Tenth of December

stories

Hardcover, 272 pages

English language

Published July 10, 2013 by Random House.

ISBN:
978-0-8129-9380-6
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4 stars (43 reviews)

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 …

6 editions

Tenth of December

4 stars

1) "From across the woods, as if by common accord, birds left their trees and darted upward. I joined them, flew among them, they did not recognize me as something apart from them, and I was happy, so happy, because for the first time in years, and forevermore, I had not killed, and never would."

2) "We left home, married, had children of our own, found the seeds of meanness blooming also within us."

3) "Oh, God, what a beautiful world! The autumn colors, that glinting river, that lead-colored cloud pointing down like a rounded arrow at that half-remodeled McDonald's standing above I-90 like a castle."

4) "Yeah, right. Like any of that was happening. Like he was racing back. They'd see through him. They'd fry his ass. People were always seeing through him and frying his ass. When he'd stolen Kirk Desner's flip-downs, the kids on the team had …

Review of 'Tenth of December' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A series of very similar stories that are all both funny and tragic. GS says in an afterward discussion with David Sedaris that he likes to put ordinary people in a high-pressure circumstance and see what happens, i.e. he claims that he doesn't plan his stories out, but rather starts with an idea or situation and just sees where it goes. There are assorted delightful things here; medications that make characters fall in love or speak in Olde English, a reality TV show called I, Gropius that I will not describe, and, in more than one story, the redemption of an heroic act.

[Note: Some years ago I read a story that I liked a lot. I don't recall the title or author. It was the story of an overweight young man with OCD-like repetitive thoughts about his perceived worthlessness who stumbles upon a struggling child rushing down a river. …

Review of 'Tenth of December' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

It took me too long to decide whether Tenth of December is pathos or bathos, compassion or cruelty. I’m going with kindness, because Saunders seems too aware and insightful to be nasty. Compassion takes many forms and I think this is one that I hadn’t seen before.

They’re trying their best; they just don’t know any better. Most of Saunders’s protagonists are slow-motion train wrecks: no prefrontal cortex, no impulse control or foresight. Barely human and yet oh so human. Saunders shows us their inner voices, and they sure are ridiculous—but aren’t we all? Who of us isn’t a train wreck? Each story is excruciating to read. We all know what’s coming, and we all know people like those, and we wish there was something we could do to help... but just like in real life, there isn’t.

I wonder if Saunders is pulling a fast one. Aiming for different …

Review of 'Tenth of December Stories' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

American journalist George Saunders is often known for his short stories; a finalist for the 2006 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for his first collection of stories, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline. His second collection In Persuasion Nation was a finalist for The Story Prize (2007). So when his third book of short stories came out this year Tenth of December you can bet it received a lot of buzz.

I’ve personally not read George Saunders before but when people keep calling him one of the best writers in this medium I knew I had to check him out. Tenth of December reminded me firstly of Deborah Levy’s collection of short stories Black Vodka, simply because it had that same feel to them (at least for me); that contemporary and witty flavour with an element of darkness.

Tenth of December blends ten thought provoking stories with his own blend of satire that is …

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