Few writers are so good at transcribing thought – Saunders never jams his own observations into his characters' mouths and he is especially skilful at mimicking the way fantasies and daydreams colour the way we think.
The first story, "Victory Lap", toggles between the perspective of Alison, a 14-year-old girl with delusions of grandeur ("The local boys possessed a certain je ne sais quoi, which, tell the truth, she was not très crazy about") Kyle, a teenage dork in love with Alison ("In the dictionary under 'beauty' there should be a picture of her in that jean skirt") and an unnamed murderer/rapist who attempts to abduct Alison ("If fuckwise it went good they'd pick up the freeway from there. The reader is wired into the protagonists' heads, the stories told either in the first person or in a third person that moulds itself around the characters' thoughts, taking on their voices. The narrator of one story (his name is Ted) has the hesitant, disappointed voice of a typical Saunders protagonist: "Based on my experience of life, which I have not exactly hit out of the park, I tend to agree with that thing about, If it's not broke, don't fix it."Īs usual with Saunders, the first thing you notice is the language, the exhilarating explosion of slang, neologisms, fake product names. Sometimes they are uncool in a virtuous way. The stories tend to take place in self-contained suburban or small-town settings. Tenth of December presents 10 visions of America mostly filtered through the eyes of losers with one-syllable names such as Al and Kyle and Jeff. For those familiar with Saunders, it is undoubtedly more of a good thing. His new collection is his first in six years. Since then, Saunders has remained faithful to the short-story form, painstakingly crafting new pieces, which land in the New Yorker or some other classy US magazine once every three or four months.
A pre- Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace declared in an interview: "The person I'm highest on right now is George Saunders." That book was met with whoops of joy: "scary, hilarious and unforgettable" announced Tobias Wolff "wildly funny, pure, generous" applauded Garrison Keillor "graceful, dark, authentic, and funny" cheered Thomas Pynchon (Thomas Pynchon!). Saunders emerged fully formed with his 1996 debut, Civilwarland in Bad Decline. But reading his new collection, Tenth of December, it seems like he's stuck.
G eorge Saunders – Texas-born, Chicago-raised, seven books, many prizes, satirist, Buddhist – is one of America's best short-story writers.
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