"Tenth of December" by George Sauders

I was not familiar with George Saunders until reading "Gumption" by Nick Offerman (previously reviewed in this blog).  Mr. Offerman described George Saunders as one of America's best writers, and perhaps the funniest author of our literary age.  So, I had to give George Saunders a try.  "Tenth of December", Saunders' most recent collection of stories, was my initiation.

From the first few paragraphs (actually, it was the second) of the first story "Victory Lap", I was hooked.  Funny?  Absolutely.  Unpredictable?  Assuredly.  Creative?  Boundlessly.  Every story in this collection has moments of complete hilarity - you find yourself chuckling at a phrase or a thought from one of Saunders' characters.

Somewhere around the third or fourth story I realized that the stories seemed kin in spirit to David Sedaris' work.  I had not yet discovered the interview of George Saunders by David Sedaris to finish out the book.  Obviously others have recognized them both as twin rulers of American Satire.

Highlights?  Heck, every story in the book is a highlight.  "Sticks" totally cracked me up, especially one sentence in particular containing the word "glee" (I don't dare quote the sentence in this review - it would ruin the experience for the reader).  "Escape from Spiderhead" was a bizarre dive into pharma-tech that bordered on sci-fi.  "The Semplica Girl Diaries" was a long 'what-the-heck?' journey through the plot as told be a wanna-be journaling dad.

"Tenth of December" is an outstanding collection of stories that entertains from the first through the last.