Tenth of December
Ratings129
Average rating4.1
I don't think I've read any author with such distinctive and true voices ... I felt like I was hearing true mental process and / or real and natural conversations. I love short stories when they make me feel deeply, in just a few pages, and for me, he delivered.
Deze schrijver staat nu zeker op het ‘nieuw boek meteen kopen' lijstje. Bundel met uiteenlopende verhalen, vaak met personages die zich wat meer onderaan de maatschappij bevinden.
De beste twee waren over een puppy dat uiteindelijk toch niet wordt aangeschaft door een gegoede familie van een, ehm, minder gegoede familie (maar waarom is een spoiler), en een zeer creepy verhaal over een wereld waar Aziatische meisjes gehuurd kunnen worden als ornament voor in de tuin...
Not sure anyone else walks the literary/genre line with the same accessibility and ability to gut-punch quite like Saunders.
It did not live up to the hype for me, but...I'm happy other people seemed to get something out of it that I didn't, I suppose. Maybe it's because it wasn't what I was expecting (I was unfamiliar with Saunders's work), or it just wasn't the right book at the right time.
Not much of a short story reader, came into this at times struggling but finding myself completely enveloped by Saunders writing, thought provoking prose and yet familiar rhythm. Not a bad way to get into George Saunders - a few more of his books on my TBR.
The dialogue is superb. The thoughts of the protagonists felt so familiar I squirmed. The tone/theme/action congruence was so fluid I forgot that I was actually reading and not just seeing what was happening.
Techno-black-chaos magic realism in a syringe.
Some stories I really really liked but I was disappointed by the hype around Semplica Girls. My favorites had some sci-fi elements, like Escape from Spiderhead. I'll give Saunders another go or two. This was a good way to get acclimated.
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!
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.
Do you think you've read everything good there is to read?
Is reading not the novel (sorry) experience it once was?
Read Tenth of December.
I love what Khaled Hosseini says about George Saunders: “Saunders makes you feel as though you are reading fiction for the first time.”
Truth.
This is 4 stars for me instead of 5 is more related to personal idiosyncracy than anything else. I feel baffled reading the blurbs on the back cover: famous people are saying, “This is great comedy, threaded with tragedy!” and I'm all like, “This is great tragedy, threaded with comedy.” The just-slightly-futuristic and definitely dystopian tilt of many of these stories made them hard for me to stand because of how painfully accurate they seemed about certain aspects of our current world, even when I also really loved them. My tolerance for dark fiction is generally inversely proportional to how clinically raw my therapy caseload seems to me at the given moment, so that's that (I couldn't finishing watching “Chappie,” last night, for Pete's sake, because it was like watching child abuse, except with a robot).
What Sanders himself has to say about his darkness, though, is why I am glad to have read this collection (the following excepted from a conversation with David Sedaris at the back of the book):
“To some readers, this makes the stories seem a bit cruel. Of course, there is cruelty in the real world. And I'd argue that my stories are a good deal less cruel than the real world at its cruelest. We only need look at the newspaper or the history books to see that, over and over, things far too cruel to write have happened and are still happening. But I think what these readers may be feeling is that my stories are crueler than many other stories. And I think that's true...mine tend toward the cruel. And this may be - I mean, I think it is - a bit of a technical flaw, a sign of limitation on the part of the writer, a failure of subtlety....I'm trying to grow as a writer in such a way that I can produce more nuanced versions of the world. But I hope that in these new visions I retain some memory of the fact that cruelty is real - and it does its victims (and we are all its victims, to varying degree) no good to pretend that all thoughts of cruelty are extraneous, or gratuitous.”
7 out of 10 of these stories were first published in The New Yorker, which means I had read them already. And now, after reading this book, my conclusion is that Saunders shouldn't publish collections of stories. Each of the New Yorker stories was fine in the magazine, great even, but reading them one after another is kind of annoying. For me, there's a certain sameness–not in the subject matter necessarily, but in the voice and the manic electricity of the prose.
I read this slooooowly over two weeks, dishing it out like a small dessert I didn't have to share and wanted to enjoy over an extended period of time. I am in love with this man's work and have yet to read a story I didn't like yet. I hate to pick a favorite, but The Semplica Girl Diaries- good God, that story is amazing. Victory Lap is also wonderful and Escape from Spiderhead- wow.
It took me too long to decide whether Tenth of December is pathos or bathos, compassion or cruelty. I'm going with kindness, because Saunders seems too aware and insightful to be nasty. Compassion takes many forms and I think this is one that I hadn't seen before.
They're trying their best; they just don't know any better. Most of Saunders's protagonists are slow-motion train wrecks: no prefrontal cortex, no impulse control or foresight. Barely human and yet oh so human. Saunders shows us their inner voices, and they sure are ridiculous—but aren't we all? Who of us isn't a train wreck? Each story is excruciating to read. We all know what's coming, and we all know people like those, and we wish there was something we could do to help... but just like in real life, there isn't.
I wonder if Saunders is pulling a fast one. Aiming for different audiences with different purposes: trying to get each of us to recognize something in ourselves and grow. Some readers may think twice about the importance of keeping up with the Joneses; some may learn to pause before judging our fellow. I'm not smart enough to figure it out.
The bottom line, though, is that I really didn't enjoy the book. I'm glad I read it, glad for the opportunity to think, but most of all I'm just glad it's over with.
George Saunders is a frickin' genius. The more I read him, the more I am completely bowled over. THE LAYERS, MAN, THE LAYERS.
Although I usually hate the stop-start rhythm of reading short story collections, I blazed through this. My favorite: The Semplica-Girls Diaries, written as the diary of a struggling, average, middle-class Dad who - to keep up with the Joneses - spends a bunch of money on hanging a few developing country women via a thin line threaded through their brains out in his yard (“It's painless.”; apparently, in this near future America, it's a thing). Oh, the humanity! Oh, the economic woe! OH, THE HEARTACHE. So smart. Worked on so many levels.
An excerpt:
There is so much I want to do and experience and give to kids. Time going by so quickly, kids growing up so fast. If not now, when? When will we give them largesse and sense of generosity? Have never been to Hawaii or parasailed or eaten lunch at café by ocean, wearing floppy straw hats just purchased on whim. So I worry: Growing up in paucity, won't they become too cautious? Not that they are growing up in paucity. Still, there are things we want but cannot have. If kids raised too cautious, due to paucity, will not world chew them up and spit out?
A very wide range of themes are played out throughout the stories. Without giving anything away, one story reminded me of a combination of 2 books: [b:Flowers for Algernon 18373 Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1367141311s/18373.jpg 3337594] and [b:Harrison Bergeron 10176119 Harrison Bergeron Kurt Vonnegut https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1323130675s/10176119.jpg 15074968], and another was reminiscent of Sedaris's fable-esque stories from [b:Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary 7857195 Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk A Modest Bestiary David Sedaris https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1279831428s/7857195.jpg 10995406]. I love writers that are able to infuse humor and wit into their gut-wrenching tales, and this writer does so without skipping a beat. The stories all conveyed strong, emotional qualities and made me question several times over “What if that were me? What if I were put in that position, what would I do?” I am certain that some of the stories will stay with me for quite some time.
It pains me to admit, but I am just not a short story person. I picked this book up anyway since it had so many amazing reviews. While I can admire Saunders' craft and skill, and admire some of the ideas played with in these stories, I just don't like short stories. I think the form is too brief for my taste - too many powerful emotions in a few pages!
I liked it. Turns out I just hate everyone else's opinion on it. George Saunders seems to invite an abundance of critical lit dick-swinging. He's the Bon Iver of the written word. Have you read some of these reviews? Sorry, I can be just as guilty of the same overwrought analysis but this is just too much. You've all forced my hand and now I'm reading non-fiction and self-help.
I wanted to like this one more than I did. I had never heard of the author until a friend recommended him; I then found his name popping up a lot as I read this collection. Saunders is a current literary darling, specializing in short stories, and has been generally very well-received.
Tenth of December is a collection of ten short stories. Length varies dramatically, from a couple of pages to much longer. Saunders has been praised for his style; initially I took it to be a conceit of one of his characters, but it's pretty consistent across the board. I liked it more when I thought it was character specific. As the pages went on it began to grow stale.
Saunders' wit is supposedly his trademark. The three people who eventually recommended him to me all found him funny; I rarely did. I compare him to David Sedaris. Many people think David Sedaris is hilarious; I have a hard time getting past the dysfunction, so instead of making me laugh, Sedaris bums me out. I think something similar might be at work here. I frequently found Saunders depressing, and there wasn't an adequate payoff to make the experience feel worth it. Not that I didn't like any of them; a few were very good. By and large, though, I didn't enjoy most of my time with Saunders.
Favorite stories from this collection: Escape From Spiderhead, Tenth of December
Least favorites: Puppy, The Semplica Girl Diaries