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Tenth of December

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Tenth of December

By: George Saunders
Narrated by: George Saunders
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Buy for $13.50

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF TIME’S TEN BEST FICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE • ONE OF ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY AND BUZZFEED’S BEST BOOKS OF THE DECADE • ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW’S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

One of The New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of the Century

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: People, The New York Times Magazine, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, New York, The Telegraph, BuzzFeed, Kirkus Reviews, BookPage, Shelf Awareness

One of the most important and blazingly original writers of his generation, George Saunders is an undisputed master of the short story, and Tenth of December is his most honest, accessible, and moving collection yet.

In the taut opener, “Victory Lap,” a boy witnesses the attempted abduction of the girl next door and is faced with a harrowing choice: Does he ignore what he sees, or override years of smothering advice from his parents and act? In “Home,” a combat-damaged soldier moves back in with his mother and struggles to reconcile the world he left with the one to which he has returned. And in the title story, a stunning meditation on imagination, memory, and loss, a middle-aged cancer patient walks into the woods to commit suicide, only to encounter a troubled young boy who, over the course of a fateful morning, gives the dying man a final chance to recall who he really is. A hapless, deluded owner of an antiques store; two mothers struggling to do the right thing; a teenage girl whose idealism is challenged by a brutal brush with reality; a man tormented by a series of pharmaceutical experiments that force him to lust, to love, to kill—the unforgettable characters that populate the pages of Tenth of December are vividly and lovingly infused with Saunders’s signature blend of exuberant prose, deep humanity, and stylistic innovation.

Writing brilliantly and profoundly about class, sex, love, loss, work, despair, and war, Saunders cuts to the core of the contemporary experience. These stories take on the big questions and explore the fault lines of our own morality, delving into the questions of what makes us good and what makes us human.

Unsettling, insightful, and hilarious, the stories in Tenth of December—through their manic energy, their focus on what is redeemable in human beings, and their generosity of spirit—not only entertain and delight; they fulfill Chekhov’s dictum that art should “prepare us for tenderness.”

GEORGE SAUNDERS WAS NAMED ONE OF THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD BY TIME MAGAZINE Anthologies & Short Stories Literary Fiction Short Story Thought-Provoking Genre Fiction Fiction Satire Literature & Fiction Witty Funny New York Comedy Heartfelt

Critic reviews

“The best book you’ll read this year.”—The New York Times Magazine

“A feat of inventiveness . . . This eclectic collection never ceases to delight with its at times absurd, surreal, and darkly humorous look at very serious subjects. . . . George Saunders makes you feel as though you are reading fiction for the first time.”—Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner

“The best short-story writer in English—not ‘one of,’ not ‘arguably,’ but the Best.”—Mary Karr, Time

“A visceral and moving act of storytelling . . . No one writes more powerfully than George Saunders about the lost, the unlucky, the disenfranchised.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

“Saunders’s startling, dreamlike stories leave you feeling newly awakened to the world.”—People

“It’s no exaggeration to say that short story master George Saunders helped change the trajectory of American fiction.”—The Wall Street Journal

“An irresistible mix of humor and humanity . . . that will make you beam with unmitigated glee. [Grade:] A”—Entertainment Weekly

“Saunders captures the fragmented rhythms, disjointed sensory input, and wildly absurd realities of the twenty-first century experience like no other writer.”—The Boston Globe

“Tenth of December shows George Saunders at his most subversive, hilarious, and emotionally piercing. Few writers can encompass that range of adjectives, but Saunders is a true original—restlessly inventive, yet deeply humane.”—Jennifer Egan, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Visit from the Goon Squad

“George Saunders is a complete original, unlike anyone else, thank god—and yet still he manages to be the rightful heir to three other complete American originals—Barthelme (the lyricism, the playfulness), Vonnegut (the outrage, the wit, the scope), and Twain (the common sense, the exasperation). There is no author I recommend to people more often—for ten years I’ve urged George Saunders onto everyone and everyone. You want funny? Saunders is your man. You want emotional heft? Saunders again. You want stories that are actually about something—stories that again and again get to the meat of matters of life and death and justice and country? Saunders. There is no one better, no one more essential to our national sense of self and sanity.”—Dave Eggers, author of A Hologram for the King
Compelling Characters • Unique Storytelling • Authentic Voice Interpretation • Emotional Complexity • Original Premises

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"The best art has its reference points in real life." By Carver's definition, Tenth of December is the best art. Saunders looks at people in the context of our culture and reflects them back through his writing with unflinching accuracy. It's acerbic, dark, even frightening, and at the same time Saunders can elicit a contradictory pathos and humor, that brings us back to the yin and yang of real life, like no other author. It is that tragicomic element and Saunders' compassion that keeps the light twinkling in some dark moments in these stories.

I had read a few of these vignettes in The New Yorker, and had read Civilwarland in Bad Decline before this purchase. This compilation of stories is a bit of a departure from Saunders previous writing and seems also more human and real. The characters are challenged or damaged by societal judgements, relationships, the roll of the dice...but there is a redemptive quality that comes through in each situation. The interior monologues are just brilliant; authentic, whether it is a 14 yr. old diva who realizes she has just opened the door to a murderous rapist (Victory Lap, my favorite) or an old man dying of cancer and bent on suicide (Tenth of December). Saunders gets into their heads--the reference point feels as real as it gets, your emotional response to the stories tells you so.

I can't recall ever seeing so many literary giants' names attached to a book, like *Product Placement/Integration*, by the critics...Vonnegut, Pynchon, Twain, Checkhov, Orwell, Hemmingway, Barthelme, Wallace, Joyce, and O'Connor...but Saunders is an original that is genius. This truly may be "the best book you'll read this year." [NYTimes]

Bonus that Saunders reads his own work, but he speaks rapidly and words run together-- you may want to keep your device at regular speed instead of 2x. With the quick shifts of character consciousness, there are times that it's also difficult to distinguish which character is speaking. For readers that aren't sure about reading a volume of short stories, this is a great collection by an author that is considered the master of the genre. The 10 stories have different themes and pacing; you experience a bubble effect that I preferred to savour rather than jump immediately into the next story. Short stories are perfect for days when that *real life* conflicts with the desire to read all day.

Offbeat--the Best Beat

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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Definitely, but I would warn them they need to be able to laugh at our dark side

Any additional comments?

George is a genius and hearing him read his work made it all the more interesting.

The Master of the conversations inside our head...

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George Saunders's tales of a vast suburban wasteland fit the times. It's a bit uneven, but It's worth the price of admission for the first tale, "Victory Lap" and the last, "Tenth of December" both of which I listened to twice. I also enjoyed hearing the author read his own stories.

First and Last Stories are best

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Would you listen to Tenth of December again? Why?

Yes. For the one negative that I have with the book: I had a very hard time telling when one story stopped, and the next one began.

What did you like best about this story?

The author reading the book gave the stories a unique voice and the voice of how it should be read.

What about George Saunders’s performance did you like?

His "Wisconsin"-style accent. Funny and interesting.

Any additional comments?

The stories were imaginative and interesting. I enjoyed every one of them and thought they were the most original ideas I have heard in a long time.

Excellent with a Note

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Haven't heard storytelling like this since Thom Jones. It's great stuff, a truly original voice.

Great storyteller!!

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