You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
thlwright 's review for:
George Saunders is mad as hell and he’s not going to take it anymore. The bruising chaos and division of the Trump presidency hangs heavy over this new collection of short stories, jostling for space with Saunders’ trademark hyperactive inventiveness and notions of an afterlife that powered Lincoln in the Bardo. Love Letter is the most political and straightforward story here, a letter from grandparent to grandson offering advice on whether to turn in friends or relatives to the authorities to protect themselves. The same theme is developed even further in Ghoul. In a nightmarish theme park a finely-calibrated system of control by gaslighting terrorises employees to turn each other in for the merest slight before others turn them in. The longest story sees a dystopian American company surgically reprogramme the vulnerable and destitute kept in the houses of the wealthy as private re-enactors. This story collides virtually everything that’s great about Saunders: exploration of American cultural sacred cows (in this case Little Big Horn and Custer); wit and humour; and a dizzying manipulation of language. This collection maintains Saunders’ reputation as one of the leading short story crafter of modern times.