The Brief And Frightening Reign Of Phil: (Includes The 'in Persuasion Nation' Collection)

Plot

George Saunders follows the brilliant Pastoralia with another fiercely inventive collection. Again his stories are set in a warped, hilarious, and very recognisable American landscape - maybe in the near future, or a parallel world where people work in a service sector economy gone mad. In I Can Speak! we hear the merits of the I Can Speak latex mask, which sticks with Velcro onto the face of your baby and simulates grown-up baby-talk, to the envy of your friends. In The Red Bow a village is in crisis when a deadly canine virus takes hold and a young girl is killed by a feverous dog. Her father finds the evidence- the little red bow from her hair. Jon is a wry look at a futuristic world where Tastemakers & Trendsetters live in privileged confinement. By turns touching, funny and sad, this is an extraordinary, utterly compelling collection.