This is, hands down, the worst book of essays that I have ever read. The discussion was so perfunctory and the style such poorly adapted Vonnegut that I felt insulted that I was even expected to finish it (which I did, assuming that, surely, it had to get better).What's doubly frustrating is that I dove into this one with high hopes. I mean, c'mon, Saunders is often mentioned in the same breath as David Foster Wallace (who I'd comfortably assert is one of the best essayists of his generation). A...

DNF @ 60%.This is a collection of the author's nonfiction pieces. I really liked the first one, but the ones that followed made me scratch my head. That the author is a good writer, and is thoughtful and intelligent is clear. There are nuggets of insight, but I found my mind wandering. I simply didn't care enough to continue.

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)I had the pleasure of getting to talk with legendary author George Saunders for CCLaP's podcast last week, a rare treat given how in demand he is on this latest tour even among the major media; but that meant I had to do some serious cramming in the few weeks leading up to our talk, in that (I guiltily con...

[3.5] After reading the wonderful A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life, I craved more George Saunders. My craving was only partially satisfied with this collection. The essays range from silly (too silly) to serious. My favorites were those that focused on literature - particularly his brilliant essay on Huckleberry Finn.

[Truth be told, I’d like to give the book 4.65 stars]... but oh my Jesus, George has done it again! (And by 'done it' I mean 'been funny' not 'compiled his previously published non-fiction into one book' cause then 'again' would have to read 'for the first time,’ and that's not what I wanted to say. No matter. Still so funny, is my point.) If read in one go the humor might, on occasion, seem overbearing (essays like ‘Ask the Optimist!’ or ‘Woof,’ I thought, were somewhat stale or, dare I say it,...

This collection of essays from George Saunders covers a wide range of territory, discussing everything from the author’s experiences visiting the Buddha Boy of Nepal to an analysis of Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. Saunders sharp eye and even sharper wit come across in most all of these essays, though I think his talent is best displayed in the longer travel pieces. His humor is balanced with a good deal of heartfelt emotion when he writes about watching Arab children see snow for the first time in t...

I'd be giving this book 3 stars if not for an essay on forming sentences. In "Thank you, Esther Forbes" Saunders recalls his emerging love for sentences formed with deliberation and the effects of honest brevity. Wow! and wow! because if I ever find a guy that can recall the moment he fell in love with the structure of a sentence, I 'll do anything and everything within my means to make him love me. and if he doesn't love me, I'll just kidnap him and tie him to a chair and make him read aloud to...

One of those mixed-bag books you get when you're a hot commodity :P "Can we pull together enough assorted stuff you wrote to make a spine thick enough to print your name on it?! Great!! $$$ chaching chaching"The essays on writing were interesting. Great to get more insight into Saunders' style and his teaching method.It seems to me that Saunders' style is but one way of approaching writing. Whenever someone seems so singularly brilliant, in any field, I forget they're just one person who doesn't...

I thought this collection was going to kick so much ass, because the first story was so witty and in-your-face. The rest, however... not so great. The author, ironically, didn't seem to acknowledge his privilege and Western bias that he seemed to be so aware of, initially. Basically, he was saying, the "braindead megaphone" means that whoever has the loudest voice, is most interesting/able to get people to listen to them, gets heard the most. A fairly simple sentiment; but the implications of wh...

4.5 starsSaunders is definitely an acquired taste, but I say that with every good intention. Allow his playfulness to wash over your disbelief and he'll enamor you with his words.His essay on a Donald Barthelme short-story = gold & compels me further down the Short Story Master baton-passing rabbit hole. To me Barthelme is still king of the castle, but have you seen what Saunders has done to the moat?Buddha Boy is very interesting topic, and the essay presents as good of a case at documenting a

There is a nice confluence between this book and DFW's Consider the Lobster-- in particular the last of Wallace's essays, which is on American talk radio, segues seamlessly into the Saunders' first essay, "The Braindead Megaphone", which is as good an essay on the dumbing influence of mainstream media as I've ever read. Oh, and it's fucking hilarious, which when you think about it, why shouldn't it be?So I had never read GS before, neither his fiction nor non-fiction, and DFW is a hard act to fo...

This essay collection was a mixed bag for me. Many of the essays are dated at this point and a lot are infused with his goofy, Midwestern humor that doesn’t resonate with me, even though I’m from the Midwest. Amidst that humor, however, are profound insights into our culture and life in general. Where Saunders really shines, though, is when he writes about writing. I just wished there had been more of those essays in the collection.

The essays on literature are invariably extremely good, but the others are a bit less good

This book is like a summary of how I feel about George Saunders: sometimes hilarious, insightful, moving, surprising, and sometimes just gimmicky and self-indulgent and annoying. A few of the essays (the Dubai one, the dog one) are pretty great. A lot of them are okay. A few are awful, especially the ones that are supposed to be about some idea or issue but are really just all about how clever the author is. Overall, a disappointment, but worth reading if you're willing to skip around. I still l...

I can now say that I am a proud member of the PRKA--I always suspected as much, no matter how angry I get with what I imperfectly assess to be " the state of things", those things themselves somewhat of an abstraction. The state of things is almost always what you make of things......yet death is everpresent, meteoric in itsrelentless intensity, its trajectory: "look who's coming to dinner" now you're post-historic flambe:"the fossil fuel of tomorrow"

When I think "book of essays," what comes to mind is a series of ruminations on how-I-felt-when-I-was-here and what-I-think-about-all-of-this. With his first collection of essays, George Saunders manages to totally screw up my mental model by pairing these personal-political essays with old-fashioned, honest-to-God satire. If you've read any of his short stories, it probably won't surprise you to find that Saunders writes satirical pieces in the best possible way--angrily, and with hope, and wit...

The first few essays are awesomely funny, then it fell off a bit for me, though I'd read some of them already in magazines etc. Totally worth it, but maybe best not to read it all at one time.

I’m typing this just a few minutes after I’ve finished George Saunders first nonfiction collection, “The Braindead Megaphone.” I’ll start by offering the most heartfelt, warm, pleading, petition for you to find a used copy of this book. Please continue reading for more information. The key to Saunders, and something I find absent in many writers I admire, is how optimism-forward he is. He is not afraid to be openly gentle, openly kind, openly vulnerable, and furthermore, is an evangelist for the...

“The best stories proceed from a mysterious truth-seeking impulse that narrative has when revised extensively; they are complex and baffling and ambiguous; they tend to make us slower to act, rather than quicker. They make us more humble, cause us to empathize with people we don’t know, because they help us imagine these people, and when we imagine them—if the storytelling is good enough—we imagine them as being, essentially, like us. If the story is poor, or has an agenda, if it comes out of a