Lincoln in the Bardo has a narrow aperture, and I remember thinking as I read the first few pages, “Where in the world are you going with this, George?” I had a similar reaction reading “Liberation Day,” a sense of confusion and a feeling of being unbalanced. The nine stories in this latest collection are all different, though readers of Saunders’s previous books will recognize the juxtapositions of pathos and strangeness, humor and inventiveness, violence and empathy. Unless the writer is a consummate master of craft and form, this is risky, but with Liberation Day, Saunders proves his mastery once again. The fact that the story ends on a comparatively hopeful note almost makes it harder to take Saunders makes it clear that deliverance, if it comes, can never heal the pain of what has already happened.If you read Tenth of December or Lincoln in the Bardo, you know that George Saunders isn’t afraid to challenge readers and make them work. The prose is relentless, and the horror becomes worse and worse as it becomes clear that Saunders won't let us look away.

Saunders' new, more grounded tone is evident in 'Victory Lap,' a grim and brutal story about the assault and attempted kidnapping of a young girl. Tenth of December isn't just the author's most unexpected work yet it's also his best. But in his new book, his defiant quirkiness is tempered with a dark sobriety and a sense that the world we live in is often more surreal and savage than any satire could be. That's not to say he has abandoned the bizarre, dystopian type of fiction that made him one of the country's most well-regarded authors that's all still there. Even his story titles ('Downtrodden Mary's Failed Campaign of Terror,' 'My Flamboyant Grandson') are offbeat.īut with his new short story collection, Tenth of December, Saunders proves he's a master of a genre few people have associated with him: realism. Saunders blends elements of science fiction, horror and humor writing into his trademark brand of literary fiction. The short story writer and novelist has been repeatedly called 'original,' which is true as far as it goes - but it doesn't go nearly far enough.

Since the publication of George Saunders' 1996 debut story collection, Civilwarland in Bad Decline, journalists and scholars have been trying to figure out how to describe his writing. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Tenth of December Author George Saunders

Tenth of december by george saunders