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3.0 

Third Class Superhero

By Charles Yu
Third Class Superhero by Charles Yu digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

“A compulsively readable collection” of short fiction from the author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe (Publishers Weekly).

With deadpan humor and originality, Charles Yu spins Kafkaesque tales of modern identity and insecurity in this whip-smart debut. In 401(k), a couple living in the Luxury Car Commercial subdivision are disappointed when their exotic vacation turns into a Life Insurance/Asset Management pitch. The author struggles to write the definitive biography of his mother in Autobiographical Raw Material Unsuitable for the Mining of Fiction. And would-be superhero Moisture Man must come to terms with the darkness in his heart.
 
Throughout the collection, Yu’s characters run up against the limitations of their artificial story lines while tackling the terrifying aspects of existence: mothers, jobs, spouses, and perhaps most terrifying of all, the need to express feelings. Heartbreaking and hilarious, Third Class Superhero marked the debut of an author who has been a PEN award finalist, and whose novel How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe was named one of Time’s best books of the year.
 
“The post-collegiate braininess of many of Yu’s stories is like the music of the Talking Heads, making the familiar seem off-kilter. . . . Takes a Kafkaesque turn in its comic examination of the essence of identity.” —Kirkus Reviews

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19 Reviews

3.0
Thinking Face“Charles Yu has a very definitive writing style, and he has such big ideas in these short stories. I feel as though I could try to analyze each one and puzzle over them for a while. He even uses the ideas as actual characters like in 401k, where the idealized people in commercials play different roles as they age, but are still forever reaching to play a particular part. Or like the Me who is playing a son to a mom in a family, but gets replaced in My Last Days as Me. There was a lot of exploration between husband and wife and mother and son in these stories, as well. I'm not sure Charles Yu's style is my favorite, but it's an interesting take on exploring relationships and ideas, one that I'll ponder for days to come.”
“i always only understand like half of what Charles Yu writes. half of the time it’s amazing and half of the time it’s nonsense, yet i can never put his books down or stop reading them. it also took me a while to realize this was a collection of short stories lol. the first one was my favorite though.”
“I first read this book in high school and it literally changed the way I thought about the world. Charles Yu’s writing style is captivating, and the stories can be profound, humerous, or both. One of my favorite excerpts from the book, from the short story Man of Quiet Desperation Goes on a Short Vacation: “Just on the other side of the dry riverbed is the Land of the Imperfect Past Tense, of ghosts and romance. On the other side the story moves and flows and overlaps onto itself, a ribbon, a wave, a swirling cumulus of loss, while on this side he can only watch, watch and look, trapped in the static present, the desperate moment of right now, and right now, and right now.””

About Charles Yu

Charles Yu is the author of How to Live Safelyin a Science Fictional Universe, which was named one of the best books of the year by Time magazine. He received the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 Award for his story collection Third Class Superhero, and was a finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award. Yu’s work has been published in the New York Times, Playboy, and Slate, among other periodicals.

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