false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174536957m/415230.jpg 14295 9 In both his acclaimed debut, <I>CivilWarLand in Bad Decline</I>, and his second collection, <I>Pastoralia</I>, George Saunders imagines a near future where capitalism has run amok. Consumption and the service economy rule the earth. The Haves are grotesque beings, mutilated by their crass desires and impossible wealth. The Have Nots are no less crippled, both emotionally and physically, by their inferior status. It's a kind of Westworld scenario, but instead of robots, the serving wenches, bellboys, and extras are real people, all of them mercilessly indentured by the free market.<p>Sounds like bleak stuff, doesn't it? Yet Saunders handles his characters with grace and humour In the title story, for example, a couple occupies a squalid corner of a human zoo, where they act out a parody of caveman times, communicating in grunts and hand motions speaking is instantly punishable by the Orwellian management) and conducting their lives during 15-minute smoke breaks. In "Winky", a born loser (really, all of Saunders's characters are born losers) visits a self-help seminar, where he's encouraged to rid himself of all those people who are "crapping in your oatmeal". Exhilarated at the prospect of dumping his simple, crazy-haired, religion-besotted sister, he returns home to the bleak discovery that he needs her as much as she needs him. The protagonist of "Sea Oak" works as a stripper in an aviation-themed restaurant and lives next to a crack house with his unemployed sisters, their babies, and a sweet old maid of an aunt. The aunt dies, and then returns from the grave--not so sweet, now, and still decomposing--with strange powers and a sobering message:<p>"You ever been in the grave? It sucks so bad! You regret all the things you never did. You little bitches are going to have a very bad time in the grave unless you get on the stick, believe me!"<p>The characters and situations in the rest of <I>Pastoralia</I> are equally wretched. But Saunders rescues them from utter despair with a loving belief in the triumph of the human spirit: yes, things can always get worse, but worse is better than the cold dirt of the grave. And in the small space between wretchedness and death there is plenty of room for laughter, and even love. --<I>Tod Nelson</I> 4225 book 2000 Pastoralia total:2183|5:853|4:923|3:341|2:56|1:10| 2183 9102 2955 236 415230 1573221619 9781573221610 233 39 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174536957m/415230.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/415230.Pastoralia 5 20 false Tue Jun 24 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 18 19:06:16 -0700 2008 Wed Dec 09 18:05:21 -0800 2009 more...]]> 331690 1573228729 9781573228725 329 43 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173815862m/331690.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/331690.Pastoralia 4 2 false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 16 08:19:07 -0700 2008 Sun Mar 16 08:27:06 -0700 2008 14295 0747553866 9780747553861 1579 151 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166586324m/14295.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14295.Pastoralia 3 1 false Sun May 25 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue May 27 22:34:29 -0700 2008 Tue May 27 22:34:29 -0700 2008
But there's a kind of story that he writes over and over again ... not exactly the same story but t...more...]]> 14295 0747553866 9780747553861 1579 151 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166586324m/14295.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14295.Pastoralia 2 1 false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Mar 13 10:32:50 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 13 10:40:27 -0700 2008 Someone on topicless asked "What music are you currently addicted to?" So someone recommended the Matches, who have this song called The Barber's Unhappiness. I got pretty hooked on this song, but was listening to it thinking, this is a really weird song,...more...]]> 1128897 074755000X 9780747550006 20 2 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181227700m/1128897.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1128897.Pastoralia 5 1 false Sat Sep 08 12:13:33 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 08 12:21:05 -0700 2007
The only American publication I still receive here in Spain is The New Yorker. It gets here a little late so you'll have to excuse the late news. Probably my favorite funny person in the world, George Saunders, has a story in the May 28 issue. Not to spoil this mess of a stor...more...]]> 14295 0747553866 9780747553861 1579 151 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166586324m/14295.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14295.Pastoralia 2 0 false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Dec 01 09:11:32 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 01 09:11:32 -0800 2008 more...]]> 415230 1573221619 9781573221610 233 39 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174536957m/415230.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/415230.Pastoralia 4 0 false Sun Oct 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 11 11:18:41 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 11 12:14:22 -0700 2009 Pastoralia. Eight protagonists in six stories find that their means of life - though somewhat more exaggerated and scathingly satirical than anything ordinarily lived in the non-literary realm ...more...]]> 14295 0747553866 9780747553861 1579 151 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166586324m/14295.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14295.Pastoralia 3 0 false Thu Sep 13 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat May 30 08:41:52 -0700 2009 Sat May 30 08:42:51 -0700 2009 CivilWarLand in Bad Decline and loved it. He’s got so many weird things going on in his brain and in his stories. With this collection, I meant merely to glance at it one morning and I was immediately caught up in the first story, Pastoralia, which takes place in one of th...more...]]> 331690 1573228729 9781573228725 329 43 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173815862m/331690.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/331690.Pastoralia 4 0 false Sat Aug 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 08:28:52 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 29 12:31:58 -0700 2009 more...]]> 331690 1573228729 9781573228725 329 43 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173815862m/331690.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/331690.Pastoralia 3 0 false Wed Nov 18 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 04 17:25:02 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 18 17:01:02 -0800 2009 more...]]> 415230 1573221619 9781573221610 233 39 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174536957m/415230.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/415230.Pastoralia 5 1 false Wed Apr 15 10:32:23 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 15 10:36:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 415230 1573221619 9781573221610 233 39 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174536957m/415230.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/415230.Pastoralia 4 0 false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 13:19:21 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 13:19:37 -0700 2009 more...]]> 415230 1573221619 9781573221610 233 39 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174536957m/415230.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/415230.Pastoralia 5 0 false Wed Oct 29 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 20 21:35:56 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 29 09:00:03 -0700 2008 more...]]> 415230 1573221619 9781573221610 233 39 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174536957m/415230.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/415230.Pastoralia 4 0 false Tue Jul 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 06 17:20:49 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 08 23:02:04 -0700 2008 wacky. I'd definitely recommend this collection to anyone who gets a kick out of ridiculous, tragic, and humerous characters like Ignatius J. Reilly and the family from Tobacco Road, because there's definitely a lot of that here. Saunders' characters are totally pathetic and ...more...]]> 331690 1573228729 9781573228725 329 43 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173815862m/331690.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/331690.Pastoralia 2 0 false Sat May 17 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon May 12 20:25:11 -0700 2008 Sat May 17 22:21:11 -0700 2008 more...]]> 331690 1573228729 9781573228725 329 43 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173815862m/331690.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/331690.Pastoralia 2 1 false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Nov 07 13:35:23 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 01 07:24:59 -0800 2007
It's UTTERLY unengaging. In his attempts to be clever, he mak...more...]]> 415230 1573221619 9781573221610 233 39 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174536957m/415230.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/415230.Pastoralia 4 -1 false Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Tue Jul 24 12:42:12 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 24 13:53:19 -0700 2007 This has a good sm...more...]]> 14295 0747553866 9780747553861 1579 151 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166586324m/14295.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14295.Pastoralia 3 0 false Tue Feb 26 10:06:13 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 26 10:23:22 -0800 2008 more...]]> 14295 0747553866 9780747553861 1579 151 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166586324m/14295.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14295.Pastoralia 4 0 false Sat Jul 26 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 09 08:42:34 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 08 20:27:07 -0700 2008
I think the similarity is the sardonic tone, where you come at these characters from extreme right angles. You learn what they're thinking and what their mot...more...]]> 14295 0747553866 9780747553861 1579 151 4.17 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166586324m/14295.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14295.Pastoralia 4 0 false Fri Nov 27 13:34:58 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 30 21:08:19 -0800 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=415230