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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
another one from the NYT best 100 of the 21st century - a collection of dark, reflective short stories that I enjoyed. although the NYT listed it as laugh-out-loud-funny which is just not right
I loved this collection and was amazed at how nearly every story and narrator's voice grabbed me from the start (even when I wasn't really sure what was going on at first).
The title story in particular got me right in the feels. Beautiful.
The title story in particular got me right in the feels. Beautiful.
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Tenth of December is my introduction to George Saunders and after reading the ten stories in this collection I can see why he keeps getting recommended.
Even the stories I wasn't so keen on I could appreciate for their inventiveness and the different styles of genre and writing employed to tell the tales. It is a book absolutely bursting with ideas and at times I was slightly bewildered and trying to catch up with what was going on, for example with the title story, which is saved until last, I was quite confused in the early stages and then it came together and once it became obvious what was going on I was totally invested and the emotional pull of the story made it one of my favourites. Essentially there's a young boy with dreams of being a hero and an old man dying of cancer who has decided to end things but as their paths converge will one of them turn out to be a real hero and keep death at bay?
There are stories full of emotion and stories that made me laugh and some include all the feelings at once. My Chivalric Fiasco has hilarious moments where a janitor at a theme park is given the KnightLyfe drug to play a new role which makes him think, speak and act like a chivalric knight of old. Before the drug wears off he's compelled to tell the truth about a crime he's witnessed which has sad consequences for him.
Other favourites include the opener, Victory Lap, involving the kidnapping of a young girl but the kidnappers haven't reckoned on her young neighbour, Escape from Spiderhead, a sci-fi flavoured tale of an experimental prison and the Darkenfloxx drug, and Exhortation with a positive attitude pep talk from a boss which has sinister intentions regarding the mysterious work in Room 6.
Not all the stories worked for me. Sticks was just too short to make an impact and The Semplica Girl Diaries while well written and having interesting things to say about human trafficking was just a little bit too weird with the trafficked girls being used as lawn ornaments.
Overall the collection provided a very positive reading experience and I'll be adding more of his work to my reading pile.
Even the stories I wasn't so keen on I could appreciate for their inventiveness and the different styles of genre and writing employed to tell the tales. It is a book absolutely bursting with ideas and at times I was slightly bewildered and trying to catch up with what was going on, for example with the title story, which is saved until last, I was quite confused in the early stages and then it came together and once it became obvious what was going on I was totally invested and the emotional pull of the story made it one of my favourites. Essentially there's a young boy with dreams of being a hero and an old man dying of cancer who has decided to end things but as their paths converge will one of them turn out to be a real hero and keep death at bay?
There are stories full of emotion and stories that made me laugh and some include all the feelings at once. My Chivalric Fiasco has hilarious moments where a janitor at a theme park is given the KnightLyfe drug to play a new role which makes him think, speak and act like a chivalric knight of old. Before the drug wears off he's compelled to tell the truth about a crime he's witnessed which has sad consequences for him.
Other favourites include the opener, Victory Lap, involving the kidnapping of a young girl but the kidnappers haven't reckoned on her young neighbour, Escape from Spiderhead, a sci-fi flavoured tale of an experimental prison and the Darkenfloxx drug, and Exhortation with a positive attitude pep talk from a boss which has sinister intentions regarding the mysterious work in Room 6.
Not all the stories worked for me. Sticks was just too short to make an impact and The Semplica Girl Diaries while well written and having interesting things to say about human trafficking was just a little bit too weird with the trafficked girls being used as lawn ornaments.
Overall the collection provided a very positive reading experience and I'll be adding more of his work to my reading pile.
This is my second George Saunders book and I think it took me that long to really figure out what he's up to as a storyteller.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Reading this collection of short stories so close on the heels of Saunders’s A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, in which he discusses seven Russian short stories, one can really see in action all the principles that Saunders extracts from that analysis. The use of repetition and pattern, for instance, is at play in the creepy speculative story “Escape from Spiderhead,” in which inmates imprisoned for murder are used as guinea pigs in tests of behavior-altering compounds that make them fall in and out of love, grant them eloquence or appreciation for nature, or induce violent suicidal anguish. Saunders uses descriptive detail with great efficiency to paint his characters, as in “Al Roosten,” a story about a terribly insecure and powerless man. He uses absurdity to shocking effect, as in “The Semplica Girl Diaries,” which examines issues of class and privilege by positing a world in which young girls are imported from desperate third-world circumstances to serve as gruesome living lawn ornaments, status symbols for social-climbing Americans. And he deploys the judicious omissions of details, as in “Exhortation,” in which a foreman delivers a pep-talk to his flagging crew of people whose job it is to do something unspeakable and horrific; precisely what is left to our imagination.
Imagination—both Saunders and his characters have loads of it. So many of his characters have vivid fantasy lives: Al Roosten imagining becoming best friends with his handsomer, richer rival (and the rival’s wife, who drifts from beautiful to ugly to beautiful again in Roosten’s imagination as his opinion of his rival pendulums around); the young boy in “Tenth of December” who fancies himself the protector of the neighborhood against an onslaught of magical creatures only he can see. He uses a rangy but meticulously controlled stream-of-consciousness style for most stories; firmly and deeply implanted in the minds of his characters, one understands their actions and their inactions, their fears, their cowardices, their moments of cruelty, their reaching for redemption. Many of the stories examine fatherhood, both in its strictest and most damaging forms, and its tenderest and most yearning. Many deploy speculative elements, another Saunders trademark, adding both a splash of weirdness and rich layers of metaphor. All are masterful. I expect I will read these stories many times over.
Imagination—both Saunders and his characters have loads of it. So many of his characters have vivid fantasy lives: Al Roosten imagining becoming best friends with his handsomer, richer rival (and the rival’s wife, who drifts from beautiful to ugly to beautiful again in Roosten’s imagination as his opinion of his rival pendulums around); the young boy in “Tenth of December” who fancies himself the protector of the neighborhood against an onslaught of magical creatures only he can see. He uses a rangy but meticulously controlled stream-of-consciousness style for most stories; firmly and deeply implanted in the minds of his characters, one understands their actions and their inactions, their fears, their cowardices, their moments of cruelty, their reaching for redemption. Many of the stories examine fatherhood, both in its strictest and most damaging forms, and its tenderest and most yearning. Many deploy speculative elements, another Saunders trademark, adding both a splash of weirdness and rich layers of metaphor. All are masterful. I expect I will read these stories many times over.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Vomit, Suicide attempt, War
Minor: Rape
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes