A Swim in a Pond in the Rain - In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life (George Saunders, 2021)

(408 pages)

In The Cart

The Singers

The Darling

Master and Man

The Nose

Gooseberries

Alyosha the Pot

Re-read for me, I picked it for book club.  Things I talked about -

A book celebrating these peerless Russian authors and learning to write - or more pertinently to me, to READ.  Seven short stories plus discussion around each.

That made this book well worth some contradictions.  I don’t really love the short story format; you just get used to a few characters and then - it’s over. I was kind of disappointed in some of the stories Saunders selected. I got tired of his preaching.  

The contrast to Lonesome Dove. Big canvas; led me to War & Peace.

Two good rules: Be entertaining.  Advance the story in a non-trivial way.

The Cart - was Marya changed by remembering childhood happily?

The Singers - I really liked this, especially his efforts to describe music (the indescribable, I’ve tried). Keyed to the reactions of the audience, especially the wife (sharp-nosed and quick-eyed tradeswoman). (Kind of rich – in The Singers, he is criticizing Turgenev for running on and on, apparently not understanding that he is doing a far worse job of it himself. Plus, I like Turgenev’s running on!)

Too much analysis = yuck. 

This collection is worth it for Master and Man alone. 

Grappling with spirituality - the moment when the master decides to devote himself. Difficult to write about that something “larger than ourselves” - but it works, quite a moment.

In the first few pages after Master and Man, Saunders talks about opinion and fact, that Tolstoy here is pure fact. Compare War and Peace - all sorts of opinions about Napoleon, war, etc. Here:  “It’s mostly just descriptions of people doing things.”  Perfect. Saunders is helping me read better.

The “facts” of being out in that snow for anyone who’s lived there.  Billy Devine’s corncrib. 

        Page 219. Reminds me of my reaction to the snow drift sections.

        How Tolstoy goes into the master’s mind as he tries to sleep. Everyone familiar with this from night experiences of difficult situations - tell yourself not to think about it; select something happier to think about; keep trying; maybe drift off but there it is again! Saunders discusses section 6 of the story at page 232 (the part where master and man are in the cart overnight).

The Nose - can anyone find something of value either in the story, or in the author’s notes? I liked Dead Souls, but this?

At 331, Chekhov uses the same technique to describe beauty as Turgenev does to describe music in the singers. Here: “The moment when Pelageya stops Ivan and Burkin in their tracks with her good looks.” 

At 336-7 is a key for my readings of Chekhov.  Saunders best work appears here (or is it just because I agree with it?!) The idea of Checkov having clear views, weakly held. Start at “interested in everything but not wedded to any fixed system of belief” and read the highlights.

Refer to page 381 re Russian history. Saunders cites the 70-year explosion (mostly literature but some music)! How does it fit in with Russian Revolution, Stalin, etc. I’ve wondered about this.

The Berrybender Narratives (Larry McMurtry, 2002-04)

I enjoyed "Lonesome Dove" enough (recent book club selection per Chris) to give this McMurtry book a try.  While I didn't like it nearly as much, I did it find it drawing me in.  It was four separate novels and I read the entire work in one shot. 

Things I especially liked - vignettes on the Plains; travel on the Missouri; scenes set in so many of the famous frontier towns, north to south; working in key figures such as Jim Bridger, Kit Carson and others; helping me imagine the lives of people in those times (though nobody lived like the Berrybenders). 

Sin Killer was a great character; he would have been tough to live with however. The Berrybinder women were weird, I kind of got tired of their schtick.

Gemini's 200-word summary:

"Set in the 1830s, the series follows the Berrybenders, a wealthy, eccentric, and hopelessly unprepared family of English aristocrats who embark on a grand hunting expedition across the American West. Led by the drunken and irresponsible Lord Berrybender, the family travels up the Missouri River and across the Great Plains, encountering the brutal realities of the frontier that their privilege cannot protect them from.

As they journey toward Santa Fe and eventually Texas, the narrative shifts from a dark comedy of manners to a harrowing tale of survival. The family faces starvation, Indian raids, and internal dysfunction. By the end of the saga, the "civilized" veneer of the Berrybenders is stripped away, leaving only a few survivors to reckon with the unforgiving landscape and the high cost of their father’s folly.

Main Characters

Tasmin Berrybender: The eldest daughter and the story’s true protagonist. Strong-willed, intelligent, and adaptable, she evolves from a sheltered aristocrat into a rugged survivor.

Jim Snow (The Sin Killer): A fierce frontiersman and part-time preacher who becomes Tasmin’s husband. He is a man of few words and sudden violence, representing the raw spirit of the West.

Lord Berrybender: The family patriarch. His obsession with hunting buffalo and his general incompetence serve as the catalyst for the family’s many disasters.

Pomp Charbonneau: The son of Sacagawea, he acts as a sophisticated guide who provides a bridge between the European travelers and the wilderness."