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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
• Escape from Spiderhead ★★★★★
• Al Roosten ★★★★½
• Tenth of December ★★★★½
• Home ★★★★
• My Chivalric Fiasco ★★★★
• Exhortation ★★★★
• Victory Lap ★★★★
• Puppy ★★★★
• The Semplica Girl Diaries ★★★½
• Sticks ★★★
• Al Roosten ★★★★½
• Tenth of December ★★★★½
• Home ★★★★
• My Chivalric Fiasco ★★★★
• Exhortation ★★★★
• Victory Lap ★★★★
• Puppy ★★★★
• The Semplica Girl Diaries ★★★½
• Sticks ★★★
‘Sticks’ was on the reading list for my undergrad course, and I liked it so much that I decided to get the whole book. I don’t usually go for short story anthologies, but I really enjoyed this one. I liked some stories more than others though.
Victory Lap: Not my favourite, felt like a bit of a weak start. I liked the message about not being apathetic, and how doing what you’re told isn’t necessarily the same as doing what’s right.
Sticks: Already read this several times, still good. Very contained, but doesn’t feel unfinished.
Puppy: I really liked this one. The contrast between both families was very compelling, and I like how Saunders doesn’t tell the reader what to think about either one. Marie makes a lot of judgements about Callie, but her narration is biased because she doesn’t know her. Also, the reveal about Bo being chained to a tree was done very well.
Escape from Spiderhead: George Saunders does dystopia so well!!! My writer brain loved this one. When the protagonist takes Verbulace at the start (drug that makes you more verbose), the narration becomes gradually more complex as it kicks in. Form! Reflecting! Content! Yes!!
Exhortation: One of my teachers recommended this, and it might be my favourite story in the book. I love that we learn enough about the job to feel unsettled and afraid for the workers, but not enough to get comfortable in certainty.
Al Roosten: … Eh. I didn’t find the story as interesting as the others. Though I think I got the message? ‘Thinking good thoughts doesn’t matter if they don’t translate into good action’?
The Semplica Girl Diaries: Another great dystopian story. The idea of being strung up on rich people’s front gardens via a wire through your brain is absolutely horrifying. I wish the ending was a bit more definite though- we never learn what happens to the semplica girls or the family.
Home: Again, I wish the ending was a bit clearer.
My Chivalric Fiasco: I am so confused as to what their jobs are.
Tenth of December: This was a good way to end the book, I think. A lot of the stories end in death or uncertainty, so it was nice to see that Don and Robin were both safe in the end, and back with their loved ones after having rescued each other.
Victory Lap: Not my favourite, felt like a bit of a weak start. I liked the message about not being apathetic, and how doing what you’re told isn’t necessarily the same as doing what’s right.
Sticks: Already read this several times, still good. Very contained, but doesn’t feel unfinished.
Puppy: I really liked this one. The contrast between both families was very compelling, and I like how Saunders doesn’t tell the reader what to think about either one. Marie makes a lot of judgements about Callie, but her narration is biased because she doesn’t know her. Also, the reveal about Bo being chained to a tree was done very well.
Escape from Spiderhead: George Saunders does dystopia so well!!! My writer brain loved this one. When the protagonist takes Verbulace at the start (drug that makes you more verbose), the narration becomes gradually more complex as it kicks in. Form! Reflecting! Content! Yes!!
Exhortation: One of my teachers recommended this, and it might be my favourite story in the book. I love that we learn enough about the job to feel unsettled and afraid for the workers, but not enough to get comfortable in certainty.
Al Roosten: … Eh. I didn’t find the story as interesting as the others. Though I think I got the message? ‘Thinking good thoughts doesn’t matter if they don’t translate into good action’?
The Semplica Girl Diaries: Another great dystopian story. The idea of being strung up on rich people’s front gardens via a wire through your brain is absolutely horrifying. I wish the ending was a bit more definite though- we never learn what happens to the semplica girls or the family.
Home: Again, I wish the ending was a bit clearer.
My Chivalric Fiasco: I am so confused as to what their jobs are.
Tenth of December: This was a good way to end the book, I think. A lot of the stories end in death or uncertainty, so it was nice to see that Don and Robin were both safe in the end, and back with their loved ones after having rescued each other.
dark
funny
slow-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
I like George Saunders a lot and I really liked some of these stories. For whatever reason, though, I wasn’t as in to this collection as I had hoped. There isn’t any one reason—I was just never hooked.
Saunders experiments a lot with narrative styles which I really appreciate. He jumps right in and doesn’t do much explaining which makes him interesting to read. He is also very creative.
I can’t really say anything bad about this. Still, just nothing pushing it to four stars.
3.5
Saunders experiments a lot with narrative styles which I really appreciate. He jumps right in and doesn’t do much explaining which makes him interesting to read. He is also very creative.
I can’t really say anything bad about this. Still, just nothing pushing it to four stars.
3.5
dark
funny
medium-paced
pretty sure I read this some time ago. probably ought o read it again. it was good.
The book of short stories is somewhat like Black Mirror in book form (or maybe Black Mirror is like Saunders' book in TV form). Either way, this book is a collection of stories which often show the interiority of thought, destructive and deceptive as that is, mixed with a futuristic or alternative reality. (Not all of the stories, of course, but certainly the ones that stuck with me after reading.) Like Black Mirror, the result is rather depressing, but very thought-provoking. Rating a book of short stories is always a big challenge for me. Some of the stories I feel disturbed by (not the writing, the writing was marvellous!), and, as such, I wouldn't say I "enjoyed them" so much as "I appreciated them". Even the brightest of the bunch, the ones with "happy endings" aren't really happy so much as not wholly miserable. As a break between longer texts, it's an excellent interlude - but look to the text for introspection, not joy.
Interesting content but highly dislike the writing style.
Clearly, there is something wrong with my brain. So many people rave about this book and despite having my birthday as the title - it's not something I can get excited about.
The first story is weirdly disjointed -- venturing inside the brain of a teenage girl who seems to have ADHD, and a teenage boy who has strict disciplinarian parents. The girl is abducted from her home and the boy goes to her rescue, bashing in the head of the abductor. It's mostly told through internal dialogue of the characters and not an enjoyable read.
Another story about a mother who visits a "white trash" home to look at a puppy with her kids - and discovers a child being kept on a leash in the muddy backyard, decides to "not contribute" to what's going on there (which contributes to the death of the puppy).
A long story about human experimentation on prisoners -- who are injected with trademarked name products to heighten their perception of attractiveness of the other person, their ability to communicate and their awareness ... or the opposite direction results in a group of two women and 3 men having a ridiculous amount of sex, and a suicide. It was creepy and sad to say the least.
I tried to read through the remaining stories but didn't find them to be very interesting. They were drawn out in a way that was just not natural flow of communication. The epilogue is an interview between David Sedaris and the author -- cooing over each other and the alleged skewering of class in the US (apparently through repeatedly referring to "white trash").
Your mileage may vary - this presents a distorted reality, like looking through the wrong end of a telescope.
The first story is weirdly disjointed -- venturing inside the brain of a teenage girl who seems to have ADHD, and a teenage boy who has strict disciplinarian parents. The girl is abducted from her home and the boy goes to her rescue, bashing in the head of the abductor. It's mostly told through internal dialogue of the characters and not an enjoyable read.
Another story about a mother who visits a "white trash" home to look at a puppy with her kids - and discovers a child being kept on a leash in the muddy backyard, decides to "not contribute" to what's going on there (which contributes to the death of the puppy).
A long story about human experimentation on prisoners -- who are injected with trademarked name products to heighten their perception of attractiveness of the other person, their ability to communicate and their awareness ... or the opposite direction results in a group of two women and 3 men having a ridiculous amount of sex, and a suicide. It was creepy and sad to say the least.
I tried to read through the remaining stories but didn't find them to be very interesting. They were drawn out in a way that was just not natural flow of communication. The epilogue is an interview between David Sedaris and the author -- cooing over each other and the alleged skewering of class in the US (apparently through repeatedly referring to "white trash").
Your mileage may vary - this presents a distorted reality, like looking through the wrong end of a telescope.
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There are nuggets of really intense insight here, and some overarching themes of "the ties that bind or weigh down", for lack of a better term: parenthood, dependence, guilt, and living up to the expections of others (and the horror of not doing so). Deeply troubled characters, precocious children living fantasy lives in their heads, and a bit of sc fi mystique also pepper this collection of stories. The first and last stories are standouts and seem to reflect each other in some way in the way they portray the everyday pierced by unimaginable despair and/or redemption. I also enjoyed the tragic class analysis of "Puppy". The other stories keep the strong black humour that runs throughour the collection, but just didn't pack the umph I wanted.
Think Alice Munro meets Raphael Bob-Waksberg
Think Alice Munro meets Raphael Bob-Waksberg