Pastoralia by George Sanders--a review

So I'm a little behind on the George Saunders bandwagon. This acclaimed writer has been concocting essays, short stories and novellas for a decade or so. His writing leans toward the absurd aspects of human life as he explores the themes of consumerism and morality. I did not know anything about Saunders until my Humor in Writing course. Professor Egerton (an improvisational comedian and published writer himself) read for us from one of Saunders' books, a piece called "Ask the Optimist" in which a super happy advice columnist ends up getting into nearly physical straits with one of those in need, a pathetic sort of character desperately needing advice on how to get his girlfriend back. The piece had the entire class laughing. When Professor Owen Egerton generously decided to lend out some of his books, I greedily picked out Pastoralia, a selection of short stories by Saunders.

From the first page of the first story, you immediately realize that Saunders is not a typical writer of fiction. The scene he describes in his first story, "Pastoralia," is one of disorienting incongruity as the reader enters the life of man paid to act as a neanderthal in a lifelike diorama, a spectacle for modern day tourists. The settings of each of his stories cannot easily be compared with a reality we are familiar with. What individualizes each story are the little details Saunders includes which give his environments a bizarro, alien sort of feeling such as with the caveman setting of the title story "Pastoralia", or that in "Sea Oak", an apartment complex rife with trigger happy child gangs. Saunders manages to successfully bring together these odd contexts with characters whose depth and voice cannot be mistaken for anything but flesh and blood human beings.

The stories are written in Saunders' dialect--idiosyncratic, quick, masculine, and matter of fact. Saunders as a narrator is a voice that melds with the protagonist. The perspective is amazingly flexible and omniscient, capable of cruelty and compassion. While he describes the grave misfortunes of his characters, underachievers who try to make sense of the scraps God has given them, he gives them a light at the end of the tunnel, ways to redeem themselves. It's funny how Saunders' characters share the same underlying sense of failure, either knowingly or unknowingly, and the reader is able to connect with a helpless hopelessness. But all of this may be terribly misleading. What is important to know is that Pastoralia is above all else is a collection of stories that are inventive, hilarious, and written with insight and compassion. Saunders is close to his characters in a way that most authors cannot accomplish.

My own opinion of this book matches the rave reviews plastered all across the jacket of this book. Saunders' voice cannot be mistaken for anything but extraordinary. Very excited to learn from and read more of this author.