Two alienated, disgruntled communities are on display in Eggers's short story collection: chess players and Southeast Asian refugees. The latter group gets most of the attention, with Eggers reprising some of the themes from his first novel, Savior, about Americans at a Vietnamese refugee camp in Malaysia. While this follow-up effort is uneven, the best stories—set in the late 1970s and early '80s—offer darkly humorous portraits of quirky, vain American naïfs and resourceful Vietnamese eccentrics. "Anything You Want, Please" tells the tale of a young Arizona man who falls in love just as he is leaving for a Peace Corps stint in Malaysia, only to have his new lover send him embarrassing, intimate keepsakes once they begin corresponding. In the title story, an English teacher tries to hide his questionable credentials after a new female colleague with better qualifications arrives at the Malaysian refugee camp where he works. "The Year Five" outlines the bureaucratic scandal when a Vietnamese refugee dies in a camp. Interspersed somewhat awkwardly with these pieces are stories exploring the subculture of smalltime American chess competitions, such as "Substitutes" and "The Big Gift," both about Owen Greef, a down-on-his-luck Tacoma, Wash., man who plays in local tournaments and dreams about being in the same room as Bobby Fischer. Parts of these stories simply fall flat, with meandering, directionless dialogue and heavy-handed exposition. Still, Eggers's unconventional scenarios and distinctive voice are promising, and readers willing to put up with the rough patches will find some intriguing material. (Oct.)
