I skimmed the stories in this week’s “Summer Fiction” issue.
Nothing grabbed me. I readily admit that I’m biased in favor of factual
writing. Fiction’s photoshopped renditions of reality turn me off. But there’s
always something in each issue to appreciate. This week, I found it in Emma
Allen’s “Bar Tab” on Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden, the final sentence
of which made me smile: “Finally, a patron was allowed to sample the Rhapsody.
‘It tastes like Busch Light,’ the drinker said, before tossing out another
comparison, to a different liquid, of a similar hue.” Allen’s piece brought to
mind an earlier New Yorker review of
Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden – Nick Paumgarten’s great May 16, 2006, “Tables
For Two,” which describes the place as “variegation meets fermentation,” and
memorably concludes, “Maybe our graveyards should be beer gardens.”
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