New Yorker Fiction - 8/1/05

George Saunders does it again with another incredible, out-of-the-box short story entitled "Commcomm". As always, it takes the reader some time to get oriented in the world Suanders conjures up, usually some kind of futuristic dystopia where ordinary people struggle to find value and meaning or even a foothold in reality. Like "Sea Oak", the first Saunders story I read, "Commcomm" uses a bizarre premise along with a matter-of-fact tone to draw the reader into the hellish world of overblown consumerism or corporate megalomania that rules the lives of his characters. As in "Sea Oak" the ending of "Commcomm" is a somehow plausible leap to a higher plane.