if you came to this post, thinking it was going to be about the movie, sorry, but thanks for visiting!
this is a book review (#23 for the year) of Superbad by Ben Greenman, Short Fiction Collection.
i wasn’t sure about this book early on as it is pretty experimental, but i ended up really enjoying it, a few stories at the end in particular sold me, but i’ll admit that i did languish a bit in the middle.
before i read Superbad (and after reading Tao Lin’s Eeeee Eeee Eee) i had pretty much decided to stay away from experimental fiction and short fiction, but after reading Superbad i think i’m going to keep reading it (and i plan to pick up Tao Lin’s short fiction collection Bed, which i’ve heard a lot about, despite the fact that i didn’t fall in love with his novel the previously mentioned Eeeee Eeee Eee). i had felt kind of uninspired lately by experimental work because it seemed too, well maybe too intellectual, and with not enough soul. but i’ve changed my mind and i think it’s good to have them both out there doing their thing and it’s good for me to read both kinds.
i have to admit that the fiction i end up loving is a bit more traditional. even within Superbad, with a few exceptions, it was the more traditional pieces that i enjoyed. i think in short fiction (and probably in regular fiction too) i’m just looking for something to move me these days, something where i can connect with the characters and simply be moved to feel, and in experimental fiction i think that rarely happens if only because that is not necessarily the primary goal.
the standouts for me in Superbad were: Snapshot, In Shuvalolv’s Library, and most especially What 100 People, Real and Fake, Believe about Dolores. that last piece was quite frankly a brilliant piece of experimental short fiction and is probably the reason for my conversion to continue reading in this way. it was exactly as the title describes and i was shocked to see what an effective way it was of knitting together a story, i had such a clear picture of what Dolores and the circumstances in her life may have been, and it left most of it wildly open to the imagination, similar to the way a choose your own adventure allows you to participate (but much much better). i was really truly wowed by this piece, and it was the last piece in Superbad, which was a powerful way to end (note to self: end all short fiction collections on a super high note).
i also really enjoyed Notes On Revising Last Night’s Dream, which was laugh out loud hilarious and Stuck On Red: My Hopes And Dreams Detailed.
there are also these “musicals” or rather “fragments of musicals” which are all funny (5 in total) and are a running theme in the book, which is in itself quite funny, but for me they just weren’t strong enough to knit the overall book together. they seemed a bit gimmicky and as such, lost their charm after maybe the second one. it was not enough to derail the book though, there was enough beautiful strong writing, funny bits, and finely crafted stories to earn this 4 stars.
Superbad by Ben Greenman. Short Fiction Collection. 4 stars.
sidenotes: Ben Greenman has a pretty interesting blog (as well as a couple other books), check it out:
http://news.aol.com/newsbloggers/bloggers/ben-greenman/
also, i got Superbad from my beloved McSweeney’s, there is a link for them on the home page.
