Tenth of December by George Saunders

One of the most important and blazingly original writers of his generation, George Saunders is an undisputed master of the short story, and Tenth of December is his most honest, accessible, and moving collection yet.

In the taut opener, “Victory Lap,” a boy witnesses the attempted abduction of the girl next door and is faced with a harrowing choice: Does he ignore what he sees, or override years of smothering advice from his parents and act? In “Home,” a combat-damaged soldier moves back in with his mother and struggles to reconcile the world he left with the one to which he has returned. And in the title story, a stunning meditation on imagination, memory, and loss, a middle-aged cancer patient walks into the woods to commit suicide, only to encounter a troubled young boy who, over the course of a fateful morning, gives the dying man a final chance to recall who he really is.

A hapless, deluded owner of an antiques store; two mothers struggling to do the right thing; a teenage girl whose idealism is challenged by a brutal brush with reality; a man tormented by a series of pharmaceutical experiments that force him to lust, to love, to kill—the unforgettable characters that populate the pages of Tenth of December are vividly and lovingly infused with Saunders’s signature blend of exuberant prose, deep humanity, and stylistic innovation.

Writing brilliantly and profoundly about class, sex, love, loss, work, despair, and war, Saunders cuts to the core of the contemporary experience. These stories take on the big questions and explore the fault lines of our own morality, delving into the questions of what makes us good and what makes us human.

Unsettling, insightful, and hilarious, the stories in Tenth of December—through their manic energy, their focus on what is redeemable in human beings, and their generosity of spirit—not only entertain and delight; they fulfill Chekhov’s dictum that art should “prepare us for tenderness.”
([source][1])

[1]: http://www.georgesaundersbooks.com/tenth-of-december/

This is the second book of Saunders's that I've read now, or more accurately, listened to. And I have similar feelings to it as I did the other (Lincoln In The Bardo), I think Saunders is a really interesting writer... I just can't quite get into his work for some reason.

This short story collection has a couple tales that I liked, in particular one about a prisoner in an experimental facility forced into radical behavior testing. A lot of them kind of just washed over me though, or were a bit aimless and never really hit me in the right way.

Maybe if I read Saunders again I'll try to skip the audiobook and just read him. I'm not sure if it's just an attention thing.

Also, I really want to read a good short story collection this year, so if you read this and have a suggestion, please let me know!

Two five star stories: Escape from Spiderhead and The Semplica Girl Diaries

It's a little bit of a roller coaster ride tonally and stylistically, but this is part of Saunder's charm. Though I'm sure he's a careful and intentional writer, these pieces have the feel of someone who wrote each one in single sessions, never to look at again. They are darkly hilarious. He's never “cute” funny, but existentially so. Most of these stories occupy various dystopian versions of Earth and our otherwise normal society, which lend the collection an unsettling feel: this is all completely familiar and “normal”, and yet it is astonishing how easily this normalcy can coexist with such deeply dark twists on reality. It makes us see how human nature and our own “civilization” are so close to such a world we would currently find unacceptable and wicked.

These parallel-universe worlds are not concerned with much mythology or world-building. You are dropped into the life and story of someone trying to live in these circumstances which they feel are entirely normal. Some of the stories seem to exist in the same sci-fi world, while others exist in their own dystopias. But not all the stories fit this genre, which makes these other, seemingly non-dystopian stories carry a sense of dread the entire time. You never know if the next paragraph will reveal that this new favorite character of yours actually exists in a terrible version of reality as either victim or perpetrator. It keeps you uneasy, and it is thrilling.

Perhaps one of Saunder's greatest gifts is also a drawback of this collection. Every single character, no matter how minor, is a CHARACTER. They are memorable and have such interesting ticks and particularities. He seems to have so much fund with them. However, this can de-humanize some of them sometimes. We never encounter someone who is an entirely relatable human. They all seem to exist in se, disconnected from a broader philosophy of humanity.

But still, this collection is so much fun, and it's scatter-brained, mad genius, pace and diversity–while at times can throw you off and take you some time to re-calibrate your bearings moving into the next story–is brilliant and astonishing and beautiful and, at times, truly profound.