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Fox 8: A Story

Review

Fox 8: A Story

FOX 8 is not a children’s book, although it’s narrated by a fox. And it’s not a picture book either, although it features some line drawings in the margins. The cynics among us will note that its copyright is 2013, several years before the prize-winning LINCOLN IN THE BARDO was published, and that it is just possible that this 48-page book exists to capitalize on Saunders’ new fame. Be that as it may, it is George Saunders, and his fans will take whatever they can get. And, in this case, be tickled and heartbroken at the same time.

Fox 8 is a fox. Fox 7 is one of his friends. Fox 8 has always been a daydreamer, and his curiosity leads him to sit outside the window of a house night after night as a mother reads to her children. In this way, from children’s books, he learns to understand and speak and even spell “Yuman” (turning off Check Spelling While Typing now). This comes in handy when the forest world of his band of foxes is obliterated by the development of something called FoxViewCommons --- although being able to read the signs doesn’t mean he understands what the Yumans are up to.

"There is no writer who gets our vanity, and our endless capacity for hope and cruelty like George Saunders does. FOX 8 is a cautionary tale rolled up in a comic romp rolled up in a fable."

“FoxViewCommons seemed to be a plase Yumans come to put there Kars.”

Fox 10, Fox 24 and Fox 111 soon become “sik, and ded, because: no fud.” Fox 8 learns from a dog that FoxViewCommons is a “Mawl.” In the parking lot, he hears some Yumans talking about a Fud Court and proposes that the foxes go there to get some fud.

“Grate Leeder woslike: No, Fox 8. No Mawl. Gud input, tho.
I terned to my other Foxes and woslike: Guys, pleese suport me on this.
But fownd the eyes of my other Foxes lolling up at the seeling.
Fox 4 woslike: No ofense, Fox 8? Your ideas are not super praktikal.
Dreem, dreem, dreem, said Fox 11.
Fox 41 woslike: Fox 8, does this honestly never get old for you?
Grate Leeder woslike: I have spoken.
And something in me woslike: Grate Leeder, bla.”

When Fox 8 defies the Grate Leeder and goes to the Fud Court, Fox 7 goes with him. They see marvelous things, and they get some fud. But when they come out, two Yumans working at the edge of the Mawl prove that Yumans can be very cruel indeed. And that stories don’t always have a happy ending.

There is no writer who gets our vanity, and our endless capacity for hope and cruelty like George Saunders does. FOX 8 is a cautionary tale rolled up in a comic romp rolled up in a fable. The way that Yumans (and Foxes) behave is hilarious and tragic, all at the same time. Saunders’ license with our language has always been part of what makes him unique and daring, and it’s in full throat in this magical book. FOX 8 may be short, but I dare you to read it only once.

Reviewed by Eileen Zimmerman Nicol on November 30, 2018

Fox 8: A Story
by George Saunders

  • Publication Date: November 13, 2018
  • Genres: Fiction
  • Hardcover: 64 pages
  • Publisher: Random House
  • ISBN-10: 1984818023
  • ISBN-13: 9781984818027