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patrickrobles 's review for:
Civilwarland in Bad Decline: Stories and a Novella
by George Saunders
This book is an acquired taste the same way liking some palate-biting spirit is an acquired taste. It's filled with painful stories about desperate characters with misshapen motivations and halfway through you'll wonder if this book will pay off. The answer is maybe! Maybe not! And if you like reading the kind of book that gives your heart and soul scar tissue, then your chances are better than most.
The fact is that Saunders notes Chekhov. Chekhov says every happy man should have an unhappy man tucked away in his closet reminding him that not everyone is happy. But while I was reading, I never got the impression that I ought to be grateful for my happiness, that there are unhappy kids out there so I should take whatever happiness I'm given and be thankful about it! Now – I'm not sure I think nor feel differently now, but I do think and feel that Civilwarland could be real and if I don't pay attention, if I don't do something about it, I'd be living my own painful story filled with desperate characters with misshapen motivations.
The fact is that Saunders notes Chekhov. Chekhov says every happy man should have an unhappy man tucked away in his closet reminding him that not everyone is happy. But while I was reading, I never got the impression that I ought to be grateful for my happiness, that there are unhappy kids out there so I should take whatever happiness I'm given and be thankful about it! Now – I'm not sure I think nor feel differently now, but I do think and feel that Civilwarland could be real and if I don't pay attention, if I don't do something about it, I'd be living my own painful story filled with desperate characters with misshapen motivations.