Scan barcode
A review by samwreads
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders
2.0
Two stars because "it was ok."
I picked up this collection after being introduced to Saunders by his "10th of December" collection, which I absolutely loved. I read that book a while ago, so take this with a grain of salt, but I felt that that particular collection significantly outclasses "Civilwarland...". This is reasonable seeing as there's a decade or two separating the writing of each book. It certainly seems to me like he matured a good deal as a writer and even more so in his care for his characters.
Here, Saunders is all acerbic scorn. What I loved in "10th of December" was the tenderness and heart shown the characters, and although there's some of that here, it takes a significant backseat to the parody and mockery that are directed at the Americans of a parallel-universe/near-future world. Saunders's imagination and wit are on full display, and the range of scenarios created is impressive. I will definitely read more by him in the future, but this particular collection is just comprised of too much unadorned anger for me to fully enjoy.
I picked up this collection after being introduced to Saunders by his "10th of December" collection, which I absolutely loved. I read that book a while ago, so take this with a grain of salt, but I felt that that particular collection significantly outclasses "Civilwarland...". This is reasonable seeing as there's a decade or two separating the writing of each book. It certainly seems to me like he matured a good deal as a writer and even more so in his care for his characters.
Here, Saunders is all acerbic scorn. What I loved in "10th of December" was the tenderness and heart shown the characters, and although there's some of that here, it takes a significant backseat to the parody and mockery that are directed at the Americans of a parallel-universe/near-future world. Saunders's imagination and wit are on full display, and the range of scenarios created is impressive. I will definitely read more by him in the future, but this particular collection is just comprised of too much unadorned anger for me to fully enjoy.