Third Class Superhero - Charles Yu

Secret identity of a Third Class Superhero

Based on the marketing and a short reading I heard, I picked this up expecting to follow the fate of a hapless superhero. I wasn't disappointed, and Moisture Man reminded me of what comics promised me as a kid. Further into the book, I was surprised to find that the rest of the stories dissected mundane characters with mathematical precision. It was as though I bought a Superman comic and found myself immersed in Clark Kent's relationship with his mother, Lois Lane, and his job. In this, Yu approaches the level of George Saunders at his best.

Just okay.

This book was just okay. It was a little on the pretentious side. The title story was good, and that was in the form of a multiple choice test, but none of them really went anywhere. A couple were very hard to follow.

1 Excellent Story + 10 Clinical Ones

I'll fully admit that I picked up this book based on the nifty pop art cover, and then after flipping through it and seeing somewhat unusual typography and story structure, I took it home. The title story leads things off and is a very engaging Jonathan Lethem-style tale about "Moisture Man." He's a cut-rate superhero whose power is, as he puts it, very handy in a water-balloon fight, but that's about all. Already past his prime, to "make it", Moisture Man has to be able to fly, and there's only one way for him to do that: the dark side. It's an amusing framework for examining the compromises we all have to make in our daily lives, and easily the most enjoyable story in the book.

The other ten stories are rather precise, almost cold exercises in the craft of short story writing. While some take on imaginative frameworks, such as "Problems for Self-Study", which unfurls as a quasi-math/logic test, or the series of rules in "Two-Player Infinitely Iterated Simultaneous Semi-Cooperative Game with Spite and Reputation", they don't deviate from the central theme of identity and the quest for a meaningful existence that runs throughout the stories. In one story a couple tries to derive meaning and identity via packaged consumer goods and services, in another a man's identity literally splits in two, in another, an actor becomes overly immersed in his role, and so forth. In many of the stories, the characters aren't even given names, just "man" or "woman" or "A" or "B"... Another running theme is the idea of connection (in the E.M. Forester sense), in that many of the characters want to connect with others (family, lovers, friends), but are unable to move themselves to action. Personally, these failed to strike any kind of chord, and the navel-gazing aspect grew somewhat repetitive. Still, fans of the short form should check this out, as Yu's approach is certainly different from most of what's out there.

Hilarious and thought-provoking.

Charles Yu's short stories are reminiscent of Donald Barthelme, but he has his own sensibility. I have read these stories over and over, at least three times each, and each time I enjoy them again. "Florence" is unforgettable. People I know who've read the book seem to be divided into two camps; one thinks the title story is the best, the other thinks it's the worst. I happen to be in the first camp. I think the title story is not only hilarious, but a little sad and all too human.

This one will stick around

Charles Yu's _Third Class Superhero_ is one of many books I've read in the past months. Unlike the others, this one stayed with me. You may finish reading the stories, but you are not going to forget Moisture Man, A and B, the mother figures. These are stories you can relate to. Every envied the heroic persona, from a scintillating classmate to a genuine Superhero? You can empathize with Moisture Man. And you're going to enjoy looking at the cover, with its Marvel/DC themed cartoons. Worth every cent and something you're going to come back to.