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Pastoralia
- Narrated by: George Saunders
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
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Pastoralia
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Publisher's summary
A stunning collection including the story "Sea Oak", from the number one New York Times best-selling author of the Man Booker Prize-winning novel Lincoln in the Bardo and the story collection Tenth of December, a 2013 National Book Award Finalist for Fiction.
Hailed by Thomas Pynchon as "graceful, dark, authentic, and funny," George Saunders gives us, in his inventive and beloved voice, this best-selling collection of stories set against a warped, hilarious, and terrifyingly recognizable American landscape.
Includes an original song by the author.
"Pastoralia" was written and performed by George Saunders, and recorded, mixed, and mastered by Peter Coleman at Indigital Studios in Santa Cruz, California.
Critic reviews
"Artful and sophisicated... truly unusual. Imagine Lewis's Babbitt thrown into the backseat of a car going cross-country, driven by R. Crumb, Matt Groening, Lynda Barry, Harvey Pekar, or Spike Jonze." (The New York Times)
"Saunders is a provocateur, a moralist, a zealot, a lefty, and a funny, funny writer, and the stories in Pastoralia delight. We're very luck to have them." (Esquire)
“Dazzling...Saunders’s misfits confront their degradations with heroic optimism; rarely have the comic nuances of suffering been tracked with such precision. These stories, injected with Saunders’s highly original blend of irony and tenderness, ride you down spirals of the absurd and fling you back to your own life, startled.” (Men’s Journal)
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- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 167
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 150
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 150
Jeremy Heere is your average high school dork. Day after day, he stares at beautiful Christine, the girl he can never have, and dryly notes the small humiliations that come his way. Until the day he learns about the "squip." A pill-sized supercomputer that you swallow, the squip is guaranteed to bring you whatever you most desire in life. By instructing him on everything from what to wear, to how to talk and walk, the squip transforms Jeremy from geek to the coolest guy in class. But Jeremy discovers that there is a dark side to handing over control of your life....
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2 out of 5 stars
-
I f you’re looking for anything similar to the musical, skip it.
- By Destry on 09-23-19
By: Ned Vizzini
-
Lawn Boy
- By: Jonathan Evison
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 278
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 247
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 247
For Mike Muñoz, a young Chicano living in Washington State, life has been a whole lot of waiting for something to happen. Not too many years out of high school and still doing menial work - and just fired from his latest gig as a lawn boy on a landscaping crew - he knows that he's got to be the one to shake things up if he's ever going to change his life. But how?
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2 out of 5 stars
-
CATEGORY AND SUMMARY MISLEADING
- By Gretchen on 05-01-18
By: Jonathan Evison
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Kissing Games of the World
- By: Sandi Kahn Shelton
- Narrated by: Myra Platt
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 144
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 114
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 115
What if the one person you can't bear to be with is also the one person you can't bear to be without? Jamie McClintock is a free-spirited artist and single mother who has at last found peace and freedom sharing a farmhouse with an elderly man and his young grandson. But when the old man dies suddenly her idyllic country life comes to a halt as the old man's estranged son, Nate, returns to claim the house and his child.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great Writer, Great Narrator ! Loved it!
- By Ms. Critic on 05-30-09
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Better Than Chocolate
- By: Sheila Roberts
- Narrated by: Gayle Hendrix
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 99
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 90
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 90
Sweet Dreams Chocolate Company has been in the Sterling family for generations, ever since Great-Grandma Rose literally dreamed up her first fabulous recipe. But now it looks as if they're about to lose Sweet Dreams to the bank - and that would be a disaster, not only for the family but for the town of Icicle Falls, Washington. Can Samantha, the oldest daughter and new head of the company, come up with a way to save it? After Samantha does some brainstorming with her mother and sisters, inspiration strikes.
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1 out of 5 stars
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No consent!
- By R. Hernandez on 10-01-19
By: Sheila Roberts
-
Saguaro
- By: Carson Mell
- Narrated by: Carson Mell
- Length: 3 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 27
Saguaro chronicles the life of rock legend Bobby Bird as he finds himself rolled up in barbiturates, at sea with satanic cults, finding true love, selling out, and coming back. Bird may be many things - a legend in pink cotton, a living history in tattoos, the very embodiment of rock and roll - but he isn’t a bad man. At least not all the time. He made his name as a crooner, revered as a singer with soul, a soul he quickly sold without ever considering the implications.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Animal Cruelty Warning
- By AJLecter on 02-06-23
By: Carson Mell
-
Miss Fortune
- Fresh Perspectives on Having It All from Someone Who Is Not Okay
- By: Lauren Weedman
- Narrated by: Lauren Weedman
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 44
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 40
Lauren Weedman is not okay. She's living what should be the good life in sunny Los Angeles. After a gig as a correspondent with The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, she scored parts in blockbuster movies, which led to memorable recurring roles on HBO's Hung and Looking. She had a loving husband and an adorable baby boy. In these comedic essays, she turns a piercingly observant, darkly funny lens on the ways her life is actually not okay.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Good
- By Ajules29 on 04-02-16
By: Lauren Weedman
-
Nothing to See Here
- By: Kevin Wilson
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 11,417
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 10,086
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 10,051
Lillian and Madison were unlikely roommates and yet inseparable friends at their elite boarding school. But then, Lillian had to leave the school unexpectedly in the wake of a scandal, and they’ve barely spoken since. Until now, when Lillian gets a letter from Madison pleading for her help. Madison’s twin stepkids are moving in with her family, and she wants Lillian to be their caretaker. However, there’s a catch: The twins spontaneously combust when they get agitated, flames igniting from their skin in a startling but beautiful way.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Elevated art form.
- By KayMac on 10-30-19
By: Kevin Wilson
-
Isle of Palms
- A Lowcountry Tale, Book 3
- By: Dorothea Benton Frank
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 962
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 879
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 873
Dorothea Benton Frank is a treasure of American letters with numerous New York Times best-sellers to her credit and a portfolio full of critical acclaim. “Mixing high drama and high jinks” ( Booklist), her third Lowcountry novel follows the fortunes of the dysfunctional Abbot family. Looking to set her life aright, Anna Lutz Abbot returns to her South Carolina lowcountry hometown. And as she attempts to right past wrongs, Anna receives help and support from a quirky cast of lovable locals sure to endear themselves to listeners.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A feel good story
- By Sheryl on 02-04-13
-
Permanent Midnight
- A Memoir (20th Anniversary Edition)
- By: Jerry Stahl, Nic Sheff - foreword
- Narrated by: Jerry Stahl, Scott Merriman
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 70
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 69
A searing confessional infused with the darkest humor, Permanent Midnight chronicles the opiated abyss of a Hollywood screenwriter and his formidable climb into sobriety. Made into a major motion picture starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, Permanent Midnight is revered by critics and an ever-growing cult of devoted fans as one of the most compelling contemporary memoirs.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Point deduction for the recording
- By Amazon Customer on 11-21-20
By: Jerry Stahl, and others
-
Every Anxious Wave
- By: Mo Daviau
- Narrated by: Zach Villa
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 621
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 556
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 554
Why would we need music if our lives were exactly as we wanted them to be? Karl Bender is a quiet guy who lives in three places: his bar, his apartment, and the cheap Mediterranean place on the corner that keeps him well fed with his daily portion of hummus and chicken shwarma. But that's all about to change. When he stumbles upon a time-traveling wormhole, Karl develops a business selling access to people who want to go back in time to hear their favorite bands.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Frustrating
- By Brit N Jonn Designs on 03-31-16
By: Mo Daviau
-
Face It
- By: Georgette Kaplan
- Narrated by: Anastasia Watley
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 54
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 55
In college, Elizabeth Smile shared a magical tryst with her roommate, Michelle Harlow. She had no idea the night would leave Elizabeth pining after her for the next ten years. Now Michelle is back with a strange offer: Will she pretend to be Michelle's lesbian lover to beat Michelle's cheating husband?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Give it a chance—brilliant!
- By Meredith on 01-22-23
By: Georgette Kaplan
-
Swear on This Life
- A Novel
- By: Renée Carlino
- Narrated by: Traci Odom
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 242
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 222
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 221
A struggling writer must come to terms with her past, present, and future after she discovers that she's the inspiration for a pseudonymously published best-selling novel.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding Story!
- By Jen Carroll on 07-28-20
By: Renée Carlino
-
What I Carry
- By: Jennifer Longo
- Narrated by: Reba Buhr
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 89
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 84
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 83
Growing up in foster care, Muir has lived in many houses. And if she's learned one thing, it is to Pack. Light. Carry only what fits in a suitcase. Toothbrush? Yes. Socks? Yes. Emotional attachment to friends? Foster families? A boyfriend? Nope! There's no room for any additional baggage. Muir has just one year left before she ages out of the system. One year before she's free. One year to avoid anything - or anyone - that could get in her way. Then she meets Francine. And Kira. And Sean. And everything changes.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Enlightening
- By Kindle Customer on 06-09-21
By: Jennifer Longo
-
The McAvoy Sisters Book of Secrets
- A Novel
- By: Molly Fader
- Narrated by: Nancy Peterson
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 44
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 38
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
It’s been 17 years since the tragic summer the McAvoy sisters fell apart. Lindy, the wild one, left home, carved out a new life in the city, and never looked back. Delia, the sister who stayed, became a mother herself, raising her daughters and running the family shop in their small Ohio hometown on the shores of Lake Erie. But now, with their mother’s ailing health and a rebellious teenager to rein in, Delia has no choice but to welcome Lindy home.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great story
- By Nessa on 09-25-23
By: Molly Fader
-
The Wanderer
- Thunder Point, Book 1
- By: Robyn Carr
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,383
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,010
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,004
Nestled on the Oregon coast is a small town of rocky beaches and rugged charm. Locals love the land’s unspoiled beauty. Developers see it as a potential gold mine. When newcomer Hank Cooper learns he’s been left an old friend’s entire beachfront property, he finds himself with a community’s destiny in his hands. Cooper has never been a man to settle in one place, and Thunder Point was supposed to be just another quick stop. But Cooper finds himself getting involved with the town. And with Sarah Dupre, a woman as complicated as she is beautiful.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
4.5 The Wanderer Stars
- By whatcha.listening.to on 11-09-17
By: Robyn Carr
-
The Charmer in Chaps
- By: Julia London
- Narrated by: Tieran Wilder
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 65
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 61
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 61
Cimarron County knows the youngest son of the fabled Prince family as a womanizing hell-raiser, but Luca has changed, and he intends to prove it. There's just one problem - a woman with sparkling eyes and more fight than a barnyard cat. After a childhood of living in foster homes, Ella Kendall has exactly three things to her name: a dog, a pig, and the rundown house she just inherited. Luca may not remember her from high school, but she definitely remembers him. He is as seductive as he was then, but Ella isn't about to fall for his flirting.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very good - great imagery and sweet storyline with purpose
- By rhonda on 08-06-19
By: Julia London
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The “best short story writer in English” (Time) is back with a masterful collection that explores ideas of power, ethics, and justice, and cuts to the very heart of what it means to live in community with our fellow humans. With his trademark prose—wickedly funny, unsentimental, and perfectly tuned—Saunders continues to challenge and surprise: here is a collection of prismatic, deeply resonant stories that encompass joy and despair, oppression and revolution, bizarre fantasy and brutal reality.
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From the number one New York Times best-selling author of the Man Booker Prize-winning novel Lincoln in the Bardo and the story collection Tenth of December, a 2013 National Book Award Finalist for Fiction. Talking candy bars, baby geniuses, disappointed mothers, castrated dogs, interned teenagers, and moral fables - all in this hilarious and heartbreaking collection from an author hailed as the heir to Kurt Vonnegut and Thomas Pynchon.
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5 out of 5 stars
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February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.”
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"Where might God stand?"
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For the last 20 years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, he shares a version of that class with us, offering some of what he and his students have discovered together over the years. Paired with iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, the seven essays in this book are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it’s more relevant than ever in these turbulent times.
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An innovative and fresh listening experience
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Fox 8 has always been known as the daydreamer in his pack, the one his fellow foxes regarded with a knowing snort and a roll of the eyes. That is, until Fox 8 develops a unique skill: He teaches himself to speak Yuman by hiding in the bushes outside a house and listening to children’s bedtime stories. The power of language fuels his abundant curiosity about people - even after danjer arrives in the form of a new shopping mall that cuts off his food supply, sending Fox 8 on a harrowing quest to help save his pack.
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In a profoundly strange country called Inner Horner, large enough for only one resident at a time, citizens waiting to enter the country fall under the rule of the power-hungry and tyrannical Phil, setting off a chain of injustice and mass hysteria. An Animal Farm for the 21st century, this is an incendiary political satire of unprecedented imagination, spiky humor, and cautionary appreciation for the hysteric in everyone.
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4.0 stars
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Gappers will get your goat. Literally. If you don't brush them off and return them to the ocean, these bright orange, many-eyed creatures will cover your goats, and the goats will stop giving milk. In a village called Frip, goat's milk was the entire economy. Three families lived there - the Romos, the Ronsens, and a little girl named Capable and her widowed father, who wanted everything to remain the same. It didn't. One day, the Gappers decided for a good reason to concentrate on Capable's goats. Oh, how the Romos and Ronsens turned their backs on the gapper-ridden Capable!
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Imagination & simplicity
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Calypso
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If you've ever laughed your way through David Sedaris's cheerfully misanthropic stories, you might think you know what you're getting with Calypso. You'd be wrong. When he buys a beach house on the Carolina coast, Sedaris envisions long, relaxing vacations spent playing board games and lounging in the sun with those he loves most. And it's as idyllic as he imagined, except for one tiny, vexing realization: it's impossible to take a vacation from yourself. With Calypso, Sedaris sets his formidable powers of observation - and dark humor - toward middle age and mortality.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent, as always
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What listeners say about Pastoralia
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Xavi Fajardo Figueroa
- 08-31-21
Saunders es un genio
No sólo porque el autor lee sus cuentos, y lo hace de la manera más inmersiva posible, sino que también graba la música que aparece engrelas historias. Una verdadera joya.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- debbie mohr
- 01-03-23
So talented
George Saunders, writer, voice talent and musician. Its hard to imagine that reading these stories myself would have been nearly as entertaining. Great book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Spam
- 08-25-19
Greatest living short story author reads own work.
Saunders is a national treasure. His readings of his own work are funny, touching, edgy. Treat yourself to this marvelous book. It’s short but you will listen to it many times.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- M. J. Walsh
- 01-13-21
Our thoughts are our life
Strangeness, not to mention weirdness and the bizarre, presents at almost every corner in this collection of stories by George Saunders.
Titillation for jaded hipsters? Yes, they are... But they are also so much more because they are not two dimensional. These excursions into florid imaginings are darkly funny, solemn and so expressive of life. Our thoughts are often strange and our thoughts are our life. Is that a learning to take from the stories. Maybe.
As might have been expected, Saunders reading his own work is a pleasure to experience.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 06-24-21
Brilliant but depressing
Great performance and sometimes brilliant writing but most of the characters lead sad and empty lives, so it’s best to listen to these stories in small chunks.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- E S.
- 11-02-20
So wonderful
This book is one of unique and poetic short stories. They are sad, beautiful, funny, and often unapologetically vulgar. The author has a one-of-a-kind style that also feels familiar, and he reads with sincerity and well-timed wit. It's truly wonderful. So, so, so, so wonderful.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Tom
- 05-27-21
Good writing, pointless stories
Sorry. I just don’t get the great rep Saunders has. Lincoln in the Bardo was a total mystery so I tried this collection. Not impressed.
The satire is very obvious, so there’s no anticipation. An essay would have been more effective. I think either marketing or Academia are responsible for the acclaim. His work is lost on me.
Three stars for well written sentences.
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3 people found this helpful