Maybe the god we see, the god who calls the daily shots is merely a sub-god. Maybe there’s a god above this sub-god who is busy for a few minutes with something else and will be right back, and when he gets back will take the sub-god by the ear and say, “Now look…”
If you haven’t yet read George Saunders’ futuristic satire, put this 1996 award-winning collection of short stories at the top of your to-read list. Now. Better yet, buy it as a holiday gift for your favorite curmudgeon and see them chuckle for a change at this vision of a futuristic world where society’s worst tendencies have created a hostile, elitist, toxic environment, yet where the downtrodden endure with irrational optimism. Set in a historical theme park peopled by unscrupulous management, wage slaves, ghosts, and real slaves known as flaweds [due to their genetic mutations], Saunders’ stories combine Hemingway’s terseness with Hallmark Channel hopefulness and dystopian vision to rival Margaret Atwood at her most outlandish. In the pivotal scene of “Bounty”, for example, the hero weighs forced servitude with three squares and a daily toot of cocaine against the possibility of escape to a rumored land of pastoral beauty and unfettered freedom. Then an old timer advises: Don’t budge from here. Learn to enjoy the little you have. Revel in the fact that your dignity hasn’t been stripped away. Every minute that you’re not in absolute misery, you should be weeping with gratitude and thanking God at the top of your lungs. It sounds outlandish, like the threat of coal in your Christmas stocking. And yet it is not, as our hero learns, and still he keeps his eyes on the prize with sentimental naivete. To sample Saunders’ wry humor, listen to a snippet from the title story in which he explains the genesis of this strange world.
This book is 224 pages or 5 ½ hours on Audible, artfully narrated by the author.