Thursday, September 3, 2015
Riding the Wave of Verbaluce™
In the fourth short story from the novel Tenth of December, author George Saunders toys with vulgar manipulation of human connection. Saunders thrusts jarring depictions and shocking descriptions on the pages, creating an unshakable journey for not only Jeff, but also the reader. I found the setting to be a heavy component in exuding this sort of effect on most readers. The location, for a majority of the story, is in a clean monotonous institution that made for very heavy contrast regarding tiny details. Regularly surpassable details now leave a strong mark in the reader’s imagination. Images become almost grotesquely poignant-such as his fellow prisoner’s tattoo of a stabbed rat…stabbing a rat, or of Heather's struggle to disassemble the impossible-to-disassemble chair. The crass, yet somewhat refreshing, verbiage produced by Saunders’ brilliant attention to a crisp setting, made my spine tingle.
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I agree, the immaculate, pallid setting accentuates the weird, the passion, and the gruesome. It gives Saunders the ability to draw the readers full focus to the details/events that he wants to be prominent. The simple atmosphere gives the reader ability to explore other aspects of the story in sharper detail.
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