false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167955857m/28749.jpg 28749 3 Welcome to Inner Horner, a nation so small it can only accommodate one citizen at a time. The other six citizens must wait their turns in the Short-Term Residency Zone of the surrounding country of Outer Horner. It's a long-standing arrangement between the fantastical, not-exactly-human citizens of the two countries. But when Inner Horner suddenly shrinks, forcing three-quarters of the citizen then in residence over the border into Outer Horner territory, the Outer Hornerites declare an Invasion In Progress--having fallen under the spell of the power-hungry and demagogic Phil. So begins The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil. Fueled by Saunders's unrivaled wit, outlandish imagination, and incisive political sensibility, here is a deeply strange yet strangely familiar fable of power and impotence, justice and injustice--an Animal Farm for our times. Praise for George Saunders Author of Pastoralia and Civilwarland in Bad Decline "An astoundingly tuned voice--graceful, dark, authentic, and funny--telling just the kinds of stories we need to get us through these times." --Thomas Pynchon "Mr. Saunders writes like the illegitimate offspring of Nathanael West and Kurt Vonnegut. [His] satiric vision of America is dark and demented; it is also ferocious and very funny." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "A master of distilling the disorders of our time into fiction." --Salon.com 1280394 6 9 2005 The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil total:1025|5:178|4:346|3:357|2:110|1:34| 1025 3599 1315 122 5 2 false false Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Tue Jul 24 12:32:18 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 24 12:41:41 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 11 false false Wed Apr 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 07 21:10:24 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 08 19:55:24 -0700 2009 goodreads.com reviews.]]> 4 1 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Dec 23 16:25:56 -0800 2007 Thu Dec 27 16:23:03 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jun 12 12:05:06 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 31 08:29:42 -0700 2007
First, there was that angry screed against Borat in the New Yorker. And then, the supposed-to-be-funny-but-actually-just-depressing obit for Kurt Vonnegut in the NY Observer. And finally the Critical Mass piece [http://bookcriticscirc...more...]]> 4 4 false false Thu Oct 15 22:32:23 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 17 00:38:19 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Jan 12 18:16:25 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 18:18:42 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Sep 28 11:42:24 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 10 21:38:17 -0700 2009 The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil is the story of the countries Inner and Outer Horner, which former is beautiful but so small that only one of its seven citizens can occupy it at any given time, which forces the latter to give up som...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Nov 18 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 12:38:09 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 12:41:55 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jan 14 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 15 06:58:28 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 15 07:03:25 -0800 2009
So, this little gem has been sitting on my shelf for few months now. I really love George Saunders' writing. It's the kind of writing I wish I could do. It is like a sitcom that has never been surreal ever and suddenly they totally break down reality ...more...]]> 2 0 true false Wed Dec 31 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 09:14:32 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 31 09:43:57 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 01 09:18:43 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 01 14:48:45 -0700 2008
This is not my favorite Saunders...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jul 26 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 23 16:39:15 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 26 18:43:41 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Jan 02 17:34:13 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 09 20:43:41 -0700 2008 Powells Link

Synopsis:
"In a profoundly strange country called Inner Horner, large enough for only one resident at a time, citizens waiting to enter the country fall under the rule of the power-hungry and tyrannical Phil, setting off a chain of injustice and mass hysteria.
...more...]]> 2 1 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Dec 06 12:54:11 -0800 2007 Sat Jun 06 12:53:01 -0700 2009 The Braindead Megaphone, I figured I would like his short stories even better, that being what he's better-known for. Since this book is, essentially, a single short story, I started with this one. I didn't like it. Saunders' language and the world it descr...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri May 22 09:16:22 -0700 2009 Fri May 22 09:22:24 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Mar 03 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 03 16:18:00 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 03 16:24:38 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Sep 14 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 09 14:33:47 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 14:33:47 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat May 09 16:53:39 -0700 2009 Sat May 09 16:55:51 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Sat Jun 23 22:12:27 -0700 2007 Sat Jun 23 22:14:01 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Mar 11 09:50:57 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 03 20:17:34 -0700 2008 CivilWarLand in Bad Decline (Random House, 1996) and Pastoralia (Riverhead, 2000), and regularly publishing pieces in Esquire, Harper’s, McSweeney’s, and The New ...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=28749