Snap Judgments

Marc Weingarten, Dan Strachota, Chris Smith, Sarah Mueller Bossenbroek, Sheerly Avni

 


BOOK
Dave Eggers, Sarah Manguso, and Deb Olin Unferth: One Hundred and Forty-Five Stories in a Small Box
(McSweeney’s)

This gorgeous set of short-short fiction features three small books packaged in an elegant slipcase. OK, so it’s another McSweeney’s fetish object, but the stark, sharp stories are legit, and good writing can come in whimsical packages, as the San Francisco–based publisher has proven time and again. This trio is revisiting “flash fiction”—compact tales often as short as a sentence and no longer than a fistful of paragraphs. What’s surprising is how versatile the form can be. Deb Olin Unferth, who has been published in Harper’s and StoryQuarterly, uses prosaic scenarios to plumb the neuroses and anxieties of characters destined never to connect. Her stories are like fine line drawings; very little is revealed, yet nothing feels left out. The best-known of the three, McSweeney’s founder Dave Eggers, opts for quick, enigmatic feints that feel like byways to longer stories, but still satisfy thanks to his wicked wit. Poet Sarah Manguso’s book is a series of aphoristic childhood scenes sketched mostly in a few lines, and they skillfully reveal what it feels like to be awkward in your own skin, fumbling toward identity in the land of grownups. A handful of these tales are too precious and cutesy, but given the sheer number of pieces, that’s a pretty good batting average.  B+

MARC WEINGARTEN



CD
THE DONNAS: BITCHIN’
(Purple Feather)

When the Donnas burst out of Palo Alto High in 1997, few could have imagined they’d stick around for the next 10 years. A teenage-girl version of the Ramones? How quaint. But the quartet has grown harder and more proficient over time, ditching its cute-punk roots for a hard-rock style based on the guitar heroics of AC/DC and Kiss. Recently, the Donnas tried out acoustic guitars and piano, but their seventh full-length effort ditches such experiments for the stomping, anthemic style of old. The
biggest difference is that the tunes are more complex and layered. Songs like “Better Off Dancing” and “Here for the Party” stitch together thick, serpentine guitar riffs, super-catchy choruses, euphoric vocals, and a clanging cowbell. “Save Me” borrows from the best dumb rock of the past 30 years, clipping bits from Ratt, Bon Jovi, and even Elton John. Echoes of Mötley Crüe and Joan Jett wind throughout the disc. Lyrically, the band doesn’t stray too far from its party-hearty past—“Gotta loosen up/ Drain the cup/It’s time to tear it up” is about as thoughtful as they get—but there are some surprisingly angsty moments, as when Brett Anderson moons after a boy on “What Do I Have to Do.” With Bitchin’,

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