The title of this collection sure is apt–the men depicted here are rather hideous, and not only in the sections which are actually brief interviews with hideous men.

The collection is classically DFW: he plays with narrative structure, style, and so on, without indulging in postmodern cynicism. There is a preponderance of the ridiculous, but also the inclusion of admirable sincerity that I really wish had become the norm rather than the unfortunate, constant bewilderment that we see today.

Besides the eponymous brief interviews with hideous men, the stand-out stories were “Forever Overhead,” “The Depressed Person,” “Think,” “Octet,” “Adult World,” and “On His Deathbed, Holding Your Hand, the Acclaimed New Young Off-Broadway Playwright’s Father Begs a Boon.”

“Forever Overhead” is actually a fairly touching story about a thirteen year-old trying to overcome his fear of jumping off the diving board, while “The Depressed Person” is hypercritical of the sort of narcissism that so often accompanies depression. I was shocked when the main character, consumed with her non-issues, takes the time of her friend who is undergoing chemotherapy. The friend, of course, carries it all with a stoic demeanor.

“Think” offers the perspective of a particularly hideous man, but the twist is difficult to parse. It’s impossible not to laugh.

“Adult World,” on the other hand deals with a different sort of narcissism–someone who is so self conscious that she is literally incapable of thinking that not everything is about her. The depiction of the epiphany in that story was particularly good.

“Octet” is remarkably experimental–and it begins with a concept that increasingly devolves, collapsing into recursive writing about the story itself. It’s so DFW.

“On His Deathbed, Holding Your Hand, the Acclaimed New Young Off-Broadway Playwright’s Father Begs a Boon” is a brutal story–it reminds me of certain AA meetings drawn out by the author in Infinite Jest.

The one story that I really could not stand was “Tri-Stan: I Sold Sissee Nar to Ecko.” I couldn’t make sense of it, although others may have much better luck than I did!