On the Nook Now – CivilWarLand In Bad Decline

One of the funniest and most formidable literature I’ve read in awhile.

One of my new literary “heroes” is George Saunders. I’m behind the eight ball, having only been introduced to him in my GrubStreet writer’s workshop this month. We read and analyzed “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline” as an example for how to build a believable but very fictional world. This short story is also the title of the entire work, which consists of 6 short stories and a novella, which I downloaded to the Nook. Saunders is laugh-out-loud funny, graphically sobering and thought-provoking at the same time. I love his settings, his characters, both the pathetic and evil, and the flawed, dystopian universe he’s created. I wish I had more eloquent literary review to offer but alas, though I’ve spent the past 10 weeks trying to read like a writer, there’s an overpowering segment of my brain that just loves to read as a reader, enjoying art for art’s sake, enjoying the story, contemplating its broader meaning. When I read solely to dissect and critique I feel like a psychopathic medical student, slaughtering an innocent just so I can stick my hands into their gooey insides, finding out what makes the body tick. Though literary autopsies are necessary for aspiring author growth, they’re not always the most pleasant of undertakings.

The other thing I love about Saunders? His text is chock full of sound bites. For those of you who love quotable gems like me, have a peek: “I ask if that’s a threat and he says no, it’s a reasonable future prognostication” or: “I have a sense that God is unfair and preferentially punishes his weak, his dumb, his fat, his lazy. I believe he takes more pleasure in his perfect creatures, and cheers them on like a brainless dad as they run roughshod over the rest of us. He gives us a need for love, and no way to get any. He gives us a desire to be liked, and personal attributes that make us utterly unlikable. Having placed his flawed and needy children in a world of exacting specifications, he deducts the difference between what we have and what we need from our hearts and our self-esteem and our mental health.” Amen. Speaking of amen, if you Google Saunders quotables in general, you get this: “[F*] concepts. Don’t be afraid to be confused. Try to remain permanently confused. Anything is possible. Stay open, forever, so open it hurts, and then open up some more, until the day you die, world without end, amen.”