This book is getting rave reviews and critics are calling it

Zettels Traum

>>9101814
Pynchon is a fan of saunders. That's all you need to know.

>>9101814
But is it actually good? I'm wary of anything that has "NYT bestseller" on the cover

Shit I just saw a review of this too. I was kind of wondering if it was actually worth getting

Just started, so take this with a grain of salt.
My first impression was "oh great muh postmodernism" but it actually seems pretty dope.
From what I've gathered about half of the book is discussion between characters in the bardo, which is like a purgatory sort of place, by dead people, and the other half is quotes from real letters and books from the time to describe real events.
These quotes were a bit disorienting at first, entire chapters consist of nothing but them, and each has an attribution after it, and many are only one sentence long. One short chapter with quotes about the moon gave me a giggle. Am going to go read more now.

>>9101814
>I'm wary of anything that has "NYT bestseller" on the cover

this is /lit/ your posting on. we don't value commercial or popular success. we only ask is it post modern? and whats that page count, my man?

His short stories anthology is a personal favorite of mine, really excited to see if he can take what made them great and expand it into a novel. Plus critics know *hecka* more than some randos on lit, don't buy into the anti-hype

looking at it now. It's po-mo as fuck. enitre pages full dialogue but written as quotes. it looks readable, might finish it in a few days. I've read two of his short story collections and they are entertaining in a hyper satirical way.

>still wanking to """"""new"""""" age asian shit like the bardo
Eat a cock, georgie porgie.

Going to read it this weekend after I finish Rabbit, Run.

I am a fan of Saunders' short stories, but I don't know how well his skills there will translate into a novel-length work. Reviews have me cautiously optimistic, though.

>>9106382
My copy has a weird but pleasant pine-like smell, maybe it was an accident and some chemicals landed on it or it was a great idea by the marketing team.

>>9101814
shill thread
sage

Is this like Pedro Paramo?

>>9101814
i HATED civil war land so idk if ill try this

the last story in that collection was literally just Saunders going REEEEEEEEEEEE NORMIES OUT for 60 pages

The audiobook is weird, 166 readers, 1 for every character/quoted writer.
The quote chapters often end up with a different reader every 15 or so seconds. Kinda hard to follow at first. The bardo parts work really well though.
>that reader was cute I wonder who she is
>look it up
>Lena Dunham

>>9101814
I thought The Tenth of December was overrated, but I'm still pretty excited to read this. His talent is evident, but a lot of it was too on the nose for me.

>>9103265
>I'm wary of anything that has "NYT bestseller" on the cover
If you knew you would sell at least 100,000 more with it on would you?

>>9107232

Smelling my copy that was delivered from Amazon today now, and I'm not getting much pine when it is open, but when it's closed and I push my nose up against the deckled edges of the pages pushed together, I can kind of get that pine-y scent.

However, grabbing other deckle-edged books from the last few years off my shelf, I get small hints of that same scent (though less prominent; they're older though so one would expect any scents would dissipate). Given that, I would assume it's something related to the cutting/binding process as opposed to any conscious choice.

I'm only about 1/4 of the way through, liking it so far.

>>9107480
With the thousands and thousands of shill threads coming from CTR and /pol/ in the last few months, I will take a new, somewhat apolitical po-mo novel about grief any day.

>>9107550
To be honest that's all I need to know. If an author doesn't care about the way his work is presented and is fine with turning it into a cashcow with some celeb sprinkles and Bestseller stickers, I'm probably not going to enjoy it.

>>9108782
That is called "having a good publisher", and outside our pathetic little hugbox, New York Times is not considered pleb daily.

>>9108805
Of course. Just like going from talkshow to talkshow or using any other means to create an image is part of the game too and makes you "publishable".
My point is that from my experience, those willing to play the game or give away artistic control speak a lot less to me. I didn't say he'd be bad, just that I probably wouldn't enjoy him. Why are you so defensive and upset? What is even supposed to be my hugbox?

And the NYT review section has been considered "pleb daily" since before either of us was born, what do you think how The New Criterion got founded.

Jesus, people are so thinskinned.

>>9108823
>give away artistic control
??

>>9108828
E.g. not being allowed to illustrate your own book, to design the cover, to choose who stars in the movie, or having a say in which controversial celebrities convey your work to push sales a bit with a certain target demographic.

>>9108843
>George Saunders writes several well-regarded, but obscure, short story collections and teaches writing at Buttfuck University, Syracuse.

/Lit/ doesn't care.

>Novel becomes a best-seller and the publisher hires a celebrity to do the audiobook.

/Lit/ throws a tantrum.

>>9108866
>/lit/ is one person
>doesn't matter it's your first day on the board in like a year, this is your pathetic little hugbox

The only one throwing a tantrum are you. I merely said I probably wouldn't enjoy it. If you picked up a book and the back is full of praise by John Green, you'd probably think twice about buying it too.

>tfw drunk and calling Saunders a cuck on his Facebook page and he responds with 'huh?' and blocks you

>>9101814
I recieved an advance reading copy of this one and Auster's 4321. Had high hopes for this, but it was shit. Derivative, haughty crap by somebody who knows how to write a short story. 4321 on the other hand blew me away. Writing is incredible. Ambitious as fuck and sincere Seems like a different Auster desu. The Columbia sit-in sections were a bit of a slog, but this book was a fucking sleeper hit.

>>9108782
>>9108823
>>9108843
Apparently it was his idea to have a different person for each voice, some of the readers of small parts are his family and friends. He even has a pretty large roll in the audiobook.
It really does work well to convey how different sources are being used, and the conversations work well.
Seems like you are the thin skinned one to freak out when you don't actually know the details.

>>9108782
>try to do something different and entertaining to engage listeners and blind people
>get shit on by Anon on an indonesian hieroglyphics scroll forum

Can even be po-mo in audio form because /lit/ doesnt like fun.

>>9108782
Lena is a cunt and her political and social leanings are beneath contempt, but I do enjoy her performance ability in Girls. At least she is self deprecating and portrays misery adequately, probably due to mental illness.