Saunders offers up a selection of thought-provoking short stories with Tenth of December, with topics as varied as an attempted kidnapping, futuristic psychological testing, exploitative garden decorations, and, in the titular story, the chance meeting of a suicidal older man and a lonely kid. These stories are alternately sad and funny, and, ultimately, enjoyable. That said, Saunders style is disorienting, with stories starting and ending at odd points. It takes quite a while to figure out exactly what's going on in many of the stories, sometimes not until the story abruptly ends. I felt a bit like I was watching a television that kept switching stations whenever a commercial came on, with the important distinction that I was never the one in control of the channel-change. I suspect that Saunders' goal was to provoke contemplation of the many ethical issues addressed in these stories, while making sure that the reader never has time to fully settle into a story. If that's the case, he certainly succeeded.
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