A quick read, anywhere, anytime, if you need something to laugh about.

The author's writing style: his ideas are strikingly original, and his words make you laugh uncontrollably.

How people would interrupt my hysterical laughter by asking what was so funny, then my absolute inability to explain.

Read it again, right away; it's really a short book.

Like crying... part of the time from feeling sorry for the characters, and part of the time from laughing too hard.

Is a brilliant satirist, taking scenarios that are bleak when you think about them, but quite funny in the reading.

As mentioned, it's really funny. The losers who populate the short stories, however, are sympathetic characters, similar to you and me. So you're never laughing at them, you're laughing with them, usually because crying for them wouldn't be as comfortable.

Pastoralia is an excellent book. As a final testimony, I first was introduced to George Saunders by a collection of O. Henry Award winners (three of the six stories in the book have received nods from the judges, and another one received second place). As soon as possible, I rented Pastoralia from the library, and after checking it out about six times too many, I realized I would have to part with some of my hard-earned cash and actually buy it... for someone like me, notoriously stingy about buying books, this is a major indicator that something is right about Pastoralia.

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Created Aug 12, 2003 at 10:12am • Submit your own review...