All hail George Saunders' early stories, but the man's magic may have gone bye-bye. I just finished his novella from last year (takes an hour to read), The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, a not-so-thinly veiled Animal Farmesque satirical attack on the Bushies, and I was underwhelmed, to say the least. His targets are easy, the humor is smirk-producing at best, and there are few surprises. You will not see the Administration in any new ways, and most importantly for a Saunders story, I did not laugh once. Yea, comedy is very hard to do well, and maybe Georgie's well is all dried up. If so, too bad. The man was a breath of fresh air for two collections, and while I'll still check out the third (even though I haven't really enjoyed the stories in the collection that have already appeared elsewhere), my hope quotient is diminished. Funny- it's a bitch, ain't it?