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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
Reading George Saunders is the highest form of spiritual practice. So grateful for his art.
Saunders mines familiar ground--who deserves empathy? how does language create the world? how do we singe the thumb of the oppressor and wriggle out?--and I'm here for it this time as I am every time.
Drei Geschichten dieser Sammlung drehen sich um Menschen, die sich in einer Art Gehirnwäsche-Situation befinden, und die aus ihrer eigenen Perspektive den Prozess schildern, in dem sie lernen, dass sie nicht immer die Rolle gespielt haben, die sie aktuell einnehmen. Das ist, ganz ehrlich, eine zuviel.
Ansonsten ist Saunders sehr gut darin, die moralischen Teufelskreise und Rechtfertigungsstrategien in den Köpfen von teilweise auch eher unsympathischen Menschen zu schildern. Das ist einerseits sehr scharf beobachtet, sorgt aber auch dafür, dass man ständig im Kopf unsympathischer Menschen steckt.
Die Schauspieler:innen der Hörbuchfassung sind gut gewählt.
Ansonsten ist Saunders sehr gut darin, die moralischen Teufelskreise und Rechtfertigungsstrategien in den Köpfen von teilweise auch eher unsympathischen Menschen zu schildern. Das ist einerseits sehr scharf beobachtet, sorgt aber auch dafür, dass man ständig im Kopf unsympathischer Menschen steckt.
Die Schauspieler:innen der Hörbuchfassung sind gut gewählt.
This collection of stories was so delightful to get immersed in and think with. It was frequently utterly hilarious while also engaging in the serious project of making visible the interworkings of power, control, and domination as they are manifest in our working lives and most intimate relationships.
As always with Saunders, some really wonderful short stories here. The more experimental shorts, including the title-story, aren't always as successful, though I do appreciate the effort.
Just great. Saunders set a very high bar for himself with his past collections, but this meets it. Best book to come out in 2022.
Here are the very best stories of the collection, in order of most incredible to incredible:
“Liberation Day”
“Elliott Spencer”
“The Mom of Bold Action”
“Ghoul”
“A Thing at Work”
Here are the very best stories of the collection, in order of most incredible to incredible:
“Liberation Day”
“Elliott Spencer”
“The Mom of Bold Action”
“Ghoul”
“A Thing at Work”
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I enjoyed Saunders stories. Though his lack of diversity in his women characters was surprising. They are all quite annoying ruminators, self-centered and obnoxious. While the men characters are more diverse and at least more complicated emotionally.
And, like that, I’m all caught up.
Maybe it was a big mistake, racing through all of Saunders’ story collections in, what, two, two and a half weeks? Actually, I know it to be a mistake. Saunders is special and I indulged so quickly and now I’m all out. At least the guy is still kicking. There’ll be more.
A lot of these stories feel like rehashes. Like, the title story is a mix of Semplica Girls and My Chivalrous Fiasco. Ghoul is another themed entertainment park story, except this one doesn’t have any guests. Well, Pastoralia didn’t really have any guests either. A Thing at Work is pretty Reminiscent of Downtrodden Mary. Elliott Spencer and Jon… I mean, all the stories are good, but they get less good as you go and kinda tend to get mixed up when you look back. Maybe if I started with Liberation Day, these stories would be my favorite, maybe they’re technically better than the stories leading up to, but it’s hard to really tell, having read it last. But, actually, I’m pretty convinced that they aren’t anywhere near as funny. This is the least funny of Saunders works, easily.
My ranking of his collections would go:
Civilwarland in Bad Decline
Pastoralia
Tenth of December
Liberation Day
In Persuasion Nation
Which is nearly in order of their release dates.
One things about Liberation Day is that the closing story is incredible, really really beautiful, easily the best in this collection at only around 10 pages. Doesn’t follow the typical Saunders formally, this is one of his realistic stories. Which honestly sometimes hit. Like, you don’t come to Saunders for Realism, but some of his best don’t reside in his wheelhouse. Tenth of December, Victory Lap, Winky, the End of FIRPO. Like, these are actually among my favorites and skip all the dystopia stuff.
Which is, I guess, to say, that I think the theme park setup and the memory wiped characters and stuff is a little played at this point and I really appreciate when he steps outside of that.
Maybe it was a big mistake, racing through all of Saunders’ story collections in, what, two, two and a half weeks? Actually, I know it to be a mistake. Saunders is special and I indulged so quickly and now I’m all out. At least the guy is still kicking. There’ll be more.
A lot of these stories feel like rehashes. Like, the title story is a mix of Semplica Girls and My Chivalrous Fiasco. Ghoul is another themed entertainment park story, except this one doesn’t have any guests. Well, Pastoralia didn’t really have any guests either. A Thing at Work is pretty Reminiscent of Downtrodden Mary. Elliott Spencer and Jon… I mean, all the stories are good, but they get less good as you go and kinda tend to get mixed up when you look back. Maybe if I started with Liberation Day, these stories would be my favorite, maybe they’re technically better than the stories leading up to, but it’s hard to really tell, having read it last. But, actually, I’m pretty convinced that they aren’t anywhere near as funny. This is the least funny of Saunders works, easily.
My ranking of his collections would go:
Civilwarland in Bad Decline
Pastoralia
Tenth of December
Liberation Day
In Persuasion Nation
Which is nearly in order of their release dates.
One things about Liberation Day is that the closing story is incredible, really really beautiful, easily the best in this collection at only around 10 pages. Doesn’t follow the typical Saunders formally, this is one of his realistic stories. Which honestly sometimes hit. Like, you don’t come to Saunders for Realism, but some of his best don’t reside in his wheelhouse. Tenth of December, Victory Lap, Winky, the End of FIRPO. Like, these are actually among my favorites and skip all the dystopia stuff.
Which is, I guess, to say, that I think the theme park setup and the memory wiped characters and stuff is a little played at this point and I really appreciate when he steps outside of that.