I can't say I "enjoyed" the stories, as much as I appreciated the craft of writing in his work. These stories are dark, very dark. But his characters are intriguing and the stories themselves are incredibly compelling.
The aspect I liked the most was Saunders ability to take the reader beneath the surface, to the inner life of his characters. The action is always complemented with a narrative of his characters perception of the events - Fascinating.
Glad to know you persevered. We had it on our book club list last year, but the reviewer substituted another book for many of the reasons you mention. I know she was thinking of some members' reading tastes, but I wish she had not made a substitution.
ReplyDeleteWell -- the great thing about a book of short stories is that you can skim the stories that aren't enjoyable and move on to the more pleasurable ones. Glad I persevered :-)
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