Witty, provocative and emotionally piercing, each of these stories hold characters and plot lines fascinating enough (and messages important enough) to base an entire book around. A captivating work of genius that shocks, terrifies and pleasantly surprises at every turn.

These stories are funny, subversive, depressing and hopeful all at once. I found them so riveting, so easy to read, that I never felt there was a Writer showing off behind the curtain. I've read this and "Pastoralia" so far and really recommend both. The title story of "December" and "Escape from Spiderhead" I won't be forgetting anytime soon.

Except for one story (Exhortations), I found every one of these stories to be thought provoking and very good. The last one (Tenth of December) is exceptionally good. I was very touched by the emotions that story evoked. Semplica Girl Diaries was surprisingly good too although it took me some time to figure out what the SG meant.

Flashes of brilliance, some very intriguing experiments with voice and perspective, and a lot of odd, far-fetched plot developments. I had a hard time with suspension of disbelief.

This extravagantly praised new collection of short stories from "Genius Grant" recipient George Saunders is, along with Zadie Smith's "NW," the most overrated book I've read in the past year. He's supposed to be a satirist, but I can't tell what he's satirizing aside from bad writing. None of these stories made me feel or think anything. If he's a genius, we are all geniuses. Egregiously acclaimed.

Eleanor Wachtel interviewed him on her CBC show...As always an excellent interview.

I find it hard to describe these short stories...definitely compelling reading and sometimes strange, sometimes funny, sometimes sad. Saunders has both a sharp and compassionate pen, and enormous talent to write such a variety of stories. Would love to hear him talk about his work.

Compelling and sometimes disturbing stories, which are all worth reading.

Not necessarily this book, but something by this author; an article about him sounds intriguing.