New Yorker Fiction Review #272: "Featherweight," by Sterling HolyWhiteMountain
Okay, this is going to be the shortest review I've ever written on this blog. I wouldn't even bother except that its rare (frankly too rare) that The New Yorker publishes short stories by truly new and emerging writers, and this one is worth mentioning.
"Featherweight" deals with the relationship ups and downs of a young Native American man having a go at the white world, in college and graduate school. Doesn't sound too groundbreaking, necessarily, except that a.) how often do we get fiction about the Native American experience (esp. in The New Yorker) and b.) Sterling HolyWhiteMountain is good.
You'll have to read it to see what I mean, but his prose cuts across anything related to race or gender and is just, at the end of the day, funny, incisive, and alive with the conflict and mystery of what it means to be a human being. Check him out.
Also, in the physical magazine, tucked right into this story is a poem by Kaveh Akbar (whom I know personally from my MFA years) called "My Empire," which is incredible and a must-read.
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Brent