Classic collection from short story maestro

• Published date: 03 December 2022
• Publication title: Mix, The

George Saunders

Bloomsbury

It is not an exaggeration to say George Saunders is a master artisan of the short story form.

Liberation Day is a collection of nine stories, ranging from comically surreal speculative fiction to more reflective realist pieces. This is all classic Saunders — surprising, empathic, and a little bawdy.

It is ironic then, that readers might associate Saunders with his novel of ghostly shenanigans: Lincoln in the Bardo (2017). The one time the author decides to try out his talents on a novel, he wins the Booker Prize.

He is that sort of generational talent.

Many of the tales of Liberation Day read like modern parables, they ask you to exercise your empathy, to view things from multiple points of view.

Quirky conundrums abound — how to avoid a hoard of your peers not kicking you to death while you are employed as ‘‘Squatting Ghoul Two’’ in an underground theme park (Ghouls). Should you turn in a fellow employee for stealing office supplies, does that position change when you learn of her circumstances (A Thing At Work)?

There are indications that the increasing ‘shoutiness’ and polarisation of the world is a concern for Saunders.

Elliot Spencer features an octogenarian homeless man brain-washed into becoming a political protester trained to shout ‘‘BastardTurdCreepIdiots’’ with...