Fair to say that I was primed to like this, having enjoyed so much of what Saunders has written - about writing and about living - not to mention having already read two of its 10 stories, "Puppy" and "Home", never mind the general critical adoration for it.
So it's an indication of how really great Tenth of December is that it did live up to my expectations, wringing drama and feeling, gusts of humour, and fresh ways of seeing the familiar world, in a mode that's endlessly attuned to individuals as well as the larger social and economic forces at whose mercy they at least partly are (that interplay between the humanistic and the political), from its close, compassionate attention to the perspectives, experiences and world views of all of its characters. One thing that Saunders has said in a couple of pieces which left an impression on me is that, by pursuing detail and asking himself 'why' about his characters, he invariably ends up with greater kindness towards them, and that is certainly in operation across this collection.
My favourites were the first, "Victory Lap", and the last (the title story), both generating enormous narrative drive from the life-and-death scenarios they pose and the back and forth inhabiting of their different characters' consciousnesses, and also "The Semplica Girl Diaries", which is remarkable in how both caustic and kind it is; all three made me feel like I would overflow with feeling. Something something humanity, it's close to magic. But there isn't a dud here ("Home" gets better every time I read it; "Escape from Spiderhead" and "My Chivalric Fiasco" both gain from what could easily be distancing stylistic choices; more generally, the sharp veers from naturalism are always on point) and there's an originality to it all which adds to the stories' effect and sting.
So it's an indication of how really great Tenth of December is that it did live up to my expectations, wringing drama and feeling, gusts of humour, and fresh ways of seeing the familiar world, in a mode that's endlessly attuned to individuals as well as the larger social and economic forces at whose mercy they at least partly are (that interplay between the humanistic and the political), from its close, compassionate attention to the perspectives, experiences and world views of all of its characters. One thing that Saunders has said in a couple of pieces which left an impression on me is that, by pursuing detail and asking himself 'why' about his characters, he invariably ends up with greater kindness towards them, and that is certainly in operation across this collection.
My favourites were the first, "Victory Lap", and the last (the title story), both generating enormous narrative drive from the life-and-death scenarios they pose and the back and forth inhabiting of their different characters' consciousnesses, and also "The Semplica Girl Diaries", which is remarkable in how both caustic and kind it is; all three made me feel like I would overflow with feeling. Something something humanity, it's close to magic. But there isn't a dud here ("Home" gets better every time I read it; "Escape from Spiderhead" and "My Chivalric Fiasco" both gain from what could easily be distancing stylistic choices; more generally, the sharp veers from naturalism are always on point) and there's an originality to it all which adds to the stories' effect and sting.
