The Braindead Megaphone

Very refreshing and enlightening and entertaining set of essays. Saunders has the ability to vary his tone widely, from angry masked by humour ( in an essay on the decline of American culture) to fanboy enthusiasm (in a delightful “introduction” to Huckleberry Finn). He does occasionally go on for too long, but this is a small price to pay for the humour, the opening up of the mind, the compassion and humanity infused into each essay. Highly recommended.

While George Saunders can kill it with the short story, this collection from 2007 pulls together some of his non-fiction works. And no surprise here, Saunders occasionally nails it with pieces that make the whole worth reading. Other stories fade as quickly as they're read. Nothing terrible, just weak.

Naturally, what exactly is strong or weak differs for everyone. Not much of a polarizing review here I know. Saunders has a likeable, inclusionary style. He's not the delicious wonk that David Foster Wallace is, more an affable uncle with a winking delivery.

Love this. Rather than diffuse his opinions into his trademark absurdist fiction, here Saunders collects a series of straight-up essays critiquing today's society in the U.S. and around the world. Seriously, seriously recommended!