Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
challenging
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
I am not sure how to rate this. Some stories were better than others, some I am sure I did not understand, some were strange in an interesting way, some just strange. This would be a good book for a college lit class, perhaps.
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This collection is quite a bit stranger than the other short story collection I read from Saunders, 'Tenth of December'. The titular story, as well as 'Ghoul' and 'Elliot Spencer' have science fiction elements to them that overall work quite well and showcase Saunders' wonderful imagination. Although I have to admit that the story 'Liberation Day' really appealed to me because the battle of the Little Bighorn is a particular topic of interest to me.
Personal favorites were 'Mother's Day', the short and sweet little 'Sparrow', and strangely moving 'My House'. The only stinker here is 'Love Letter', which is an attempt by Saunders to stir people to action but felt flat and out of place in this collection.
Overall, 'Liberation Day' sits in the three to four star territory, but Saunders' stylistic versatility, coupled with his ability to convey wholly unique voices and viewpoints in his characters from story to story, bumps this to a low four stars.
I do not read a lot of short story collections, but based on my somewhat limited experience I agree that Saunders is a master and deserving of his high reputation. 'Lincoln in the Bardo', his only full length novel to date, is certainly deserving of its accolades as well. If I were a newbie to Saunders, I would recommend 'Tenth of December' first, followed by 'Lincoln', and then moving on to this.
Personal favorites were 'Mother's Day', the short and sweet little 'Sparrow', and strangely moving 'My House'. The only stinker here is 'Love Letter', which is an attempt by Saunders to stir people to action but felt flat and out of place in this collection.
Overall, 'Liberation Day' sits in the three to four star territory, but Saunders' stylistic versatility, coupled with his ability to convey wholly unique voices and viewpoints in his characters from story to story, bumps this to a low four stars.
I do not read a lot of short story collections, but based on my somewhat limited experience I agree that Saunders is a master and deserving of his high reputation. 'Lincoln in the Bardo', his only full length novel to date, is certainly deserving of its accolades as well. If I were a newbie to Saunders, I would recommend 'Tenth of December' first, followed by 'Lincoln', and then moving on to this.
A great collection of stories, which explore community, rules, capitalism, humanity, amongst other things. I struggle with dystopian texts at times because I am more into deep character driven prose and perhaps my imagination is limited. So I think if you are into dystopian themes, this would be a good one to pick up, and the short story format makes them highly readable. My standouts were The Mom of Bold Action, A Thing At Work, Ghoul and Sparrow.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Definition of mixed bag. The opening story and “Ghoul” are the type of story you’ll randomly think about as time goes on. A few were written well and had characters I felt like I “knew”, but they weren’t exciting or memorable tales by any means. The remainder I had a combination of no idea what was going on, an idea and then it ended before it went somewhere or the story felt more like a drawing board for ideas.