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Fox 8: A Story (2013)

by George Saunders(Favorite Author)

4.06 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0812995325 (ISBN13: 9780812995329)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Random House

review 1: A wonderful and simple, short, and sweet story with a number of very good messages. The writing style, which includes a number of words misspelled is cute and funny, but only works because the story is so short. If it had been a very long novel, I feel one would become quickly bothered with the writing style. Still, for 99¢ as a Kindle single, it is definitely worth the read and is suitable for all ages (though may be a bit sad for some younger audiences).
review 2: I was unclear where to place this, star-wise. I considered 3, 3.5, and have just come around to 4. Maybe just because it's a single story by itself and I'm more accustomed to thinking in terms of a collection. Comparing it to some of the weaker stories in the recent GS collection, Tenth of December... more, I've got to say it's engaging, full of pathos, shapely, and satisfying. It *is* deceptively simple, with its child-like tone, which perhaps initially held me back from a 4-star rating. But that way goeth fools. What seems simple is far from it, 98% of the time. The voice of Fox 8, who learns to speak "Yuman," and continues throughout the story to try to understand the Yumans, is incredibly endearing, and manages mostly to differentiate itself from other common Saunders voices -- with the exception of one instance where Fox 8's thoughts incorporate the Saunders tic "due to:" (colon intended). So, yes, a charming and effective fable. Maybe it should even be 4.5 or 5. A last note: Some critics of Tenth of December have noted an emerging tendency for Saunders to be too kind to some of his characters, resulting in a slackening of tension in a couple of pieces. By switching to another species, Saunders freshens things up and evades that problem here. less

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