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The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781594481529
ISBN: 1594481520
Label: Riverhead Trade
Manufacturer: Riverhead Trade
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 144
Publication Date: September 06, 2005
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Studio: Riverhead Trade
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Editorial Review:
Book Description
Welcome to Inner Horner, a nation so small it can only accommodate one citizen at a time. The other six citizens must wait their turns in the Short-Term Residency Zone of the surrounding country of Outer Horner. It's a long-standing arrangement between the fantastical, not-exactly-human citizens of the two countries. But when Inner Horner suddenly shrinks, forcing three-quarters of the citizen then in residence over the border into Outer Horner territory, the Outer Hornerites declare an Invasion In Progress--having fallen under the spell of the power-hungry and demagogic Phil.
So begins The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil. Fueled by Saunders's unrivaled wit, outlandish imagination, and incisive political sensibility, here is a deeply strange yet strangely familiar fable of power and impotence, justice and injustice--an Animal Farm for our times.
Praise for George Saunders Author of Pastoralia and Civilwarland in Bad Decline
"An astoundingly tuned voice--graceful, dark, authentic, and funny--telling just the kinds of stories we need to get us through these times."
--Thomas Pynchon
"Mr. Saunders writes like the illegitimate offspring of Nathanael West and Kurt Vonnegut. [His] satiric vision of America is dark and demented; it is also ferocious and very funny."
--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
"A master of distilling the disorders of our time into fiction."
--Salon.com
Amazon.com Exclusive
 Want to know the story behind the story of award-winning author George Saunders's new novella, The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil? Then read "Why I Wrote Phil," an exclusive essay from Saunders concerning the genesis of his new work, which has been praised as possessing "an absurdist wit as playful as Monty Python's and a vision as dark as Samuel Beckett's."
Read George Saunders's Essay, "Why I Wrote Phil"
More from George Saunders
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In The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, George Saunders offers his most boldly imaginative fiction yet. In a profoundly strange country called Inner Horner, large enough for only one resident at a time, citizens waiting to enter the country fall under the rule of the power-hungry and tyrannical Phil, setting off a chain of injustice and mass hysteria. An Animal Farm for the 21st century, this is an incendiary political satire of unprecedented imagination, spiky humor, and cautionary appreciation for the hysteric in everyone. Over six years in the writing, and brilliantly and beautifully packaged, this novella is Saunders' first stand-alone, book-length work--and his first book for adults in five years.
"In The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, George Saunders offers his most boldly imaginative fiction yet. In a profoundly strange country called Inner Horner, large enough for only one resident at a time, citizens waiting to enter the country fall under the rule of the power-hungry and tyrannical Phil, setting off a chain of injustice and mass hysteria. An Animal Farm for the 21st century, this is an incendiary political satire of unprecedented imagination, spiky humor, and cautionary appreciation for the hysteric in everyone. Over six years in the writing, and brilliantly and beautifully packaged, this novella is Saunders' first stand-alone, book-length work--and his first book for adults in five years."
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - I was thoroughly enjoying this until the end
Wow... this book made me angry at the end. While this is a simple book filled with simple characters, its directly applicable to modern life and current events. With that in mind, the very end of the novel infuriated me. As the book summary tells the ending I am neither spilling nor spoiling when I say that the overall situation is solved by the hand of god. Why was it necessary to have a deity come in and fix everything? Why were the characters incapable of coming to their own solution? Worse ... Read More
Rating:  - I've known a number of Phils
I was so entertained by this book that I've bought additional copies for friends. Saunders, in a small book, manages to capture the core frailties of our species in the bodies of animated junk. A must read for anyone willing to put their rigid outlook on life on standby while they trip along with Phil as he brings order to his world. And when you finish Phil, take another romp with Civil War Land..
Bob
Rating: - amusing, until you think about it. then, disturbing.
The humor in this story does a good job of showing the absurdity of the rest of the story. The characters are almost caricatures of the groups they represent: The media shout nonsensical headlines and talk "out of the mouth near his rear." The media depiction is one of the best caricatures in the book. As a journalism major, I couldn't help but laugh at headlines like, "Moon, stars continue to be located in sky!" "Air continues to float around, being breathed by many!" and "Sky remains dark as night ... Read More
Rating: - very very enjoyable tale.
i love george saunders books. i'll buy anything with his name on it. this is a wonderfully enjoyable little sci-fi fairy tale; similar in message, but much better (more enjoyable) than george orwell's dull "animal farm." I hope this author writes a hundred books.
Rating:  - Missed the mark
I'm a big George Saunders fan, but this one doesn't have the magic. The idea is stretched very thin, and the writing is straight-forward, lacking the sparkle his other books clearly have. However, I can say that it's timely, and reflects the dull fear-mongering of the post-9/11 era in the U.S.A. quite precisely.
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