Saunders: ‘Home’

 George Saunders’s story ‘Home’ is about the place veterans come home to.

Mikey, home from a combat tour, finds that his mother has a new but unemployed boyfriend and that they are being evicted. Mikey’s sister has married into a posh family and has no interest in getting ensnared in the adventures of Mom and her new mate. Mikey’s wife has left him, taking the kids, and married a new guy named Evan.

Here are Mikey and Evan discussing when and on what terms Mikey can see the kids:  

 

“Tomorrow?” I said.

“Would that be okay for you?” he said. “After I get home from work?”

I saw we’d agreed to play it reasonable. One way we were playing it reasonable was saying everything like a question.

 

Saunders is good at getting at the shallowness of American culture. He’s good at catching the demands  we put on each other that might cause a reasonable person to snap.

• Source: George Sanders, Tenth of December; New York: Random House, 2013, p. 186.