Pastoralia: Other Stories

August 16, 2005

I also finished Pastoralia, a short story compilation by George Saunders. This was the other book I bought while I was hanging with Miranda July last month, and ironically it’s about eight million times better than hers. It’s not a slight, really, Saunders’ book is just brilliant.

The centerpiece of the collection is the novella length title piece, a story about an employee of a vast theme park reserve. His job, unfortunately, is that of neanderthal re-enactor, which means he sits in a cave and pretends to eat flies, put goat on a spit and snarls as customers poke their head in the cave. He is the guy in the Goofy suit, if Jurassic Park were a real place like Disneyland. His co-worker is a chain-smoking pain in the ass, who doesn’t even bother to grunt anymore. As the days go on, he must deal with her and impending downsizing in Pastoralia.

Saunders is a comedic satire writer, but his eye is so sharp that much of the book doesn’t even feel particularly satirical. It’s always a bit odd but never quite fantastical, but it straddles a line between pure fiction and believable reality. There’s an understated optimism in the work too though, so it’s not merely cynical exercise. My other favorite piece is called “The Falls,” which seems to summarize the entirety of human emotion in two sentences. The book covers compare him to Twain, Vonnegut and Beckett, to give you an indication. I don’t want him to put him in that lofty company. Yet.

“Sea Oak” isn’t one of the great pieces, but it does give you a bit of the flavor, and it is available in its entirety here. It’s a male stripper zombie tale set in the hood. Come on, you know you want to read that.

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