In the six stories and one novella that make up his debut collection, the inimitable Saunders pokes and prods at the nagging difficulties of living an ordinary life in an utterly insane world. The protagonists of these stories are people who for the most part just want to go about their day and provide for their families without running into too much trouble, but the zaniness and frenetic pace of American life, recognizable as a fractured possible future version of our own, complicate their lives […]
A Long Short Story
George Saunders’s short stories are perhaps the most celebrated in America today, and rightly so. They are fascinatingly strange and full of unique insights. They remind me of Kurt Vonnegut, only weirder. In light of this there was no way I wasn’t going to rush out and buy his highly-anticipated first novel on the day it came out. True to form, Lincoln in the Bardo is just about the weirdest idea for a novel I’ve ever encountered. After the death of his beloved son Willie, […]
Animal Farm meets Hitchhiker’s Guide; Hilarity Ensues
In an effort to not make this review longer than the book itself, I will just say that The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil is a story that could have been written by the love child of George Orwell and Douglas Adams. George Saunders’ flawless writing will remind readers of Adam’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but his themes echo the sly political satire of Orwell. Mrs Smith Reads The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders