profit.