bonkers bananas short stories

I've never read a short story collection quite like this one, or a collection I liked as much as this one from start to finish. I made jokes to my peers who read this book with me, as well as in my Goodreads review, that I'd like to have whatever Saunders was having when he wrote these stories. But in all seriousness, he as a writer has the kind of tone that makes readers even remotely familiar with his work go, "Oh, that's Saunders for sure." He has such control over each of the narratives, even when things seem completely wacky or abstract. I've since learned that a lot of post-postmodernism elements are at work in these stories. Postmodernism can be understood as traditionally cynical and focused on the idea that nothing really matters. Post-postmodernism, then, decides to go beyond this irony to find some hope. I really see this happening in the first and last stories in this collection (which happen to be my two favorites): "Victory Lap" and "Tenth of December." Just when all seems truly lost, that some one or other is gonna die and the ending might leave you in tears, something turns around and bam---there's just a little bit of hope or redemption in the midst of the sadness and postmodern foundation. All of these stories take place in pretty average places, at a first glance. I was fascinated by how Saunders tells readers what they need to know about the setting and society of a story without directly telling them at all. I mainly saw this happening in "The Semplica Girl Diaries" and "My Chivalric Fiasco." Like, c'mon, the language is hilarious in "My Chivalric Fiasco" and does the necessary work to orient readers in the setting. This is one of several stories that also hints at there being technological advancements and miracles of medicine that we haven't quite reached yet in our own society. From "My Chivalric Fiasco's" KnightLyfe drug to the morbid reality of what's happening to the Semplica Girls, to nearly all of "Escape from Spiderhead," we're thrown into the deep end of stories that Saunders makes believable enough to track with in the midst of things that make it very clear we're not quite situated in a society where everything's normal. If I ever happen to master post-postmodernism, I hope I'm able to at least mimic Saunders' mastery of delayed reveals sorta well. I'll be thinking about these stories for a good long while and definitely want to check out more of his work soon.



Some of my favorite quotes from Tenth of December:

"Why was she dancing? No reason. Just alive, I guess."

"Which maybe that’s what love was: liking someone how he was and doing things to help him get even better."

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