By Chris Coleman If ever a collection of short stories was like a box of chocolates “How We Are Hungry” is it. Ranging in flavors from praline love to crunchy frog absurdities none of his little morsels fail to surprise. As the founder and editor of the highly respected McSweeney’s Quarterly featuring these mini-tales, the San Francisco based writer Dave Eggers knows a thing or two about the genre. He is best known for his accolade laden debut “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” published 6 years ago. A lingering theme throughout these fifteen stories are Americans searching, perhaps unconsciously, for inner-satisfaction while traveling or living in Tanzania’s mountains, at Costa Rica’s surf, Egypt’s pyramids and beyond. Beyond plot, what is most striking is his vivid, stream of consciousness writing style.
Ranging from one to fifty pages, the stories here are surprising in their diversity and departure from convention. In one he writes convincingly from a dog’s point of view while another is notes for a story about a man’s last wish to die naturally in a public place. At one point we read a dialogue where The Ocean laughs at God’s claim of owning it. His thoughts move in a trajectory path in beaming language. Eggers’ free associations do occasionally fall flat seeming contrived and senseless but the reader forgives these when his left-field metaphors are spot on. For example, when he writes that “in San Jose the humidity covered her with many gloved hands” you have to laugh at the silly imagery but admire its accuracy.
If love is what turns the pages for you “The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water” deals with the confusion arising from an old friendship budding into romance. Set on the coast of Costa Rica, the story is as much about the  photo of Dave Eggers
What makes this collection most unique are his 1 to 2 page stories peppered throughout. No action takes place, merely a journey through a character’s mind to scour out one single emotion precisely. One sifts through the thoughts of a single mother mulling over how thrilled she’ll be to tell off her son when he returns late from his curfew; while another playfully deals with the trepidation of a women exceeding twelve sexual partners for odd numerological reasons.
What he’s done is make the short story exciting again. For those who enjoy fiction teeming with imagination that is fearless of the boundaries of convention Dave Eggers deserves a place on your bookshelf.
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