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A review by slichto3
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders
4.0
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline - it's really good! It's always entertaining and has a number of emotional gut punches. The writing is compelling and engaging. It's a series of short stories that have similar themes, I think, related to powerlessness and societal decay.
The first story, the titular CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, is about a guy working at a theme park of the Civil War. It's a pretty cruddy theme park, though, and the main character is very timid and cautious. Things go awry in an amusing but gruesome way when the park hires a war criminal to help with their security against some gangs of kids that have been attacking the park. The story moves fast, and is sad but also absurd and amusing. That's something that many of the stories have in common.
The second story, Isabelle, is the only story that I found uplifting in any way. It's about a girl named Isabelle who is unable to care for herself, and about how the main character views and interacts with her.
The third story, The Wavemaker Falters, was painful for me to read. The main character just goes through a lot of crappy stuff. Much of it is his fault, but it's still tough to experience his story. He accidentally kills a kid at the theme park he works at. His wife cheats on him right in front of him. And it just gets worse.
The next story, The 400 Pound CEO, is also a bit tough to read. The main character is an overweight man who is much mocked for his weight. Everyone kind of treats him like crap, and he's a really passive guy and just kind of takes it until... things predictably get ugly.
Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz is about a guy who works at a sort of arcade-like store. The author does a much better job describing than I do. The main character is pretty unsuccessful and feels very guilty about some stuff he did in the past. Through some accident, he finds a way to be much more successful and his job, and endeavors to do something positive with his new somewhat-largesse.
Downtrodden Mary's Failed Campaign of Terror is a short story about an old woman, who is mocked for being old, trying to make some difference in the world. It's also an ugly story.
Bounty is the final and longest story in the book. It's set in a future world where American society has mostly gone to Hell. The country split itself over it's treatment of Flaweds, people who have some physical or mental deformity. The country is an absurd wasteland where Flaweds can be sold into slavery in some places. The main character is a Flawed sho starts the story in a relatively safe enclave for Flaweds. One day, his sister marries a Normal who visits their enclave, and moves across the country to live with her new husband. After she leaves, the doctor of their community tells the main character that Normal his sister married has a history of marrying Flawed girls, getting tired of them, then selling them into slavery. The main character wants to save his sister, so he begins a journey across this new America. Along the way, he meets a number of ridiculous people.
There's a weird self-justification that goes on with many of the people he meets. They do bad things to Flaws, like beat them up, steal from them, or force them into slavery, but these people try really hard to explain that, in some way, they're actually really good people. They have various ways of doing this, and it's funny, fascinating, and horrifying to hear what they have to say. I guess this is the way we all sound. We all do crappy stuff, but we tell ourselves and others these stories that make us still feel like the hero. Anyway, Bounty is really a great story.
Overall, the book is fun and interesting. It made me think about things in a very different way. But it's very brisk, and the main characters tend to sound really similar. So it's a really good book that I would recommend, but not fantastic. I can't wait for Saunders's book coming out this year, though: Lincoln in the Bardo!
Oh, one more thing. A lot of the descriptions I've read make it sound like every story is set in CivilWarLand, or in some manner of theme park. That is really not true. More than average are set in parks, but it's really just a lazy way to describe the stories in the book.
The first story, the titular CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, is about a guy working at a theme park of the Civil War. It's a pretty cruddy theme park, though, and the main character is very timid and cautious. Things go awry in an amusing but gruesome way when the park hires a war criminal to help with their security against some gangs of kids that have been attacking the park. The story moves fast, and is sad but also absurd and amusing. That's something that many of the stories have in common.
The second story, Isabelle, is the only story that I found uplifting in any way. It's about a girl named Isabelle who is unable to care for herself, and about how the main character views and interacts with her.
The third story, The Wavemaker Falters, was painful for me to read. The main character just goes through a lot of crappy stuff. Much of it is his fault, but it's still tough to experience his story. He accidentally kills a kid at the theme park he works at. His wife cheats on him right in front of him. And it just gets worse.
The next story, The 400 Pound CEO, is also a bit tough to read. The main character is an overweight man who is much mocked for his weight. Everyone kind of treats him like crap, and he's a really passive guy and just kind of takes it until... things predictably get ugly.
Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz is about a guy who works at a sort of arcade-like store. The author does a much better job describing than I do. The main character is pretty unsuccessful and feels very guilty about some stuff he did in the past. Through some accident, he finds a way to be much more successful and his job, and endeavors to do something positive with his new somewhat-largesse.
Downtrodden Mary's Failed Campaign of Terror is a short story about an old woman, who is mocked for being old, trying to make some difference in the world. It's also an ugly story.
Bounty is the final and longest story in the book. It's set in a future world where American society has mostly gone to Hell. The country split itself over it's treatment of Flaweds, people who have some physical or mental deformity. The country is an absurd wasteland where Flaweds can be sold into slavery in some places. The main character is a Flawed sho starts the story in a relatively safe enclave for Flaweds. One day, his sister marries a Normal who visits their enclave, and moves across the country to live with her new husband. After she leaves, the doctor of their community tells the main character that Normal his sister married has a history of marrying Flawed girls, getting tired of them, then selling them into slavery. The main character wants to save his sister, so he begins a journey across this new America. Along the way, he meets a number of ridiculous people.
There's a weird self-justification that goes on with many of the people he meets. They do bad things to Flaws, like beat them up, steal from them, or force them into slavery, but these people try really hard to explain that, in some way, they're actually really good people. They have various ways of doing this, and it's funny, fascinating, and horrifying to hear what they have to say. I guess this is the way we all sound. We all do crappy stuff, but we tell ourselves and others these stories that make us still feel like the hero. Anyway, Bounty is really a great story.
Overall, the book is fun and interesting. It made me think about things in a very different way. But it's very brisk, and the main characters tend to sound really similar. So it's a really good book that I would recommend, but not fantastic. I can't wait for Saunders's book coming out this year, though: Lincoln in the Bardo!
Oh, one more thing. A lot of the descriptions I've read make it sound like every story is set in CivilWarLand, or in some manner of theme park. That is really not true. More than average are set in parks, but it's really just a lazy way to describe the stories in the book.