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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
Struggling to rate this as a 3.5 or 3.75 - I think going into it with my love of Tenth of December I was a bit disappointed but in a vacuum you can't deny these are some really great short stories. Just the overall collection didn't leave me with the OOMPH of a 4 star rating. I would recommend it though if you're into Saunders or dystopian fiction or short stories!
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I'd like to try whatever George Saunders is on
George Saunders has long been one of my favorite short story authors, one of my favorite theorists on the art of storytelling, and one of the few authors I immediately jump to read at any cost as soon as he publishes. His short stories are comparable in quality to those of Chekhov and Raymond Carver. His ideas about what stories do to us and do for us are some of the most complete and compelling I have ever come across. His literary exposition on the Russian classics and writing theory are enthralling and essential. He has published dozens of incredible stories already, but somehow he still manages to outdo himself here. Some of the stories in this collection are among the more thought-provoking literature I have ever read.
Not only does Saunders break all the rules in his style, but he manages to be extremely philosophical and even moralize somewhat in stories that combine bizarro world scenarios with salt-of-the-earth blue color characters. He has the ability to develop deeply relatable characters and uses twilight zone type contexts to work on two axes at the same time, making us relate to diverse morally dubious characters, often as they gaslight themselves, while also casting light in all the shadowy corners surrounding of consumerism and political-polarity. His characters display the extreme pliability of the average human soul, thrown into 1984 landscapes and somehow turning out just like all the midwesterners of a half dozen previous generations.
The stories that stood out most for me were-
The Mom Of Bold Action
A Thing At Work
Mother’s Day
Elliot Spencer
He seems always to be making a point but never stating it, leaving us to do the exploring.
Read these. If you don’t get it, that makes sense. Read more of his stuff and eventually come back to these. If you’re blessed, they will wreck you.
Not only does Saunders break all the rules in his style, but he manages to be extremely philosophical and even moralize somewhat in stories that combine bizarro world scenarios with salt-of-the-earth blue color characters. He has the ability to develop deeply relatable characters and uses twilight zone type contexts to work on two axes at the same time, making us relate to diverse morally dubious characters, often as they gaslight themselves, while also casting light in all the shadowy corners surrounding of consumerism and political-polarity. His characters display the extreme pliability of the average human soul, thrown into 1984 landscapes and somehow turning out just like all the midwesterners of a half dozen previous generations.
The stories that stood out most for me were-
The Mom Of Bold Action
A Thing At Work
Mother’s Day
Elliot Spencer
He seems always to be making a point but never stating it, leaving us to do the exploring.
Read these. If you don’t get it, that makes sense. Read more of his stuff and eventually come back to these. If you’re blessed, they will wreck you.
George Saunders has such a weird brain and I will continue to eagerly consume anything and everything that comes out of it.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
literally must be adding books to my holds list in my sleep because no idea how I got this book. I truly got nothing from this book and only remotely liked one of the stories (a thing at work). I don’t even want to compare them because they are on such drastically different levels, but feels like extremely sub-par black mirror.