The great story writer Kurt Vonnegut’s sixth rule of short story writing is: Be a sadist! This is advice Saunder’s vehemently takes to his heart throughout his 7 works. The wit, humor and endearing personalities of his protagonists only add. In this way, Civilwarland in Bad Decline stays true to human nature, no matter how far-fetched their situation. Saunder’s protagonists seem to contradict themselves– they are elegant in their misfortunes, find pride despite their brokenness, and some even a necessary quietude in death.

Herein lies Saunders’ greatest strength: his ability to weave the absurd and actuality so tightly together, it makes you genuinely examine your own life. Not once throughout the novella did I question the plausibility of the world, nor was I puzzled trying to understand it. I personally have never been a fan of dystopian or science fiction, but in his novella ‘ Bounty ’ Saunders writes a (perhaps not so) distant reality of the life of ‘Flawed’s’, a subhuman race that was created by genetic mutations, and who are often enslaved and abused at the hands of ‘Normals’, the genetically superior.

While Saunders highlights the awfulness, the greed, the lust and the revolting worst in people, throughout the book’s scant 177 pages the stories never once lose their humanity. In short, Civilwarland in Bad Decline is a depressing book, but a riveting one with immense value all the same. I believe he takes more pleasure in his perfect creatures, and cheers them on like a brainless dad as they run roughshod over the rest of us.” (The 400 Pound CEO) “I have a sense that God is unfair and preferentially punishes his weak, his dumb, his fat, his lazy. However, the hyper-realistic flaws of the protagonists– each one of whom will break your heart, be forewarned– and the inherent truths they seem to understand and disperse are enough to leave you breathless, gutted. In his 6 short story-1 novella (which is longer than short story, but not quite long enough to be it’s own novel) collection, Saunder’s often implements a sort of demented magic realism– it is a lowly amusement park employee who speaks to ghosts, a despondent but kind hearted salesman who can steal memories. The overarching themes presented in Civilwarland in Bad Decline seem to screech, unequivocally: “NO! MAN IS BAD!”. George Saunders, however, argues otherwise in his first book and collection of short works. For every triumph of goodness there is travesty, for every human Saint, there are demons, for every Mother Theresa, there is a Charles Manson.

Or are we? The perennial debate about the core nature of humanity is still being argued, eons on, because the statement: ‘Man is good’ appears to be just as contractidible as it is defensible.

Civilwarland in bad decline