Book Review- George Saunders' Liberation Day

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for a copy of George Saunders’ Liberation Day.

In his latest short story collection, Liberation Day, Saunders explores the shocking realities of human nature, making for an often uncomfortable, yet occasionally humorous, bumpy ride for readers. Saunders forces readers to confront ugly aspects of humanity, seeing those aspects of our own personalities reflected in his characters.

The title story, Liberation Day, is set in a near-future where people who are down on their luck are able to sell themselves as entertainment for wealthy members of society. This cringy situation becomes more fraught when protestors try to help, creating a savior situation and further silencing the voices of those in a potentially compromised position. This leads to the question of autonomy and whether or not it is okay to intercede in situations where you feel someone in a position of powerlessness has made a poor decision. Who gets to decide? All of Saunders’ stories are layered with complicated moral and social situations.

His story Ghoul involves groups of people living underground in Colorado. They spend their days rehearsing for a type of amusement park, where they will act out scenes for visitors. They have various themed sets, such as the wild west and a medieval banquet. They have never seen a guests, but are told the guests will come soon and to prepare, they must constantly rehearse. They are not allowed to question their reality and a strict social code keeps them in their place. If they dare speak out or question, their peers will be obligated to kick the offender to death. It’s very surprising. The main character, who plays a gargoyle type of “Ghoul” is a hilarious and self-serving narrator. As horrific as the situation is, the bluntness and wry observations had me laughing. It also makes the reader consider the things that our own society does not allow us to question for fear of repercussions.

Most of Saunders’ characters are not likable in the slightest, yet I had empathy because their situations, however bizarre, felt universal. Saunders has a keen ability to write absurd situations and make them relatable. I enjoyed how his stories felt like putting together pieces of a puzzle. He drops the reader in and allows them to figure out the situation, teasing out information, rather than spelling it all out. I was able to experience those moments of surprise when I understood what was happening and felt like a participant in the stories. While many authors can write a good plot twist, I can’t remember the last time I read something as truly surprising and mentally engaging as this story collection. I highly recommend Liberation Day.

Book Review- Celeste Ng's Our Missing Hearts

We have a few more weeks in the year, but I’m going to call it, Celeste Ng’s Our Missing Hearts was the best fiction that I read in 2022. It’s a heavy, powerhouse of a novel about love, suppression, and art. It’s incredible.

Years in the past, Margaret published a book of poetry that did not have a wide audience. Now, she is married and the mother of a young son. Both Margaret’s life and the world around her have changed dramatically. Approximately a decade earlier, the world suffered through a devastating pandemic and the political climate has shifted. China is the biggest enemy and by extension, asian-americans are deemed suspicious. Patriotism is enforced and those who are suspicious must double-down on their efforts, such as donating to causes supporting an America first agenda. Margaret is asian-american and although she has a subversive, artistic streak, she is trying to keep a low profile for the sake of her family.

Margaret’s world is upended when a group of anti-government rebels takes a line from one of her poems and uses it as their slogan. Soon, Margaret is seeing her line, “Our Missing Hearts” show up in the news and in her own community as an act of rebellion. Knowing that it’s just a matter of time before she becomes implicated, Margaret goes on the run. Her son, whom she affectionately nicknamed, Bird, is left in the dark as to why his mother left. Kids are being taken from homes that are considered anti-American and in an effort to keep Bird with his father, his parents have made a complete split. If the police come, his father will give the story that Margaret is subversive and they have nothing to do with her, no clue as to where she has gone. She is the enemy and they do not talk about her in their household.

Years after Margaret left, a preteen Bird finds a hidden message from his mom and decides to run away to find her. Bird senses that his parents have been lying to him and will risk everything to find out the truth.

Our Missing Hearts is absolutely terrifying, primarily because it feels like it could be foreshadowing a future America. Certainly, there are parallels to our current world with the covid pandemic, the rise is asian hate crimes, and the way some people are viewing patriotism. It certainly doesn’t feel far off from a potential future. In addition to making parents fearful of having their children taken from them, a big aspect of the government control is the banning and restriction of books. Libraries play a large part in Our Missing Hearts, however, they are not functioning quite in the way that we know them. In a clever twist, librarians are acting as an underground information network. Rightly so, they are among the heroes in the story. Artists are also heroes, as they put voice to things that others dare not speak. The climax of the story is quite unexpected, spectacular, and heartbreaking.

Our Missing Hearts is a heavy burden of a book, but an important read. It’s one that will linger with you and would make an excellent choice for book groups. I can imagine that Ng and this book in particular, will end up on banned book lists in the future. It’s sure to set some people off.

Book Review- Max Cutler's Cults: Inside the World's Most Notorious Groups and Understanding the People who Joined them

Thank you to Libro FM for an audio version of Max Cutler’s Cults: Inside the World’s Most Notorious Groups and Understanding the People Who Joined Them.

I was attracted to the theme of the book and had not previously realized that the stories were culled from Cutler’s podcast. The audio version has different narrators for each chapter, which I thought worked well. I believe all of the narrators are part of the podcast and possibly co-writers or researchers for the material. Each chapter details a different cult leader and each one is in-depth and well researched. The chapters start with the childhoods of the cult leaders, showing their rise to prominence and the eventual outcome of their situation. Cult leaders are often referred to as being charismatic and that concept is shown here, but also coupled with a sense of their own ultimate authority. Their ego and self-importance seems boundless, to the point where it draws others into their circle.

I had heard of many of the cult leaders detailed, but each chapter had insights that I had not known. I was surprised by the background of Jim Jones, who I had not realized had been involved in the civil rights movement prior to his cult activities. When someone commits murder or other heinous crimes, it’s hard to disassociate them from their actions. However, it is interesting to consider the person prior to their notoriety and to this aspect, I found Jim Jones’ early life to be fascinating. It’s incredible to think how some people manage to leverage their charisma to gain not only a following, but to lead people to kill themselves or others.

Cutler looks at Cults from around the world, operating in different time periods. One leader I had not previously heard of was Adolfo Constanzo, head of the narcosatanists in Mexico during the late 80’s As their name implies, the narcosatanists were involved in both drug trafficking and satanism. This section was quite shocking, rife with animal and human sacrifices. It’s horrific, creepy, and downright disgusting. Cutler details how Constanzo and his followers lived in dirty apartments with bones and other body parts strewn about, decaying flesh creating a stench.

Cults is not for the faint of heart, but it is an intriguing look at a world that a majority of us will successfully avoid. Cutler explains that cult followers come from a variety of backgrounds and some are even highly intelligent and/or educated. The commonality seems to be people who are lacking a sense of belonging or a way to make sense of their world, which attracts them to the message that the cult leader is selling. Cults is a great pick for anyone interested in this dark aspect of humanity. It’s well written and engaging.