Be prepared for something different...but good!

Any additional comments?

An excellent collection of short stories.

I won't get into the details of the book. There are plenty of reviews that do that. I would like to say that if you have never read George Saunders, his writing style is very unique. He is fresh and original. On paper I would image he may be a little hard to follow. Read out loud though and you get the full effect of his writing. He writes much like people talk and that doesn't always translate into the best reading experience. Because his writing is like no one else, intelligently written and unafraid to go where others fear, it is hard not to like him. All that is required is an open mind.

The author did a good job narrating. Yes, someone else may have done better but his performance didn't hurt the listening experience. Listen to a sample and judge for yourself. I gave him 3 stars but 3 1/2 would be more accurate.

The only problem I have with the book is the poor job Random House Audio did in dividing out the chapters. Often it doesn't matter but with a short story collection it is helpful if the audio book chapters line up with the book chapters. They do not. Someone at Random House needs to find a new profession. I found one story I could not finish (The Semplica Girl Diaries). I spent god knows how long trying to find the end of the story. It is harder than you think. I didn't know if I was still in the same story or if I had jumped into the next. It was a real pain. Some of these stories should be listened to again and again. Being able to find them easily is something Random House should have considered. I took the time to locate the chapter start times.

Victory Lap 00:00
Sticks 33:55
Puppy 36:03
Escape From Spiderhead 53:20
Exhortation 1:41:25
Al Roosten 1:50:52
The Seplica Girl Diaries 2:15:17
Home 3:51:43
My Chivalric Fiasco 4:32:13
The Tenth of December 4:48:52

93 people found this helpful

Captures depth/vibrations of America's Tragicomedy

I'm late to the George Saunders fan club, but Tenth of December was amazing. Belongs on the same shelf as Pynchon, McCarthy and DFW in the pantheon of amazing American writers. He has a voice that captures the depth and vibrations of America's modern tragicomedy. He dances on the same ground as David Foster Wallace. The sophistication of his prose is amazing. He writes on a tightrope of madness and morality. There were a couple stories that were objectively only four stars, but emotionally, I wanted to finish this collection of short stories and run out and buy, beg or steal all Saunders other work. If that isn't a reason to give a book five stars, well my whole system of celestial ratings is completely F-ed.

41 people found this helpful

Offbeat--the Best Beat

"The best art has its reference points in real life." By Carver's definition, Tenth of December is the best art. Saunders looks at people in the context of our culture and reflects them back through his writing with unflinching accuracy. It's acerbic, dark, even frightening, and at the same time Saunders can elicit a contradictory pathos and humor, that brings us back to the yin and yang of real life, like no other author. It is that tragicomic element and Saunders' compassion that keeps the light twinkling in some dark moments in these stories.

I had read a few of these vignettes in The New Yorker, and had read Civilwarland in Bad Decline before this purchase. This compilation of stories is a bit of a departure from Saunders previous writing and seems also more human and real. The characters are challenged or damaged by societal judgements, relationships, the roll of the dice...but there is a redemptive quality that comes through in each situation. The interior monologues are just brilliant; authentic, whether it is a 14 yr. old diva who realizes she has just opened the door to a murderous rapist (Victory Lap, my favorite) or an old man dying of cancer and bent on suicide (Tenth of December). Saunders gets into their heads--the reference point feels as real as it gets, your emotional response to the stories tells you so.

I can't recall ever seeing so many literary giants' names attached to a book, like *Product Placement/Integration*, by the critics...Vonnegut, Pynchon, Twain, Checkhov, Orwell, Hemmingway, Barthelme, Wallace, Joyce, and O'Connor...but Saunders is an original that is genius. This truly may be "the best book you'll read this year." [NYTimes]

Bonus that Saunders reads his own work, but he speaks rapidly and words run together-- you may want to keep your device at regular speed instead of 2x. With the quick shifts of character consciousness, there are times that it's also difficult to distinguish which character is speaking. For readers that aren't sure about reading a volume of short stories, this is a great collection by an author that is considered the master of the genre. The 10 stories have different themes and pacing; you experience a bubble effect that I preferred to savour rather than jump immediately into the next story. Short stories are perfect for days when that *real life* conflicts with the desire to read all day.

38 people found this helpful

I could never have known

I suppose for some, these kind of edgy stories might be commonplace, but, honestly, I have never read anything like this book. I am used to going from point A to point B with all of the numerous offshoots that an author can muster but I just had to hold on with this journey. The stories are complex, strange and wonderfully buoyant. They are beautifully written so I never let go of where Saunders chose to take me - I loved this read. One needs to be pushed off one's assumptions every once in a while.

23 people found this helpful

Dare to Inhabit a Different Kind of Character

If you could sum up Tenth of December in three words, what would they be?

Funny, Insightful, Heartbreaking

What did you like best about this story?

These characters are so flawed and make such terrible decisions that they are sort of a parody of the dark side of human nature, and yet, they are so funny and sweet and rendered in such an interesting way that you can't help but love them in spite of their exasperating mistakes and misunderstandings.

What does George Saunders bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I have read all of Saunders' previous story collections and essays on paper and loved them, but to hear them read in his own voice, with his local-guy Midwestern accent was really a treat. The stories are really suited to oral story-telling. I would love to see Saunders read Civilwarland, Pastoralia and In Persuasion Nation for Audible, as well.

If you could rename Tenth of December, what would you call it?

Some of the story titles are works of art in themselves. I particularly liked, "My Chivalric Fiasco".

Any additional comments?

If you have ever wondered why people seem to act against their own best interests, if you have ever wondered how people get into debt, or why people sometimes seem to treat one another cruelly, George Saunders characters are beautiful portals into the lives of people whom you might not otherwise understand. You understand what it is like to be a moody teenager, a sensitive child, soldier home from a war zone, a guy stuck in a soul-sucking job, or a parent who just wants his or her kids to have a childhood a little less painful than his or her own. If the intent of a literary work is get you to willingly inhabit the life of another and look at the world through his or her eyes, this collection is a literary accomplishment.

14 people found this helpful

Average audiobook

I know a lot of people love these short stories and love the author. I found some of the stories to be good, and some just didn't really keep my attention. I listen to a lot of audiobooks. This one is somewhere in the middle. I've tried to listen to Saunders' new novel Lincoln and Bardo, an audiobook that many people rave about. It wasn't for me, so maybe there's something in Suanders' work that I don't get.

Saunders does a good job with the narration in Tenth of December. It sounded awkward at first, but it grew on me. Overall, The Tenth of December was just okay.

13 people found this helpful

Offbeat but Great Stories

These stories are all modern, somewhat dark, explorations into the meaning of the mind, emotions, belief, and will. As such, the language, situations and characters may be quite off-putting to many. Question such as how malleable are our deepest desires and is romantic love simply a chemical reaction may be uncomfortable questions to explore. I don’t mind uncomfortable and found these stories fascinating, thought provoking and enjoyable. None of these stories were predicable, commonplace, or simplistic (the most common sins of the short story). The author’s narration is excellent, bringing subtle emotions to the unusual characters in unfamiliar situations. Sometimes the characters are talking fast, so the listener has to be attentive. Many of the stories border on science fiction but remain firmly literary explorations. I would not recommend these stories for young/pre-teens or the faint of heart. This is probably not the best book you will read this year, but it is a good listen if you appreciate looking at all sides of human emotions.

11 people found this helpful

Stunning, worth a re-listen

What made the experience of listening to Tenth of December the most enjoyable?

Saunders has a unique writing style that is perfectly expressed by his own narration. It's not always a good idea for an author to read his/her own works---narration is usually better left to the professionals---but in this case it works. I can't imagine these stories in anyone else's voice. This is a mind-blowing work worthy of the praise he's getting, such as the New York Times already naming this the best book of the year.

11 people found this helpful

Simply Remarkable.

George Saunders' short stories are beautiful, yet frightening; hilarious, yet unsettling. And I think that's because, while his plots may involve the bizarre – human lawn ornaments, love-inducing pharmaceuticals, thwarted abductions – his characters and their moral dilemmas seem so real. It's the honesty he gives to their humanity and the possibility of redemption that make the stories seem instructive, sacred. And with Saunders narrating, there's a closeness to the material that resonates when listening. You get the sense that you're hearing the characters as the author heard them in his head, whether it's the voice of a baby deer or a manager giving the worst pep talk via memo. Saunders is a natural storyteller – giving characters distinct voices and believable pacing. But it's his simple telling that makes these stories so special.

10 people found this helpful

Crazily brilliant -- a master of voice

This was my introduction to George Saunders, but, man, the guy’s brilliant. The pieces here are all set in everyday America or in slightly dystopic versions of everyday America, with protagonists who are worn-down everyday people muddling through their lives -- standard lit-fic stuff. However, Saunders does some creative, funny, warped things with his stories and gets inside his characters heads with such brutal but compassionate honesty, I wondered how other writers could miss that rich, absurd stream-of-consciousness we all have going as we fumble through life.

The first story sets the tone by giving us the thoughts of a popular teenage girl contemplating her own preciousness right up the moment she notices she’s about to be kidnapped by a dangerous creep. Her only hope of salvation lies with the weird, unpopular boy next store, whose thoughts we also get, as he wonders how his bizarrely overprotective parents will respond to any choice he might make. Then we get the thoughts of the creep himself, who seems to be a few spoons short of a full silver drawer. Nothing about this scenario *should* be funny, yet it was hard for me not to laugh at the way each character rationalizes his or her actions.

Some story premises are more absurd or surreal than others. A guy working as a lowly bit actor at a Renaissance Faire witnesses a misdeed by his boss, and would have meekly let it slide, except the pill he takes to put himself into character works a little too well, transforming him into a noble knight whose beautifully oblivious chivalry makes a mess of things. A suburban dad with perpetual cash flow problems and a desperate desire to keep up with the Joneses decides to start a journal in which he shares his hopes and woes with the no doubt more enlightened people of the future, but as the story progresses, it sneaks up on us that this world has one odd feature... Then there’s the devastating Escape From Spiderhead, in which consciousness-altering drugs are tested on prison inmates.

The “straightforward” stories work beautifully, too. A young veteran with a dark wartime experience in his past returns home to his dysfunctional family and their oblivious neighbors, who treat him with that uncomfortable deference veterans often get, which leaves him feeling all the more disconnected. A loner boy living in an imaginary world encounters a mentally ill man who has escaped from a care facility and is bent on suicide, until something the boy does forces him to change his plans. Not all readers will like the darkness and the pitiful characters, but the internal monologues Saunders gives us are both poignant and hilarious, true to the rambling stream of fantasies, self-justifications, and self-examinations we all have going in our heads, as we try to be the heroes of our own stories, however unremarkable they may be.

I should mention that Saunders narrates his audiobook and is, like David Sedaris, someone whose work you really have to hear in his own voice to get the full effect. He goes fast and some stories are a little confusing if you miss a key detail, but I really didn’t mind giving a few a second listen. An American master of voice.

10 people found this helpful