Tenth of December
I thought that Amarillo, Texas was the armpit of America…until I discovered that it spit out George Saunders. Saunders is the short story guy. He has done stuff for The New Yorker, GQ, The Guardian, McSweeney’s, etc. He also penned an essay for the “Cultivating Thought” series at Chipotle. Who cares about E. Coli when you can feed your brain?
Tenth of December is a collection of short stories by Saunders. I’ve never intentionally avoided the short-story format, but I typically go for a full-blown novel. Why? Absolutely no good reason. My exposure to books growing up consisted of lengthy-ish literature, so I simply continued in that trajectory. Shout out to Nancy Drew and Junie B. Jones.
After this book, I’m born again. A well-done short story is my new favorite way to start the day. The time investment is minimal, but the payoff is enormous. Sometimes what an author wants to say doesn’t require hundreds of pages to convey. In just a few pages, Saunders forces you to care about the characters and feel some resolution about where they end up.
A collection of short stories is even better. Don’t like one of them? Move on to the next. With Saunders, no skipping is necessary. My faves are “Escape from Spiderhead” (a scientific experiment gone wrong, mwahaha), “The Simplica Girl Diaries” (role reversal whereby a kid schools their parent), and the eponymous “Tenth of December”.
I’m not the only one impressed by Saunders’ abilities. Time magazine dubbed him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013. Saunders himself has great faith in what fiction can do for the world and how he can affect people through his work. He says, “What I really think good writing does: It enlivens that part of us that actually believes we are in the world, right now, and that being here somehow matters. It reawakens the reader to the fact and the value of her own existence” (Saunders, 259). Truly, I feel those vibes in his writing. His characters are idiosyncratic but relatable— we see parts of us in them. Tenth of December gets 5 out of 5 flames. This collection is such an easily digestible form of literature and he makes it so appealing to get on board.
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