Random House
January 2013
On Sale: January 8, 2013
272 pages ISBN: 0812993802 EAN: 9780812993806 Kindle: B008LMB4C2 Hardcover / e-Book Add to Wish List
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, βVictory Lap,β 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 βHome,β 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 killβthe unforgettable characters that populate the pages of Tenth of December are vividly and lovingly infused with Saundersβs 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 Decemberβthrough their manic energy, their focus on what is redeemable in human beings, and their generosity of spiritβnot only entertain and delight; they fulfill Chekhovβs dictum that art should βprepare us for tenderness.β
Media Buzz
CBS Sunday Morning - June 14, 2015 Diane Rehm Show - NPR - February 12, 2013 PBS News Hour - February 4, 2013 Charlie Rose - January 29, 2013 Colbert Report - January 29, 2013 All Things Considered - January 20, 2013 Studio 360 - January 12, 2013
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