Product Description

A printed offshoot of the Mcsweeneys.net web site, this literary magazine features hip, edgy fiction and off-center, often ironic humor pieces. An eclectic and always unusual publication.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1946 in Magazine Subscriptions
• Format: Magazine Subscription

About this Title
A printed offshoot of the Mcsweeneys.net web site, this literary magazine features hip, edgy fiction and off-center, often ironic humor pieces. An eclectic and always unusual publication.

Customer Reviews

Spaghetti and Meatballs for my head
Tasty and meaty and chock full of interestingness, a subscription to The Believer was a great present to get for Christmas. Thanks Max!

Better Deal
Their Web site sells a year subscription for $45. I find that Amazon, or whoever their affiliate is, repeatedly sells magazine subscritions for more than the actual magazine itself.

Pretension, thy name is Believer.
Yep, pretension is the name of game here. Although it's not really pretension - its a kind of uber-pretense, a pretension so pretensive in its self-mockery that it somehow doubles back itself and actually becomes almost worthwhile.

Almost.

The cutesiness of the verbal ticks (each article, for example, is prefaced with a distinctly unnecessary list of issues which will be "discussed")are so studious in their avoidance of any level of seriousness as to be nearly embarassing. The quality of writing is, as one might imagine, mixed. The book reviews are hilariously unimformative, and yet again one suspects this is done on purpose. How gauche do we readers need to be to want to find out what a book is about from a review! Or whether not the book is worth reading! How pedestrian! Pul-ease!

All in all one walks away with the distinct impression that to spend more than 5 minutes in conversation with the Believer (or the McSweeny's) crowd would be an unavoidable prelude to a grisly murder-suicide. Simultaneously brilliant and annoying, The Believer is the sort of thing that people who like this sort of thing will certain like. And even then in small doses, I suspect.