The Book of Other People
February 11th, 2008edited by Zadie Smith
ISBN: 9780143038184
Think of a movie theater getting crowded, or subway nearing rush hour and the problem of choosing a seat: there are some folks you’d rather sit near than others. The open seat next to you is a risk, you don’t know who might end up there or if you’d be better off sitting next to that woman two rows back on the left.
What drew me to this collection was the contributors list. The authors are a mix of people I’d read and loved (George Saunders, Miranda July) read and was interested in (Dave Eggers, Jonathan Lethem) and keep telling myself I really should get around to reading (ZZ Packer, Edwidge Danticat, Jonathan Safran Foer, and Daniel Clowes). Some of the characters are more approachable than others. Some I’d sit next to on the bus, some I can’t imagine I wouldn’t be drawn to, and others I’ll admit I probably wouldn’t even notice.
Each story is new, which I appreciated because I hate trying to figure out how many stories in a collection I’ve read before or already own. “Puppy” and “Roy Spivey” (Saunders’s and July’s stories) were, as I expected, two of my favorites. A.L. Kennedy’s “Frank”, Jonathan Lethem’s “Perkus Tooth”, Smith’s “Hanwell Snr”, and Hari Kunzru’s “Magda Mandela” were also standouts. If you are interested in short stories or looking to try out some perhaps new to you contemporary authors, I recommend The Book of Other People. It’s a themed anthology that works, offering a series of quirky portraits and the chance to recognize something not only about others, but ourselves.
