more pleasure from mr. saunders.

books:


	• Pastoralia George Saunders Riverhead Trade, 2001 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 54 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

NEEDS SOMETHING

Enjoyable read, but lacking something. With each story I was looking for another page or two. I don't have to have nice & tidy endings but would like a better feel for the author's intent.

This was my first exposure to Saunders and I'll try more. Maybe familiarity will breed concept.

more pleasure from mr. saunders.

another stellar book from mr. saunders. this fella is the most enjoyable literate author going that i know of. his stories actually are stories, unlike the scraps of pretension that are called stories by so many other writers out there. similar in spirit, i would recommend a book of stories by judy budnitz, titled "flying leap." also, an author named kelly link should appeal to fans of george saunders. mr. saunders himself has a new book out which i just purchased and can't wait to read.

for more information click here

Great Tales

I will admit it: I'm a big Saunders fan after reading this collection of short stories. Is it just me or does anyone else notice that there are some excellent American short story writers at this point in time? Saunders' tales have a tendency for the absurd, but his ability to relate their experience demonstrates the skill of someone like T.C. Boyle. You will find yourself wanting more when you're done.

Failing into Grace

Pastoralia is not interesting because it is novel or cutting edge, and debates about whether it is something unheard of ignore the quality of the stories, which lies in their compassion and dispassion. Maybe the resonance I see in the stories is partly due to being a Saundersesque person myself: single, sometimes insecure, harried, addicted to a culture that disgusts me. But there are themes and ideas that go much deeper than demographics or social commentary. I consider Saunders as old-fashioned or up-to-date as Flannery O'Conner. His stories in this book are about people who fail in their aspirations and goals, but by doing so reveal what is golden about their characters. They cannot follow the dicta of selfishness and treachery that are the dominant cultural ethics.
The narrator of The Falls cannot help but sacrifice himself, the narrator of Pastoralia cannot betray his personal loyalties in favor of corporate responsibilities, Firpo cannot help but transcend the self loathing he has learned from a world with no time for losers like him. Does transcendence make stories good? Well,for me, transcendence usually reads as didactic and sappy and dreadful, but Saunders spices his optimism about our true natures by creating characters that are as rotten and weak and subject to pressures as the rest of us are. Maybe even more so.
Great book full of beautiful stories, whether you find them as conservative and traditional as Flannery O'Conner or as radical and freaky as... well, Flannery O'Conner.

for more information click here

Author is a must read

PastoraliaFor anyone looking for stories with a different angle and who is tired of predictable material, George Saunders is very refreshing. Ahhhh....

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Hailed by Thomas Pynchon as "graceful, dark, authentic, and funny," George Saunders now surpasses his New York Times Notable Book, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, with this bestselling collection of stories set against a warped, hilarious, and terrifyingly recognizable American landscape.

hot

not?

What's your opinion?

Write a review and share your thoughts!

recommendations

Novels Max of www.themillionsblog.com Recommends
Best Post-Carver Short Story Collections
Books I've Read This Year I (2008)
post apocalyptic fiction
Short Story Collections

search for books
pastoralia

Impressum / about us