RaveTor.com... did this guy really just write one of the best Science Fiction books of the year? You better believe it. And I think he was channeling Alfred Bester the whole time ... there are a lot of laughs along the way, but ultimately this is thinking-person’s novel and the sort of writing that should make every science fiction fan proud of what the genre can do ... using science fiction to communicate a love story we can all relate to while at the same time scaring the crap out of us with a cautionary tale. Hopefully, Shteyngart and others in literary world will give us more like this!
Margaret Atwood
MixedTorWhat makes MaddAddam and its previous installments so unique though is the way Atwood treats dystopia not just as a metaphor but as a real, complex, and ultimately human event …. The point-of-view switches exist because there are several stories inside of stories. The tale of Toby’s lover Zeb switches been a faux-present and past-tense and is intercut with the conversation between Zeb and Toby about what is going on ‘right now.’ It’s not only effective, realistic, and creative, but it’s funny, too … In terms of plot, MaddAddam is all over the place, tantalizing you with one kind of story then leading you into another piece of backstory you could never have seen coming. Whenever I felt like a character or situation was abandoned for another direction the novel was taking, I instantly felt cheated..and yet, the book is a page-turner. Not in any kind of whodunit or adventure sort of way, but instead, thematically.
George Saunders
RaveTor.comLuckily, Saunders is good at the cynical one-liner, and most of the stories in Pastoralia do comment on reality. But do they take place there? No. And it all starts with a speculation on how to get through a crappy, and very science fictional, day job ... But of course the characters do talk. They talk a lot. And the problems they’re experiencing aren’t necessarily directly related to their plight in this absurd job. Primarily, their concerned about keeping the job, as management is constantly making veiled overtures that a 'remixing' will occur soon, resulting in many people being out of work ...hard to communicate here is what a unique prose stylist Saunders is ... If dark humor and humanistic stories about bizarre minutia are your thing, you’ll love the stories of Pastoralia.
