George Saunders is a brilliant writer with an incredible ability to depict a variety of situations (particularly very strange and disturbing ones in this collection) and the stories all have a underlying thread of dread and cynicism that after awhile became a little too much for me. Definitely only read one story at a time and then put the book down for awhile and read something life-affirming to cleanse your palette. I have been a fan of his since his first collection "Tenth of December" where in some cases I could relate to some elements of some of the characters. In this collection, I could not relate but it felt like he is writing in the context of today where we are deeply polarized as a country and thanks to conspiracy theories and social media, we are losing our own ability to think - similar to the puppet like/programmed characters in these stories. So while the writing is brilliant, I found in the end that these stories were just too dark and bleak for what I need now.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

An intense collection of short stories. If you are into dystopian, "could happen but hope it doesn't" sorts of fiction, this book is for you. It was just a bit much for me, I had a hard time getting into it.

3.5/5- This is a hard one to rate. In Liberation Day, George Saunders utilizes a unique narrative style consistent throughout all the stories. In these speculative fiction (and sometimes sci-fi) stories, Saunders uses dry humor to explore the behaviors of humanity through lenses of poverty, political justice, class, and revenge, to name a few. The unique narrative style, full of satire and allusions to real world events, was the most successful part of this collection in my opinion, because it is so unique from others i’ve read. The most unique story where the dry humor was most apparent had to have been Ghoul, though that one ranked in the middle for me. My favorite stories were Liberation Day, Love Letter, and Elliott Spencer. However there were other stories that i just had to DNF (Mother’s Day) or just didn’t understand the purpose of ( My House) or that I just didn’t care about (Sparrow, A Thing at Work). I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes speculative/weird fiction, dry humor, and/or sci-fi.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for a copy of George Saunders’ Liberation Day.

In his latest short story collection, Liberation Day, Saunders explores the shocking realities of human nature, making for an often uncomfortable, yet occasionally humorous, bumpy ride for readers. Saunders forces readers to confront ugly aspects of humanity, seeing those aspects of our own personalities reflected in his characters.

The title story, Liberation Day, is set in a near-future where people who are down on their luck are able to sell themselves as entertainment for wealthy members of society. This cringy situation becomes more fraught when protestors try to help, creating a savior situation and further silencing the voices of those in a potentially compromised position. This leads to the question of autonomy and whether or not it is okay to intercede in situations where you feel someone in a position of powerlessness has made a poor decision. Who gets to decide? All of Saunders’ stories are layered with complicated moral and social situations.

His story Ghoul involves groups of people living underground in Colorado. They spend their days rehearsing for a type of amusement park, where they will act out scenes for visitors. They have various themed sets, such as the wild west and a medieval banquet. They have never seen a guests, but are told the guests will come soon and to prepare, they must constantly rehearse. They are not allowed to question their reality and a strict social code keeps them in their place. If they dare speak out or question, their peers will be obligated to kick the offender to death. It’s very surprising. The main character, who plays a gargoyle type of “Ghoul” is a hilarious and self-serving narrator. As horrific as the situation is, the bluntness and wry observations had me laughing. It also makes the reader consider the things that our own society does not allow us to question for fear of repercussions.

Most of Saunders’ characters are not likable in the slightest, yet I had empathy because their situations, however bizarre, felt universal. Saunders has a keen ability to write absurd situations and make them relatable. I enjoyed how his stories felt like putting together pieces of a puzzle. He drops the reader in and allows them to figure out the situation, teasing out information, rather than spelling it all out. I was able to experience those moments of surprise when I understood what was happening and felt like a participant in the stories. While many authors can write a good plot twist, I can’t remember the last time I read something as truly surprising and mentally engaging as this story collection. I highly recommend Liberation Day.

George Saunders, simply put, is the master of modern short stories. His latest collection, "Liberation Day," is further proof. His trademark writing style is on display as he blends darkness and humour to comment on modern societies greatest woes. From a group of humanoids forced to perform opera's for wealthy onlookers in the titular "Liberation Day," to a man who is brainwashed and cleansed of his memory in "Elliot Spencer," Saunders explores the ways in which power can be abused in how wholly unique way. In "Ghoul," he delves into the disturbing world of underground amusement park workers repeating elements of "Liberation Day" but just when you think he may be dipping into his toolbox one too many times he enters the real world with stories like "Love Letter" and the "Mom of Bold Action," Every story in this collection is a must-read.

George Saunders has reached the point where he can no longer be considered a cult favorite, having reached a point where he is one of the best known living short story writers. It's a reputation that is well deserved, his short stories are both very good and unlike anything else. This newest collection of stories is what readers have come to expect from Saunders; there are odd scenarios involving bizarre theme parks and people who have limited agency over their own lives. The author writes about people who manage to make decisions and take action in environments where they should not be able to do so, even when the characters are very much ordinary guys just trying to get by. This is a solid collection that will make any George Saunders fan very happy and would also be a good introduction for anyone who has yet to read his work.

Liberation Day: Stories, George Saunders, author; Tina Fey, Michael McKean, Edi Patterson, Jenny Slate, Jack McBrayer, Melora Hardin, Stephen Root, narrators.
All of these stories seem to be variations of these same themes: loss, disappointment, grief, sadness, disillusionment, vengeance, pettiness, cruelty, hopelessness, and perhaps, just momentarily, a bit of hopefulness, gratitude, and the milk of human kindness.
In the first story, the longest one, the one that gives the book its title, we witness a world beyond our imagination. For those who have lost all hope of achieving their goals or of attaining success, there is a program that wipes their memories clean and gives them a fresh start. If they enter it, their families will be provided for, though they will no longer be part of their families. The life, as they had known it, would be erased. Their memories would be gone and their age would begin from that day forward, so although they were fully grown adults, they would believe they were only a few years old. They entered this program voluntarily. No one was coerced, though they would soon be slaves, of a kind.
Theirs would be an empty life, a programmed life, in which they would only be aware of information fed into them by means of a receptor. They would be fed by others. Most often they would be restrained. Each day they would be told how to proceed with specific instructions. They would live in the “listening room”, where like actors, they would perform for the entertainment of others by actually becoming the characters in the performance, using only the information fed into their thoughts by external means.
One day, a group stages a rebellion to free these “volunteers”, believing that they know what is right and are the virtuous ones; the accomplice who planned the liberation realizes too late, the error of his own ways. The group’s behavior turns out to be no better, and perhaps a bit worse, than the behavior of those they had condemned.
The story made me uncomfortable, which is a testament to the author’s genius, for as the “speakers/actors” in the listening room are about to make the audience experience the fear of the Battle of Little Big Horn, or Custer’s Last Stand, the reading audience, too, will grow afraid, as I did, afraid to find out what was going to transpire next.
Moving on, in another story, a writer throwing out various plots as she attempts to write, is obsessed with the safety of her son. She suddenly realizes that she does not know where he is, and when he does appear, she sees he is wounded. What has happened to him? Are her reactions or those of her husband rational? Do they become like those they condemn? This seems to be another story about people who thought they were the virtuous, only to discover that they are just as lacking in virtue as those they are judging.
In a letter to a grandchild, a grandparent offers advice with love and kindness, though his advice may not be compatible with your own offerings. To be involved or not to be involved in situations which may negatively affect you or your family and friends, is the question. What would you do?
When a young man and woman, with no particular stand-out or outstanding qualities, find each other, they somehow morph into things of beauty to each other, and others, which proves that beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. Do your opinions often change because of the outward actions of people that you know? If others are accepting, do you follow suit? If they are judgmental, do you become a judge, as well? If a person appears confident, do you view them differently than someone who seems shy and retiring? Are both worthy of the same respect? Is the cover of the book more meaningful than the pages within it? Are you a follower or a leader?
The protagonists in each of the stories has ulterior motives and often, in order to compete or achieve a goal, manipulates and instigates others to do their bidding, even with a subtle form of bribery or blackmail. They justify the consequences of their behavior, on themselves and others, by their particular purpose or need. We witness this kind of behavior every day, in our own worlds, but it isn’t as obvious to us as it is in the worlds the author provides. We are in the forest and do not notice a single tree, but rather the multitude of them. We are simply used to the daily happenstance and seeming randomness of the events we witness regularly. We accept it all without question. The author has skillfully made it more obvious, by pointing out, and then illustrating, our human frailties, the very ones that we wish to avoid, the sins that we wish never to commit, but somehow, he makes it apparent that we all do exhibit poor behavior at times. Sometimes it is without thought. Sometimes it is very well thought out and planned. These are two different kinds of wrong doing, of evil behavior, but both are evil. The drunk driver who gets into an accident may be just as much a murderer as the serial killer. Although we witness this kind of behavior in our own daily lives, in the political environment in which we live, they are larger than life on these pages and serve as a mirror into our own souls. That, in a nutshell, is the gift of this author. He provides the mirror.

I am a George Saunders short story fan, but I am also in awe of his ability to write so powerfully in so many genres. For a while now—he recently celebrated the first anniversary—I have been a subscriber to his Story Club, which is a constant source of delight for readers and aspiring writers alike. So of course, when NetGalley announced Liberation Day was being offered, I immediately requested a copy. As the publisher succinctly asserts, "this is a masterful collection...cutting to the heart of what it means to live in a community with our fellow humans". Saunders' stories are sometimes surprisingly dystopian, (ok, maybe I shouldn't be surprised by now) but always deeply felt and balanced with humor. Though he tackles a wide-range of themes, each individual story is a compelling piece of the collection, testament to his powerful prose. I am in awe of the wild imagination that fuels these stories, and the patience Saunders employs to craft each perfect sentence.

I was first introduced to George Saunders in a creative writing class I took in college. I remember being in awe. Saunders is nothing if not creative, and I have always been intrigued in his work since that class. Honestly, I don’t always “get” it, but I’m usually here for the ride.

As with most short story collections, some grab you more than others, but all were entertaining. Thank you to @netgalley for the digital copy.

As always I love him. I consistently feel like George Saunders is having fun writing and it makes me very happy to read his work. Also love all the continued focus on amusement parks, novelty entertainments, hired (indentured?) protestors....just like, curious sites of artifice and weirdness and often moral bankrupt-ness with it. "Ghoul"/"Elliott Spencer"/"Liberation Day" are a perfect little triad of this, but all the other stories are really great too and bring all other sorts of wicked fun.

A George Saunders story collection is a much-awaited literary event, a creative writing masterclass, and a profound pleasure all in one. This collection is filled with gems both satirical and sad. Each of these nine stories causes us to question our own humanity, our world, and our place in that world. Having read through the book once, I went right back to the beginning to read again more slowly and with more intention and purpose. There are very few writers alive today whose works invite this kind of reading.

This is a lovely collection from an inimitable storyteller. I definitely don't know what I'm talking about in this regard, but having read and loved A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, I feel like I can see the influence of the Russian masters in the types of stories Saunders tells as well as how he tells them. But they're also, in addition, incredibly weird. I really love that combination.

4.25 stars

This collection of stories addresses a diverse range of subjects, characters, settings, and more, but there are common threads that unify the tales nonetheless. Some of the pieces I liked more than others, and some I could see having a place in future English classes, which is great; it’s always nice to have new ideas. Reading a selection of short stories is a very different experience than reading a novel, but I did enjoy this volume and am glad I had a chance to check it out.

"Tenth of December" is one of my absolute favorite short story collections of all time, so I was really looking forward to "Liberation Day." It is vastly different, to say the least, but still remarkable. This one required a bit more concentration and thought to pick up the thread of each individual story, but each narrative was haunting in its own unique way. It is not for the faint of heart, but then again, George Saunders doesn't tend to write his stories for the faint of heart. Highly recommend this one.

I don't know how to feel about Liberation Day. The stories were completely compelling. I don't know if I was in the right frame of mind to read them when I did because they are dark. The inequalities of society, the relationships of family, the lengths people will go to...all themes of these stories. You won't leave it feeling chipper. You will think about it for some time.

Everyday politics amongst dark suburbia infused into some of the most unique literary fiction being written today. The most precise and perfect short stories you’ll ever read and with a chef's kiss early 90s dad lit cover.
I loved this one so much that I had to purchase a physical copy for my shelf.

Liberation Day is a collection of stories that managed to pull me up short, leave me perplexed only to then somehow devastate me in the end. Using unusual writing structures at times, often reflecting strange things done to or by some of his people (they feel much more than characters to me), Saunders presents some overtly, some less, political, historical and science fiction based tales…often all intermingled.

I often found myself dropped into an unknown world at the start of each story, having to read; compelled to continue to discover the “logic” of the piece and the people inside it. “Liberation Day”, the first story, required that attention. Beings somehow attached to a wall who perform at another’s whim and instruction, seeming to have no other life.

“Love Letter” feels like a more real world, only slightly apocalyptic tale as a man writes to his grandson about the world they live in now. As he writes:
I wish with all my heart that we could have passed it all on to you intact… That regret I will take to my grave. Saunders is so observant of the details of what is lost.

I go to find my favorite stories and the list includes most of the nine: the two already mentioned, “Sparrow”, a variation on a love story; “Ghoul”, another story with often startling moments that accentuate its power; “Elliott Spencer”, the story of a man whose mind has been lost; and “My House”, the strangest house sale story I have ever read. I liked every story in the book actually.

I highly recommend this collection to those who like short stories. These are not traditional, perhaps, but they are so well done and deserve the care of reading them closely.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This is a collection of nine short stories. About half of the stories are fairly short, while the others are much longer, taking up most of the book. A few feel a bit gruesome, and may make one shudder with the contents, this is not due to gore, but for how humans may treat other people.

There is a bit of variety, and the author portrays different characters easily with just a few lines. All are intriguing providing a different way of looking at being human, living life in your own way.

One of this year's best books and worth checking out if you like unusual and well-crafted short stories. Jennie and I have a rundown of all the stories on Dear Author. Here's an excerpt from our review:

Jennie: When Janine suggested reviewing this collection of short stories together, I was only vaguely familiar with the author. I remembered that Janine had mentioned him in our joint review of How High We Go in the Dark, and indicated that Saunders was known for literary fabulism. It was only after I looked the author up that I realized he was the author of Lincoln in the Bardo, a novel I’ve heard a bit about, though I haven’t read it.

Janine: He is. Sirius and I have been planning a review of his nonfiction book A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life for ages and I still want to get to it, so if anyone here is interested in Saunders, keep an eye out for it.

I said that literary fabulism was George Saunders’s purview but most of the stories in Liberation Day didn’t read like examples of literary fabulism to me. I don’t think all of the stories in his first two anthologies, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline and Pastoralia (I still haven’t gotten to the third, The Tenth of December) did either but a higher percentage of them might have.

I would only characterize two or of the nine stories definitively as such. “Ghoul,” where the situation in which the narrator finds himself is absurd and takes place in a surreal environment, under circumstances that remain inexplicable even at the end. “Liberation Day,” the titular novella, can be considered a literary fable too.

Two more are maybes. In “Mother’s Day” the penultimate scene is surreal and it’s not 100% clear what it signifies. But that one is really a genre mashup, since up until that scene everything makes sense and takes place in a real-world context. If I squint, I might consider applying that label to “My House,” too, but it could easily be considered contemporary literary fiction. While the things that happen in it aren’t out of possibility, one character’s expectations and reactions are out there.

“The Mom of Bold Action,” “A Thing at Work,” and “Sparrow,” are also contemporary literary short stories IMO. I would describe “Love Letter” and “Elliott Spencer” as dystopian shorts.

Jennie: I think that’s an accurate run-down, though I found “Elliott Spencer” to be a bit surreal in some of the details.

Reading the first story in this collection, “Liberation Day”, started as a disorienting experience. The titular story opens:

"It is the third day of Interim.

A rather long Interim, for us.

All day we wonder: When will Mr. U. return? To Podium? Are the Untermeyers (Mr. U, Mrs. U, adult son Mike) pleased? If so, why? If not, why not? When next will we be asked to Speak? Of what, in what flavor?"

“Liberation Day” is the longest of the nine stories in this collection; it takes up fully 25% of the book. I was confused about what exactly was happening for what felt like a good part of it. The narrator, Jeremy, references “pinioning” and “Fahey cups” and many other things that I didn’t understand. The rather stilted language that Jeremy uses increased my sense of alienation.

What becomes clear (eventually) is that Jeremy, and two other people, Lauren and Craig, are slaves of a sort to the Untermeyer family. How they became slaves is not clear at first – Jeremy believes he was born four years before, but he’s a full-grown man. He does not remember any life before the room where he and the others are pinioned to a wall for the vast majority of their time, occasionally let down to stretch and change the position of their pinioning, as directed by Mr. Untermeyer.

The purpose of their service is a bizarre form of entertainment that Mr. Untermeyer invites his friends and neighbors to witness. Through information they are given by the apparatuses they are attached to, the trio declaim on various subjects in a theatrical manner. (The process seems seamless, as if Jeremy et al. are computers that the information is downloaded to.) The performances seem to be intended to both entertain and inform.

Janine: In addition, a lonely Mrs. Untermeyer has Jeremy passionately recite heated words to her while her husband and son are asleep. Jeremy thinks he is in love with her and wants to please her, but his childlike innocence and the power gap between them are such that this feels like abuse even though Jeremy looks forward to it.

Jennie: Exactly. I really felt for Jeremy there.

The first performance the reader views bores the audience, leading Mr. Untermeyer to employ “singers” as well; he seems somewhat desperate to impress. The speakers and singers put on a performance depicting Custer’s Last Stand, from both the points of view of the whites and the Native Americans. The performance is going much better than the previous one when it’s interrupted unexpectedly, leading to revelations and choices for Jeremy.

This story, and in fact most stories in the collection, invoked strong feelings in me, not always positive. I found myself frustrated to the point of being angry about various things: my confusion, Jeremy’s cheerful obtuseness, the benign malignity of Mr. U’s audience.

I think “Liberation Day” is intended to evoke anger, confusion and distress, and it did that. It wasn’t the last story that had that effect.

Janine: That’s interesting. I agree about confusion and distress, but I didn’t feel anger. I was disoriented to start with but I caught on probably 20% in and developed sympathy for Jeremy’s vulnerability and helplessness. He couldn’t do much about his obtuseness; it was a thing that had been done to him. That was upsetting to read. I zoned out a bit for some of the declaiming but I liked how Saunders ultimately threaded together the themes of the Custer’s Last Stand performance with what was taking place in the novella and in Jeremy’s life.

Jennie: There were obvious and poignant parallels between Jeremy and the last character he plays, that of an Army Lieutenant who gets away from the massacre but then makes a seemingly inexplicable choice. I really felt that the entire performance within the story was masterfully done and oddly moving (I say oddly because I generally don’t have a lot of sympathy for Custer et al. but I ended up feeling for all of the characters in the story-within-the-story).

Janine: The ending of this novella made it (for me) the saddest in the collection. It made me think of Daniel Keyes’ famous story “Flowers for Algernon.” Thankfully it didn’t break my heart to quite the same degree. This one was a B+ for me.

The next story, “The Mom of Bold Action,” was probably my least favorite. The narrator is a writer (and not a very good one) attempting to come up with a good concept for a story while at the same time focusing obsessively on the dangers to her young son who has a dangerous lung-related illness. She frets and panics over anything that might happen to him. When he comes home with scratches on his face and says an old guy pushed him down, she and her husband immediately call the police. After two suspects are apprehended and the boy can’t identify the culprit, her sense of futility and frustration goad her into escalating the violence.

This was an unsettling story.

You can find our thoughts on all the stories here: https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-b-reviews/b-plus-reviews/joint-review-liberation-day-by-george-saunders/

With his usual humor and surrealism, George Saunders returns to the short-story form with this amazing collection. These ten stories are trademark Saunders--surreal, quirky, and fun--but, most importantly, they comment on larger, more profound societal and political issues with astute precision.

I both read and listened to parts of this book, which was enjoyable, especially since many of the stories are narrated by celebrities, including Jack Brayer ("Ghouls"), Melora Hardin ("Mother's Day"), and Tina Fey ("The Bold Mom of Action.". The title story, "Liberation Day," is read by Saunders himself and is the longest story in the collection. In it, people, who come on hard times, can "apply" to be props in rich people's live performances. The "Speakers" literally have their memories wiped out, are restrained against the wall on a stage, and must perform for a person who has the means to pay their families for the ownership. In this case, a trio are performing Custer's Last Stand for Mr. U. and his rich friends. While the main mind-wiped Speaker considers it an honor to do this work, he doesn't remember his family (who are being paid by Mr. U.); he thinks he's in love with Mrs. U, who is molesting him; and he's upset when Mr. U's son Mike brings in a Resistance group intent on taking this indecency down. While funny and action-packed, the whole idea of this seems far-fetched--until you remember how far people will go to survive in today's world, how some are forced to be degraded or harmed just to survive.

All of the pieces in this thought-provoking collection have the same undercurrent. In "Ghoul," Mike, a performer in a twisted theme park called Maws of Hell, is part of a hierarchical and dangerous livelihood where performers are killed if they say out loud that they realize their park never gets any visitors. In "The Mom of Bold Action," a mom gets irrationally angry and vindictive when her son is pushed down by a mentally unstable man. Each story seems to have people made worse or harmed or controlled by a society that, as a whole, has forgotten how to be humane and decent. It's a society that dehumanizes out of selfishness, arrogance, and/or and societal class structures. Is Saunders commenting on where he sees today's America going?

If you're a Saunders's fan, you love this collection. And, if you've never read Saunders or just read his book, Lincoln in the Bardo, I highly suggest you give this collection a try and absolutely read Tenth of December. Both of these collections are filled with stories that will make you chuckle, amaze you with their surreal brilliance, and absolutely make you think and rethink issues that are prevalence in real-life today. Read this and see a short-story master give us readers brilliance to chew on.