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saintlazarus's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
russellreitsema's review against another edition
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
My first Saunders book and I definitely had high hopes going in, but it was not at all what I expected, which I guess is my fault. It's a jumble of a few short stories, most notable is the first; Pastoralia, which I enjoyed by the end of it. The other shorter tales I didn't hate but also didn't love. Overall, worthwhile experience and I hope to enjoy Saunders other works more.
sarahetc's review against another edition
3.0
I often choose books because they have interesting, strange covers. This was one of those books. I spent a good deal of time contemplating it: ceramic deer, chained to a lamp post, daydreaming about a caveman. Given the title, what could be going on there. Is this really a pastoral? A ceramic one? The answer, it turns out, is yes. It's a ceramic pastoral-- idealized life, fashioned into a simulacrum, and far more fragile than it looks.
Saunders series of short stories is an escalator down into the pleasant (to us) delusions we manifest in ourselves to get us through the day. Starting with a simulated caveman and ending with an unstoppable crisis, each narrator gives us an ever more intimate glimpse into the internal monologue that propels their respective days and tasks. Yet while the characters and situations are all significantly different, their inner voices are weirdly the same. And that voice is the clear, self-aware, ironic voice of post-modern suburban ennui. This could have been written by Don DeLillo and it would've been a little more sci-fi. It could have been written by David Foster Wallace and it would have been funnier. It could have been written by any number of other authors, with varying degrees of Guggenheim or MacArthur funding and the same collection would have emerged, with only a bit of variation in the actual verbs and adjectives.
Given that the book is an expose of perspective, I have to wonder if it's also an indictment of the idea of a pastoral. That like some kind of anti-Tolkien, Saunders looked out, saw nature in and around everything, and decided that not only was it destroyed, but not even worth remembering in any form, let alone an idealized one. The voices of the narrators concentrate on the most banal portions of their inner lives to give themselves purpose and direction. When they do manage to transcend their circumstances its through no fault of their own. Nature simply twists the world around them and they react naively, their deep thoughts pushed to the side, in favor of body and blood-- nature subsumed by the natural.
Saunders series of short stories is an escalator down into the pleasant (to us) delusions we manifest in ourselves to get us through the day. Starting with a simulated caveman and ending with an unstoppable crisis, each narrator gives us an ever more intimate glimpse into the internal monologue that propels their respective days and tasks. Yet while the characters and situations are all significantly different, their inner voices are weirdly the same. And that voice is the clear, self-aware, ironic voice of post-modern suburban ennui. This could have been written by Don DeLillo and it would've been a little more sci-fi. It could have been written by David Foster Wallace and it would have been funnier. It could have been written by any number of other authors, with varying degrees of Guggenheim or MacArthur funding and the same collection would have emerged, with only a bit of variation in the actual verbs and adjectives.
Given that the book is an expose of perspective, I have to wonder if it's also an indictment of the idea of a pastoral. That like some kind of anti-Tolkien, Saunders looked out, saw nature in and around everything, and decided that not only was it destroyed, but not even worth remembering in any form, let alone an idealized one. The voices of the narrators concentrate on the most banal portions of their inner lives to give themselves purpose and direction. When they do manage to transcend their circumstances its through no fault of their own. Nature simply twists the world around them and they react naively, their deep thoughts pushed to the side, in favor of body and blood-- nature subsumed by the natural.
murraybymoonlight's review against another edition
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
elanienneco's review against another edition
4.0
strange strange man. but fun to read. interesting that this collection and tenth of december both ended with stories vaguely around depressed men saving small children from drowning.
gavinsteyn's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
sad
slow-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
4.75
yeehaw_agenda's review against another edition
2.0
Multiple short stories that all follow the exhausted trope of white guys who feel bad about themselves and thus think they can be terrible because the world apparently owes them something and they deserve our sympathy simply for existing... how utterly fucking groundbreaking...
fevvers's review against another edition
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25