Reviews

I’m a sucker for short stories, and George Saunders does them like no one else. His ability to look out so deeply and truly from such a menagerie of minds, without pretentiousness, is unrivaled. I haven’t loved all of his works, but this one I certainly did.

hsarto's review against another edition

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5.0

Brilliant. Every story has soul. Particularly admired 'Liberation Day' and 'Ghoul'. There's a flavour of context in these short stories that does not undermine their timeless weight.

trentthompson's review against another edition

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slow-paced

2.25

jaclyncrupi's review against another edition

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4.0

One novella, eight short stories, all classic Saunders. At times this felt like the Saunders of his very first collection CivilWarLand in Bad Decline and that was just fine with me. But then a story like Sparrow comes along and you realise we’re all a little more sentimental than we used to be and that’s just fine with me, too. A damn fine writer doing damn fine work.

tomkovic18's review against another edition

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adventurous funny reflective fast-paced

5.0

His writing. Makes me think. Like this. Perhaps.

creaz's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

ncteisen's review against another edition

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5.0

George Saunders just doesn't miss. Excellent collection of stories.

Personal favorite was My House, but all of them were creative, profound, insane, funny, etc etc etc. You know, the usual Saunders stuff.

Some stories contained echoes of his earlier works (Liberation Day -> The Semplica-Girl Diaries and Ghoul -> Pastoralia), but all managed to inject enough new-ness that they didn't feel derivative at all.

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