Civil War Land in Bad Decline: Stories and a Novella |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Civil War > Item 53
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Civil War Land in Bad Decline: Stories and a Novella
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by George Saunders
Sales Rank: 83249
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$2.61
At Amazon
on 6-23-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Hard Cover with 179 pages
Published by: Random HouseEdition: 1st Edition January 16, 1996
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0679448128
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0679448129
Book Dimensions:
8.8 x 5.8 x 1 inches
Weighs: 13.6 ounces
Product Review
Funny, sad, bleak, weird, toxic - the future of America as the Free Market runs rampant,the environment skids into disarray, and civilization dissolves into surreal chaos. These wacky, brilliant, hilarious and entirely original stories cue us in on George Saunder's skewed vision of the legacy we are creating. Against the backdrop of our devolvement, our own worst tendencies and greatest virtues are weirdly illuminated.
From Publishers Weekly
In this debut collection of seven dystopian fantasies, some of which have appeared in the New Yorker and Harper's, America in the near future is a toxic wasteland overrun by vicious thugs and venal opportunists who prey on the weak and misshapen. Saunders's feverish imagination conjures up images as horrific as any from a Hieronymus Bosch painting: a field full of braying mules toppled over from bone marrow disease; a tourist attraction featuring pickled stillborn babies; and cows with Plexiglas windows in their sides. The black humor and vision of American enterprise and evangelism gone haywire are reminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut's early works. In the novella "Bounty," for example, the clawed-foot narrator, who flees Slavery under the "Normals" to find his sister, sees a McDonald's that is the headquarters of the Church of Appropriate Humility, aka "the Guilters." "In Guilter epistemology," he observes, "the arches represent the twin human frailties of arrogance and mediocrity." Despite the richness of the vision and the occasionally heart-melting prose, however, there is little difference in voice to distinguish one story from another. Read in one sitting, they blur into a bleak and unsettling vision of the world to come.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: CivilWarLand in Bad Decline (Paperback)
I think a dosage label should come with all of Saunder's books. It should read "Read one story per month." What was your first Saunders? "Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz" was mine. It was in the first issue of The New Yorker with Tina Brown at the helm. I remember this well, because I wrote a review of the "new" New Yorker for my college paper at the time and was super-impressed with Offloading, especially juxtaposed against the boring John Updike short that was also featured in the issue. In the last 4-5 months, I've read a number of Saunders stories in the New Yorker: "Sea Oak," "The Barber's Unhappiness," and "Pastoralia," all of which are probably featured in his second collection of shorts. I read these stories 2-3 months apart, and I must say, that's the right pace for Saunders. That brings me to CivilWarLand. Excellent stories, no doubt about it, but when I end up reading one story after next, a rather boring pattern forms: Royally Screwed Protagonist does Something Stupid and ends up Getting Even More Screwed. The whole corporate-speak thing gets old fast. It's Orwellian, sure, but when you dip into the well that often, well, you might as well just jump in. (Maybe Murakami will save you, who knows.) The best stories are the ones with a heart. There's only one of those, and that's Offloading. What a sweet, spectacular ending! It's probably worth the book just for that story alone. The worst story is the novella, "Bounty." It just doesn't work. Boring. Still though, Saunders makes me laugh. Writing humor is a tough thing to do, so I have to tip my beenie to Saunders. I don't think there's a funnier writer out there right now. 4 stars
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Civil War Land in Bad Decline: Stories and a Novella
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Price: $2.61
Updated on 6-23-2008.
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