I could not put this book down. It's funny and heartbreaking and sometimes dark (other times luminous) and a little bit weird. The characters populating these stories try their best to make the most of their (often-daunting) circumstances: they fail and argue and self-delude and look out for each other and misunderstand and have surprising moments of grace. They are, in other words, deeply human. A father wins the lottery and uses the money to throw a party for his daughter, with unexpectedly ugly results; a man imprisoned for murder sacrifices everything to save another; a teenage girl's average, safe life turns upside down in an instant; in the titular story, a dying man ready to give up on life is forced to make a life-altering decision. All of these characters are so fully, hopelessly human.

And George Saunders' writing shines. He has a gift for bringing characters to life, capturing their voices so convincingly that it feels like they're in the room with you. What's more, he successfully balances humor with emotional poignance, brutality with grace, the everyday with the slightly surreal. This is a book worth reading and rereading. ( )

Saunders is as good as they say: brutally frank, funny, totally on track with the human condition today. ( )

I do not generally care for short stories -- I'm more of a novel person. But I like Saunders. As with any collection, some stories are better than others. Tenth of December was my favorite but many were very good. The collection is held together by themes: toxic families, characters that are on the fringes-- damaged, excluded, strange-- and glimpses of redemption (the glimpse is often quickly stolen back as there's a lot of depressing endings.) I wish he would write another novel. ( )

I already want to read it again. Disturbing and totally fresh. Wow. ( )

I already want to read it again. Disturbing and totally fresh. Wow. ( )