yerguyrob 's review for:

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders

5.0

dark emotional funny informative reflective sad

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“The Russians, when I found them a few years later, worked on me in the same way. They seemed to regard fiction not as something decorative but as a vital moral-ethical tool. They changed you when you read them, made the world seem to be telling a different, more interesting story, a story in which you might play a meaningful part, and in which you had responsibilities.”

I love George Saunders. That’s the easiest way to say it. He’s one of the inspirations for why I want to be a writer, and this book is the next best thing to taking one of his classes. Really, it is a class and we have the greatest teachers ever in Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy and Gogol. 

First, I would say this book taught me how to be a better reader, showing us why these writers did what they did, which in turn, leads you to absorb the techniques displayed. My mind raced with ideas for stories while reading. What I appreciate most is that Saunders encourages you to throw it all out, and understands that the role of the teacher here is the hope that the student takes away something, and if not, that’s okay. 

I love and appreciate this book, and will probably reread it once a year from here on out. 

My ranking for the stories in here:

1. “Master and Man” by Tolstoy
2. “The Singers” by Turgenev
3. “The Nose” by Gogol
4. “Gooseberries” by Chekhov
5. “The Darling” by Chekhov
6. “In the Cart” by Chekhov
7. “Alyosha the Pot” by Tolstoy