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Title details for Liberation Day by George Saunders - Available

Liberation Day

Stories

by George Saunders
George Saunders
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
MacArthur "genius" and Booker Prize winner George Saunders returns with a collection of short stories that make sense of our increasingly troubled world, his first since the New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist Tenth of December
The “best short story writer in English” (Time) is back with a masterful collection that explores ideas of power, ethics, and justice, and cuts to the very heart of what it means to live in community with our fellow humans. With his trademark prose—wickedly funny, unsentimental, and perfectly tuned—Saunders continues to challenge and surprise: here is a collection of prismatic, deeply resonant stories that encompass joy and despair, oppression and revolution, bizarre fantasy and brutal reality.
 
“Love Letter” is a tender missive from grandfather to grandson, in the midst of a dystopian political situation in the not-too-distant future, that reminds us of our obligations to our ideals, ourselves, and each other. “Ghoul” is set in a Hell-themed section of an underground amusement park in Colorado, and follows the exploits of a lonely, morally complex character named Brian, who comes to question everything he takes for granted about his “reality.” In “Mother’s Day,” two women who loved the same man come to an existential reckoning in the middle of a hailstorm. And in “Elliott Spencer,” our eighty-nine-year-old protagonist finds himself brainwashed—his memory “scraped”—a victim of a scheme in which poor, vulnerable people are reprogrammed and deployed as political protesters.
 
Together, these nine subversive, profound, and essential stories coalesce into a case for viewing the world with the same generosity and clear-eyed attention as Saunders does, even in the most absurd of circumstances.
Cover painting: René Magritte, Man in a Bowler Hat, 1964 (detail), © 2022 C. Herscovici/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 18, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593633052
      • File size: 204954 KB
      • Duration: 07:06:59

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 22, 2022
      Booker winner Saunders (Lincoln in the Bardo) returns to the short form with a wide-ranging collection that alternates his familiar fun house of warped simulations with subtler dramas. In “Ghoul,” actors playing demons at an Inferno-esque attraction called “Maws of Hell” succumb to workplace rivalries under the watchful eye of their managers. “Love Letter,” set in a Trumpist dystopia where “loyalists” report dissenters for infractions, takes the form of a man’s cautionary letter to his defiant grandson. The title story imagines a sinister company whose employees, little more than programs, are forced to recreate Custer’s last stand. Other stories probe loss, regret, and hopefulness. “The Mom of Bold Action” follows a frustrated writer and housewife facing turmoil when her son is attacked by at least one of two identical old creeps. “Mother’s Day” explores the inner life of a once feisty elderly woman now living at a remove from the world after her daughter runs away from home. “Elliot Spencer” combines futurism and pathos as a mind-wiped counterprotester suddenly recovers his identity. Saunders’s four previous collections shook the earth a bit harder, but he continues to humanize those whom society has worn down to a nub. Despite the author’s shift to quieter character studies, there’s plenty to satisfy longtime devotees.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      George Saunders has won many awards for his writing. His skill as an author and as a narrator is on display here. He delivers the first and last stories in this audio collection, bookending an excellent cast. All nine of the stories focus on people with problematic identities, and each narrator embodies his or her protagonist's particular problem in an appropriate and evocative way. There are elements of science fiction and fantasy, but they never lose touch with relatable human experience, even in (so far) completely impossible circumstances. The stories in which the protagonists' humanity is mostly absent still manage to elicit empathy. These are excellent performances of excellent stories. D.M.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      June 10, 2024

      Booker Prize winner Saunders (Lincoln in the Bardo) returns with astute observations about poverty, inequality, power, class, exploitation, revenge, relationships, love, and disappointment. An all-star cast of narrators including Saunders himself, Tina Fey, Michael McKean, Edi Patterson, Jenny Slate, Jack McBrayer, Melora Hardin, and Stephen Root breathe magic into these nine stories. The varied narrators help listeners shift gears, moving from the stories of marginalized employees forced to entertain the rich with a musical of Custer's last stand, to an overprotective mom seeking revenge for a slight against her son, and ending with the man who desperately wants to sell his house to the right buyer but just can't close the deal. Each narrator is perfect for the story they perform as they boost the content and let Saunders's mastery of satire shine. Ranging from sci-fi to realistic present-day settings, the scope of this work goes from weird to wonderful. VERDICT There is a reason Saunders is often cited as one of the finest short-story writers working today. Each story in this collection has the potential to be an all-time favorite, and the addition of superstar narrators makes this an essential purchase for all public libraries.--Christa Van Herreweghe

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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