Microfictions (Latin American Women Writers) [Paperback]

I very much agree with the last review on many points. Shua's English translation does become somewhat formulaic, and it can be monotonous. In that way, I don't think Microfictions is meant to be read all in one sitting. I do think that the despite the reoccurring formula there is something surprising, funny, or completely intriguing in each one, in such a way that the best of the poems truly take on new meaning despite potentially predicting the formula. In fact, it is this very essence of Shua's poems that is truly enthralling. The way Shua takes normal objects and turns them into her own mystical creations is fantastic. She provokes thoughts about situations that are often common place, and turns common place ideas and turns them upside down, twists the situations around. In this way, even if you know that Shua is going to do that--twist what you know around--it's different every time and still worth the while because Shua delivers what she promises. And that's one of Shua's most interesting features in her work: she takes magical elements and paints them into ordinary scenes, or takes ordinary scenes and makes them magical. All in all, her tone is one of whimsy, and at times, dark mystique. She brings out the creative senses of the reader and makes not only her world more alive for the reader, but the real world as well. One simply isn't done with Shua's work. Even after putting down Microfictions, my senses were heightened by the possibilities that Shua made me realize were there all around me in my own world.

Steven J. Stewart's translations of Ana Maria Shua's Microfictions is a great (and potentially quick) read. The Microfictions hearken back to Gorge Luis Borges' Ficciones. Just as the Ficciones call attention to the fictional nature of the work, the Microfictions call attention to the fictional as well as the diminutive nature of the very short (often only a sentence or two--at most two pages long) stories.
After hearing Steven J. Stewart read selections from Shua's new work on circuses--due for publication soon--I was very eager to buy a copy of the microfictions and get a head start. The first few stories had me completely elated. I had found a micro-Borges, still living, still writing. Shua's sense of humor is delightful--somewhat sardonic, always, playful, and full of postmodern insight. For the next couple of hours I read story after story, and it was only then that my excitement diminished slightly. While individually the majority of the stories are fascinating and rewarding, in Stewart's compilation they verge on redundancy at best, tediousness at worst. I began to pick out a formula for the stories: a creative setup or lead, followed by a punch, usually something in the last sentence, which completely turns your expectations upside down or shocks you. As I mentioned, in proportion this can be an astounding and delightful literary tactic, especially for a writer of Shua's wit. With time, however, I started predicting not only when the punch would come, but also in what form. At this point I began to see the Microfictions more as a joke book than a legitimate echo of the Ficciones. It is important to note that some (who knows how much) of this problem may be attributed to Shua's translator, Steven J. Stewart.
Overall, however, the book still maintains a magical, creative, thoughtful, and entertaining tone which will delight lovers of magical realism. And even after I thought I'd figured out the formula, the stories proved me wrong, asserting their originality at least enough times for me to give this book an A.

This is an excellent entry into micro fiction or what others call flash fiction. A must read.