Pastoralia by George Saunders
“Deeper into the madness, and then it just ends”
Overview: Saunders takes us even further into the shocking, uproarious, and oddly familiar landscape of his imagination.
The stories in Pastoralia are set in a slightly skewed version of America, where elements of contemporary life have been merged, twisted, and amplified, casting their absurdity-and our humanity-in a startling new light.
Fun Fact: The eponymous story inspired the GEICO Cavemen ad campaign.
I loved the opening, titular story but found the rest of the book to be middling. Like, disappointingly forgettable. I know the stories were kinda weird but for the life of me, I can barely even remember what they were about or even distinguish them from each other. I don't think I've ever felt so uneven about a short story collection. It's so strange that it makes me curious enough to give them a reread at some point, despite the less than flattering description I've just given. I feel like I must have read them incorrectly somehow since the opening story was so engaging and fun.
Saunders definitely has a schtick here – sad-sack characters worn down by the unfairness of life in (mostly) comedic situations – but as there’s just six stories, it doesn’t get a chance to wear thin. The satire is goofy yet melancholic and it never feels mean.
These stories, wacky as they may be, don't paint a very flattering portrait of modern life. A father takes a job as a grunting caveman at a run-down theme park in order to pay his son's exorbitant medical bills. A male stripper earns a meagre wage to support his ungrateful family, who spend their day watching reality TV like How My Child Died Violently and The Worst That Could Happen. A desperate coward attends a New Age seminar, where he repeats the mantra "Now Is the Time for Me to Win!" and then tries remove his mentally ill sister from his home in order to achieve his goals.
