Tenth of December

Stories

By: George Saunders

Narrated by: George Saunders

Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • NAMED ONE OF TIME’S TEN BEST FICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY AND BUZZFEED • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY People • The New York Times Magazine • NPR • Entertainment Weekly • New York • The Telegraph • BuzzFeed • Kirkus Reviews • BookPage • Shelf Awareness

One of the most important and blazingly original writers of his generation, George Saunders is an undisputed master of the short story, and Tenth of December is his most honest, accessible, and moving collection yet.

In the taut opener, “Victory Lap,” a boy witnesses the attempted abduction of the girl next door and is faced with a harrowing choice: Does he ignore what he sees, or override years of smothering advice from his parents and act? In “Home,” a combat-damaged soldier moves back in with his mother and struggles to reconcile the world he left with the one to which he has returned. And in the title story, a stunning meditation on imagination, memory, and loss, a middle-aged cancer patient walks into the woods to commit suicide, only to encounter a troubled young boy who, over the course of a fateful morning, gives the dying man a final chance to recall who he really is. A hapless, deluded owner of an antiques store; two mothers struggling to do the right thing; a teenage girl whose idealism is challenged by a brutal brush with reality; a man tormented by a series of pharmaceutical experiments that force him to lust, to love, to kill—the unforgettable characters that populate the pages of Tenth of December are vividly and lovingly infused with Saunders’s signature blend of exuberant prose, deep humanity, and stylistic innovation.

Writing brilliantly and profoundly about class, sex, love, loss, work, despair, and war, Saunders cuts to the core of the contemporary experience. These stories take on the big questions and explore the fault lines of our own morality, delving into the questions of what makes us good and what makes us human.

Unsettling, insightful, and hilarious, the stories in Tenth of December—through their manic energy, their focus on what is redeemable in human beings, and their generosity of spirit—not only entertain and delight; they fulfill Chekhov’s dictum that art should “prepare us for tenderness.”

GEORGE SAUNDERS WAS NAMED ONE OF THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD BY TIME MAGAZINE

©2013 George Saunders (P)2013 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“A feat of inventiveness . . . This eclectic collection never ceases to delight with its at times absurd, surreal, and darkly humorous look at very serious subjects. . . . George Saunders makes you feel as though you are reading fiction for the first time.” (Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner)

“The best short-story writer in English—not ‘one of,’ not ‘arguably,’ but the Best.” (Mary Karr, Time)

“A visceral and moving act of storytelling . . . No one writes more powerfully than George Saunders about the lost, the unlucky, the disenfranchised.” (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times)

Phenomenal

Hearing the author read was great. I listened twice in a row. Absurd, hilarious, and touching. What more could you ask for?

Great stories, good narration, awful formatting

As ever, George Saunders is at the top of his game and his reading is charming.

The formatting was HORRIBLE. Even though there are only 10 stories, there are 49 "chapters." Some stories - "Escape From Spiderhead," "The Semplica Girl Diaries" and "Home" - were broken into dozens of these short tracks. It's confusing and makes it impossible to judge how long the stories are. If that wasn't bad enough, the final part of "Home" is stuffed into the same track as "My Chivalric Fiasco." It was too sloppy to give the whole production top marks.

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.

The Master of the conversations inside our head...

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Definitely, but I would warn them they need to be able to laugh at our dark side

Any additional comments?

George is a genius and hearing him read his work made it all the more interesting.

First and Last Stories are best

George Saunders's tales of a vast suburban wasteland fit the times. It's a bit uneven, but It's worth the price of admission for the first tale, "Victory Lap" and the last, "Tenth of December" both of which I listened to twice. I also enjoyed hearing the author read his own stories.

Excellent with a Note

Would you listen to Tenth of December again? Why?

Yes. For the one negative that I have with the book: I had a very hard time telling when one story stopped, and the next one began.

What did you like best about this story?

The author reading the book gave the stories a unique voice and the voice of how it should be read.

What about George Saunders’s performance did you like?

His "Wisconsin"-style accent. Funny and interesting.

Any additional comments?

The stories were imaginative and interesting. I enjoyed every one of them and thought they were the most original ideas I have heard in a long time.

Great storyteller!!

Haven't heard storytelling like this since Thom Jones. It's great stuff, a truly original voice.

Amazing breadth and depth

The stories are unique and universal. If the author had not been the reader, it would probably have been confusing to listen to. But he made it clear that the ambiguities and vagueness and surrealism were as inherent to stories as to life.

An absolute delight

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

George Saunders is a wonderful writer who has a great talent for reading his own work. The stories are very imaginative and unusual. This is a book I have listened to repeatedly because I enjoy it so much. The humour and inventive and fresh style of writing amazes me.

What other book might you compare Tenth of December to and why?

It stands out on its own.

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

He has such a flair for reading.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It is a very thought provoking book and yes it made me laugh.

Any additional comments?

Its a very good listen.

Outstanding

I enjoyed the writing, the quirky sense of humor, the characters, and the intelligent moving stories. Saunders reads his own work perfectly. Thank you, George Saunders, for Tenth of December. I'll be reading (or listening) to your other work now too.