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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
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
great teachers translate complexity into clarity; through their explanation, what was once seemingly inaccessible becomes approachable. art made by the Masters™ of any medium can be especially intimidating, as it sits in a long chain of influence, stretching backward into the art and context it was shaped by, and forward into the art it has inspired. (you think you just fell out of a coconut tree?)
short stories in particular are, by design, efficient and dense, full of meaning. here, the mastery of Chekhov, Tolstoy, Turgenev and Gogol intersects the mastery of Saunders, who, as a great teacher, brings these almost-otherworldly stories back down to Earth, closer to the reader. his analysis gives the stories just enough form to encourage and guide the reader to find their own interpretations. this process — learning to hold someone else’s writing in your own way and molding meaning from the shape of your understanding — is something i tried to impart on my students in the short time i committed myself to teaching English.
so it’s unsurprising that i loved this book, as it stands for many things i value highly: the art and necessity of fiction, and an explanation of what it can do that nonfiction cannot; a presentation of reading and writing tools that can sharpen criticality, now especially urgent in a world that, more and more, prefers dullness and leaves the difficult thinking to artificial intelligence. this is a book to cling to in this complicated age of passivity and artificiality.
short stories in particular are, by design, efficient and dense, full of meaning. here, the mastery of Chekhov, Tolstoy, Turgenev and Gogol intersects the mastery of Saunders, who, as a great teacher, brings these almost-otherworldly stories back down to Earth, closer to the reader. his analysis gives the stories just enough form to encourage and guide the reader to find their own interpretations. this process — learning to hold someone else’s writing in your own way and molding meaning from the shape of your understanding — is something i tried to impart on my students in the short time i committed myself to teaching English.
so it’s unsurprising that i loved this book, as it stands for many things i value highly: the art and necessity of fiction, and an explanation of what it can do that nonfiction cannot; a presentation of reading and writing tools that can sharpen criticality, now especially urgent in a world that, more and more, prefers dullness and leaves the difficult thinking to artificial intelligence. this is a book to cling to in this complicated age of passivity and artificiality.
i read this as a part of a book club, and after every story we were tasked to come up with a song that the story felt aligned to. you can listen to that playlist here.
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Loved the concept and content, need Saunders to take the moments of my life and make them magical and meaningful the way he does with scenes and characters of the stories he’s selected and dissected here
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
challenging
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
Superb. Not only a stunningly composed work of beauty but a new lens through which to view the power of literature and short stories.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Reading this is to be part of the smartest book club you know for a while. Afterwards you feel prepared to read as well as write so much more intensely.
Very much in the so-good-I-read-too-fast category, soon I'll do a second reading with notebook in hand.
Very much in the so-good-I-read-too-fast category, soon I'll do a second reading with notebook in hand.
I will never be a bestseller author, but I found consolation in the fact that I thought I was an excellent teacher. Now I know, even that is not true! This book is so much fun. Both entertaining and instructive, crisp and useful. A must read! Thanks Karin!
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Personal, casual, and filled with insight. Through these short stories we get analysis on narrative as a medium for transfer/movement of energy.
Not prescribing a formula or imposing hard rules but doing what the best of this kind of book does — impart philosophies.
Not prescribing a formula or imposing hard rules but doing what the best of this kind of book does — impart philosophies.