Book review: George Saunders – Pastoralia

I discovered Saunders when I decided I wanted to read all books of the list of 101 Books Tech Alumns Should Read. Saunders was the very first on the list (along with Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow), and that’s right where I started reading. From there, I split away from the list. I ended up buying all Saunders’ books after reading CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, In Persuasion Nation and the Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil (which were all recommended by Paul Verhaeghen in the list).

I recently read “Pastoralia” and I would recommend it to everyone. By tweaking our reality just a little bit, and showing a demented post-capitalist dystopia that looks just a little bit too familiar, his stories challenge our views on society, and laugh at how we can get enslaved in mediocrity.
But contrarily to what you might expect, his stories do not radiate with depression. They are, in fact, of the funniest satire I ever read – which makes it at the same time sting even more, because of the similarities with our daily lives.

Just give it a shot, you might love it as much as I do.

You can read some of his writing here.