Saunders take on America is not quite like any other I've met. Perhaps playwright Richard Dresser is the closest relative of his I know, but Saunders tend to take it much further.

This collection of short stories is set in an America in a close future, where nothing of any real worth is produced anymore. It's a nation in free falling, where scamming for an easy buck, selling useless products, kicking whomever you need to kick on to climb another pathetic step on your career ladder, and clinging to empty phrases of patriotism or self-improvement (noone can write a dialogue consisting entirely of "inspriring" clichés like Saunders) are all that remains. It's typical that almost all these stories are set in tacky, artificial theme parks, trying to profit on the nation's great history. But not succeeding: the paint is flaking, the machinery is breaking down and more often than not there are hungry slums outside the gates. In the long novella "Bounty", which makes up about half the book, dystopia is in full effect in an America where government has broken down, slavery is reinstituted and local fascist tyrants are calling the shots.

Saunders paints a very grotesque, deeply cynical world - funny, yes, but fun of a very unsettling dark variety. But this is not a cynical book. For his main characters are almost without exception good, honest people. Gentle, awkward men and women without pointy elbows, who are just trying to play by the rules and be decent at the same time. But, having to navigate within a system of inhumanity, they are all bound to fail miserably. In it's own way, this is often a very moving, even heart-breaking book. But don't expect a gentle ride. ( )

A journalist from The Philadelphia Inquirer refers to this book of stories (and novella) as “a nightmarish post-apocalyptic world that might have been envisioned by Walt Disney on acid.” I would not attempt to improve upon this observation, as it is concise and entirely appropriate. What I will add is that these stories are incredibly funny, but tinged with a darkness that is utterly depressing. On the whole, Saunders possesses a unique voice that rings out over the squabble of the masses yet is right at home in our cynical, consumer-driven times. ( )

I think that Saunders is clever and of his collections, this is my favorite, but the characters are just SO reprehensible that they are hard to read and even harder to like. ( )

"[God] gives us [his weak, his dumb, his fat, his lazy] a need for love, and no way to get any. He gives us a desire to be liked, and personal attributes that make us utterly unlikable. Having placed his flawed and needy children in a world of exacting specifications, he deducts the difference between what we have and what we need from our hearts and our self-esteem and our mental health."
- from "The 400 pound CEO"

Sanders's assessment of current-day American culture seems spot-on to me. What an amazing ability he has to be both serious and hilarious. He demonstrates that it's possible to contemplate our current world (or at least life in the USA) as it is and yet to not be completely daunted, desensitized and depressed into paralysis by its many hideous aspects. I am so happy to have discovered George Saunders. ( )

This is a collection of short stories that could be more accurately called Humanity in Bad Decline. Holy cow, these were the most depressing funny stories I've ever read. The vision of humanity, set in what's either the semi-post-apocalyptic near future or a sort of alternate present, is so negative it's almost off-putting. Saunders describes a place where hedonistic consumerism has run rampant and only the strong or psychotic survive while the decent and weak are used and abused. They're well-written and entertaining, but jeez...Where did all of that disgust come from? Or am I just naive? ( )