Third Class Superhero

If only I could write a review of Yu that would do justice to his imagination, precision, wit, and insight into the human condition. If I could, I would, but I can’t. Just read him. I’m going to follow him around until he writes something else because I’ve read all there is of him.

I like these stories a lot. They stay with you and are different than the average short story collection. The best one, "The Man Who Became Himself" is a must read; it deals with identity and has an obsessive and unique look at life and the question of who we are -- it made me go and find other Charles Yu stuff.The only issue is with the Kindle version. It is not formatted very well; paragraphing is a bit messed up, weird line breaks, and the Table of Contents is practically useless since it is not clickable, making it almost impossible to navigate and jump quickly to a certain story. Inexcusable for a ten dollar e-book. That's why I'm docking one star.

Title story was good. But some of the others failed.

If you're a fan of stories with satisfying/unhappy endings this is the book for you. Going to read more of his stuff

Great stories to entertain and delight!

This is an entertaining book of short stories written for thinkers.The third class superhero spoken of in the title is Moisture Man. He has the powers to be a good guy, but not enough to be on the A list. His superhero friends throw him a bone occasionally and ask for his help, but they don't really need him. If only he could fly, he could get a higher designation. There is the possibility of getting more power, but only if he goes to the dark side. It's a problem we all face.In 'Florence' a man spends centuries with a lone fish. He hears from his boss, at four-year intervals, asking if the fish is still doing the same things it has been doing for eons.Unrequited love for a woman who refuses to live in his galaxy--because she loves the mushrooms available only on her own plot of universe--eats at him. It turns into a love triangle when the boss, who may be dead, starts sending videos of himself, naked and singing. He needs to visit his Presbyterian Aunt Betty, but waits too many centuries, as she moves away before he can get there. This is lonely in a nitrous world.One story is told in multiple-choice questions, and another unfolds as a seven-year-old beats a world-record game score.Armchair Interviews says: An uncommon, thought-invoking read that takes us through pathos with humor.

Charles Yu is not for everybody. I've read both How to Survive in a Science Fictional Universe and now Third Class Superhero, and his style can put people off. The relentless interiority of the voice, plus the experimentation with form and meta-narrative, is just too much for people looking for a more conventional immersion in character and plot. I understand and appreciate this-- its not always my cup of tea either.But in his niche, he's a master. The stories are reflections on ambivalence, time, loss, just getting by. The fragmentary, solitary, claustrophobic self. Our inability to know each other or even ourselves. These are serious topics, as anyone who has spent much time living at the edge of these feelings knows. And while the tone of the stories is often light and amusing, they are, at core, deeply felt. These are stories with something to say.And the form of his writing is a perfect match. Some are fragments, structurally disjoint, lists or instructions or stage directions. Often the subject is narrating and annotating and reflecting on his (almost always his) own interior monologue, replete with bullet points, capitalized phrases, paragraphs of a single short sentence, urgent banalities:"It's never to soon to start thinking about the unthinkable," the Realtor says. He pulls out a comb and pulls it through his already-combed hair.We don't need the Good Life. The Pretty Good Life would be just fine."Nice neighborhood," I try to convince my wife.The combination of inventiveness, humor, and pathos is perfect. If this is your thing, don't miss this book.

A couple of great stories, the rest boring.You can see the seeds of his great, truly great, book, Living in a SciFi Universe - now one of my favorite books. Go read that now.

Dans ce livre, vous trouverez en germe quelques-unes des meilleures idées d'Alan Moore pour Watchmen ou de Brad Bird pour Les Indestructibles. C'est LE livre qui a rendu les super-héros quotidiens, c'est plein d'idées drôles, inattendues, saugrenues... L'histoire en elle-même n'est pas archi bien construite - pas mal de trous scénaristiques, mais c'est excusable car l'essentiel est ailleurs : une vraie exploration de ce qu'est un super-héros, dans son intimité mais aussi pour la société dans laquelle il évolue.

A really great collection of 11 short stories with a superbly innovative and technical approach to storytelling. Not quite pure science fiction but a wonderfully speculative collection of musings on modern life though a series of increasingly oblique lenses. The title story, "Third Class Superhero" is an excellent piece of short fiction and combines a new approach to an old trope with a genuinely involving and moving style. I really liked the disparate views of personal isolation presented in the advertising speak overload of "401k" and the third person tale of "Man of Quiet Desperation Goes on Short Vacation" which both addressed internal loneliness in the midst of external connection and societorial convention. Howvere my personal favourite was "problems for self study" which presented a life time as a series of complex exam questions. A truly surreal and innovative work.Yu's style is surreal, punchy and terse (and perhaps a bit pretentious), yet manages to convey both the idea/concept he is trying to impart to the reader alongside excellent narrative, characterisation and moving dialogue, even if some of his characters and dialogue are minimalistic in the extreme.An excellent volume, highly recommended.

At times crazy, but the richness of writing and themes explored keeps you reaching for story after story.

Thrilling, high concept stories that deal with the performance of the self in a global context. Ingenious stuff.