Author: George Saunders
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Hardback
Staff Pick! Sam says...
George Saunders loves Big Feelings. Not just in the sense of feelings that are strongly felt, but also affect that has a wide effect. He is the poet of Workplaces and Nations, and the climates of feelings which shape and define them. In Liberation Day, his most recent collection and his first since winning the Booker, everything is turned up to 11 - he has perfected all of the quirks that make his writing so singular and powerful, and turned the dial on all of them. This has the strange effect of producing some of both his best and worst stories. The title story is among the former, a Hegelian nightmare of historical re-enactment using human robots in the front room of Near Future America. It is a piano wire of story that resonates with righteous fury. It’s so good, that on the strength of it alone, this book is pretty unmissable. At Christmas, we all need a designated driver, and whether you’re an old fan or new to his work, you know you’re always in safe hands with ol’ George.