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1.51k reviews for:
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
George Saunders
4.52 AVERAGE
1.51k reviews for:
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
George Saunders
4.52 AVERAGE
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
A perfect remedy for that ache in your heart which only a good literature professor can soothe.
We shouldn’t overestimate or unduly glorify what fiction does. And actually, we should be wary of insisting that it do anything in particular
Right. Yes. Ahem. Saunders is what I’d call a masterful
So, this isn’t graceless writing; this is a great writer writing a graceless writer writing
And I’m a sucker for writing about writing. Overall, Saunders’ introspection on craft echoes back to other favorites of mine (namely Cloud Cuckoo Land and This is How You Lose the Time War). Being given a toolbox with which to evaluate writing and then letting loose on the instruction guide is a favorite of mine. In this case, I might ask:
- Why seven stories and not six?
- What expectations did Saunders meet? Which ones did he thwart?
- How did he complicate his own patterns?
- What meaning do we gain from omitted answers?
I, for one, have a feeling that I would keep [writing] even if it could be demonstrated that its overall net effect was negative (I once got and email from a guy who’d (mis)read one of my stories and, in that basis, prematurely consigned his elderly mother to a nursing home. Thanks, literature! Nevertheless, I was up and writing the next day.)
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
slow-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This was outstanding, especially as an audiobook. The author reads his writing, and a cast of actors read the short stories. I’ve long wanted a better understanding of writing-why it is that I get the sense that some writing is better than other writing. Listening to this was like taking a course on reading fiction, particularly short stories. Plus, I’ve never read Russian authors. This was a nice introduction to a few of the greats.
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
George Saunders is first on the list of authors I’d like to be friends with.
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
This is my favorite book on writing. You’d think that, in analyzing a few short stories, Saunders would get technical and didactic. But he approaches these stories with a reverence for their mysteries, and doesn’t try to reduce them to technical accomplishments, instead trying to suggest the sort of mental headspace that is required to write one of them. Saunders is more interested in process, in what the kind is doing when it is writing, than in offering rules for writing. Ultimately, it is a loving and compassionate book that asks us to write at the very edge of our ability. There was some stuff about love at the end that really affected me. Lives up to its title. About reading, writing, and life in equal measure.