Seven years after its release, the 2006 collection of prose and poetry from McSweeney's (McSweeney's Three Books Held Within by Magnets) is under my nose and in my sights. The idea for the first part of this collection is almost relevant again, as Baz Luhrman's adaptation of The Great Gatsby is just leaving theatres. Yes, it's the collection of short stories based on ideas from one of F. Scott Fitzgerald's notebooks.
So far the stories have ranged from a beast fable about god and understanding the world, to a modern take on the dramatic monologue based on the final moments of the man 'who kept the idea of tanks out of England.' The most outstanding entry to this point though, is Salvador Plascencia's Returned, based on the snippet "***** ***** running away from it all and finding that the new ménage is just the same."
Plascencia takes the premise into a surrealist world where a woman, seeking to escape the sea and the tragic memories of a brother lost within it, moves in land only to fatally find that she has brought the sea with her. His writing is direct and simple, but that voice belies a tale as intricate to watch unfold as seeing the Fibonacci sequence matched to various plant patterns.
With a story from Canada's own Miriam Toews up next, expectations are high.
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