***NO SPOILERS***Fox 8 the fox regularly sits under the open window of a house listening carefully to the inhabitants’ conversations and examining their books as they read. In this way, he learns “Yuman” language. This experimental short story by George Saunders is Fox 8’s account of how he uses this knowledge to search for food for himself and his fox friends when their situation is dire. This is a weird book. It’s written entirely in Fox 8’s mostly phonetic English and tells a simple but amusi...

This little thing is but a mouthful of fiction, but what a lot of flavors in that mouthful — funny, sweet, sad, and hopeful. I'm asking the same questions you are, Fox 8 ...

Imagine a fox with such daydreaming power that he falls in love with human storytelling and learns to speak and write "human" by listening to stories read at bedtime, hiding behind a window. Imagine him setting out on an adventure that goes entirely wrong because he has based his idea of humanity on that wonderful skill of ours to tell stories, and not on real experience of our random cruelty.What would make the heartbroken fox heal? Understanding, answers. So he sets out to write a letter, and

This short story was absolutely amazing! Both heartbreaking and sad, the story of Fox 8 shouldn't be missed. Our story is about Fox 8, who learns "Yuman" by watching a mom read to her kids at night through a window at their house. Soon he let's it spill to his buddy Fox 7 that he knows the language of the Yumans. They go to "the mawl" to find "fud" for the other foxes in their "groop." They think it's an amazing place, "We saw the Gap!" When they leave with their "fud," the two exit from a diffe...

There are a lot of life lessons packed in this little ditty about a fox that learns to read and speak in ‘Yuman’. As his journey takes him from his cozy fox community, to the shopping mall, and then to a new den and life, he questions why Yumans can’t be nicer. Creative, succinct, and a bit whimsical, George Saunders’ message is loud and clear. Thanks for reminding us!

Fox 8 has learned to speak "Yuman" by sitting outside a house at night while a lady reads to her pups. Though sometimes he takes umbrage at what she reads, particularly that one story about a sly fox that tricked a chicken . . . We do not trik Chikens! We are very open and honest with Chikens! With Chikens, we have a Super Fare Deel, which is they make the egs, we take the egs, they make more egs. Not Sly at all.Very strate forword. But now, the foxes are starving, and Fox 8 must attempt a da...

George Saunders is known for such literary achievements as Tenth of December and Man Booker-winner Lincoln in the Bardo, but I went with his newest story as my first foray into his work. And while I did enjoy the character of Fox 8 and his quirky dialect, I was ultimately left asking myself: But what’s so new about this?Fox 8 is a curious daydreamer and learns to speak Yuman while listening to children’s bedtime stories outside of a bedroom window. But with this new insight, Fox 8 soon learns th...

The first work by Saunders I have ever read was his bestselling Tenth of December this past year, and I was blown away by his literary prowess, mesmerized with the word dance and structure of reality he portrays in his work. Fox 8 was a little Kindle Single impulse buy, and for 99c I could enter into a Saunderian world once more. I bit like a sly… er… you get the point.The thing about this text is that there really was nothing special about it on the surface. It is small, simple, and in terms of...

OMG! It's rare for me to literally laugh out loud, but this short story had me cracking up every page--actually more like every paragraph. George Saunders' wicked way with words is never more exemplified than here, in the point of view of a fox. His glorious misspellings and hilarious societal observations are just perfect throughout. Despite being a 30-45 minute read, this one will endure with me forever.Side note: I'm an audio lover, but you have to read this one to get the jokes. After readin...

Fox 8 started out with me chuckling aloud, and ended with me near tears. That’s a lot of emotion for a book just short of 50 pages. It’s unusual, original and very relevant. I’m not sure how to describe any better than the synopsis above does, but I will say it’s well worth reading and I don’t think I’ll be forgetting it anytime soon.Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com

I really wanted to love this short story from the bottom of my heart but it couldn't really convince me wholly. Even though I truly loved the book design with its illustration, I disliked the writing style of this story (I read the German translation and I can't explain it but I had a hard time to read/decipher the words in general, maybe it was hard for me because German wasn't my mothertongue). The story itself was cute, sad and touching. It didn't really feel entirely unique but it was okay a...

This illustrated short story broke my heart. It is a plea for compassion and goodness. Thanks to my Goodreads friends for reviewing this beautiful little book and letting me know about it. Without you, my reading life would be so bland.

"If you want your Storys to end happy, try being niser." Fox 8 is a cute, short story told from the perspective of a fox. The book will make you laugh, make you go awwww, make you sad, and make you wonder what has happened to humanity. For a short book, there are a lot of emotions contained in its pages.

I found a copy of Fox 8 in the bargain section of my bookstore and decided to take it for a whirl. In typical Saunders fashion, the short story is moving, humorous, and unique. Told in phonetic language from the perspective of the eponymous Fox, Saunders details the environmental impact humans have on local flora and fauna. Really enjoyable and accompanied by some adorable art.

"Yumans wud walk by and go: Hey, look, Foxes. And drop a bit of fud at us. Soon we had karmel korn, sevral parshul biskits, plus a pare so fresh it did not even stink.I woslike: This must be Fud CortFox 7 woslike: I gess."I'm CRYING!!!It seems as though George Saunders knows exactly what Sadie Hartmann loves to DEATH. I love anthropomorphic stories like WATERSHIP DOWN with the rabbit colony or Disney's Robin Hood with the cute foxes. There's something so endearing about giving animals a human vo...

If my review doesn't make sense, it's because I'm writing this through watery eyes. WOW this book packs a PUNCH! It's absolutely brilliant in every aspect. Adorable illustrations, the view of a fox, the writing itself.. I really could go on and on.This is a tale of innocence. A fox trying to be better to find a way to supply food to his family. One single act changes him forever. The lesson here is deep and certainly socially relevant. Things I absolutely loved was the way it was written - the c...

Short, sweet and kind of familiar, but overall satisfyingly fitting in the Christmas spiritWe follow Fox 8 🦊, who picked up “Yuman” language and is quite a dreamer and an optimist. His world is shaken up by the building of a “Mawl” and an act of sudden cruelty. Fortunately he finds friends in the end so that he can plea for kindness at the conclusion of this fable.The book is rather sweet in my opinion, but beautifully illustrated. In terms of story, I haven’t yet read Watership Down, but Fox 8

Small but powerful. Everything about George Saunders’s new book, “Fox 8,” is unusual. It was published Tuesday in a tiny hardback edition with illustrations by Chelsea Cardinal, but it’s been available as an ebook for years, and the story first appeared in McSweeney’s back in 2010, long before Saunders won the Booker Prize for “Lincoln in the Bardo.” It’s about a fox who learns to speak “Yuman” by listening to children’s bedtime stories. (“First may I say, sorry for any werds I spel rong.”) When...

Well, it's not bad, but the fake fox dialect gets old fast, as does the heavy-handed message. The best part was the illustrations, by Chelsea Cardinal. And it's an attractive small book. I read an almost-new library copy in about 15 minutes. With some skimming. 1.5 stars, rounded up for the cool art. OK, story really is pretty bad. Saunders has fallen into the old trap of playing in someone else's genre, and he's just not very good at it. The story that instantly came to mind, was "The Coon Roll...

I found myself more engaged with this long short story than I thought I would be. Saunders narrates as FOX 8, the name given to a real fox by his den. It's in the form of a letter or story to "Yumans." Part of the charm is the phonetic spelling throughout, because of course a fox cannot spell but has learned "werds" from listening to Yumans tell stories. Normally I hate this gimmick, but in Saunders' hands, it shines.What is at times sweet, funny, recognizable, is at other times dark and tragic,...