#34 in Short stories
Pastoralia
- 208
- Pages
- about 4 h
- Reading time
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About the book
Pastoralia is short story writer George Saunders’s second full-length short story collection, published in 2000. The collection received highly positive reviews from book critics and was ranked the fifth-greatest book of the 2000s by literary magazine The Millions. The book consists of stories that appeared in The New Yorker; most of the stories were O. Henry Prize Stories. The collection was a New York Times Notable Book for 2001.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.7 across 102 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 40% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Short stories average of 7.8. That is how 7.8 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.2 | 5 | 5% |
| Hardcover | 7.7 | 97 | 95% |
Reader voices
The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).
“I really enjoyed the longer stories (“Pastoralia,” “Sea Oak,” and “The Barber's Unhappiness”) as Saunders' humor really shines through in presenting his characters' inner thoughts. The hypothetical life that the barber lives through his thoughts is unsettlingly relatable, and the premise of “Pastoralia” is incredibly…”
“An interesting collection of short stories. Not the best from Saunders, but certainly worth the time it took ton read them”
Frequently asked
How long is Pastoralia?
It has 208 pages — shorter than 69% of the ranked books in Short stories.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Short stories — with scores between 7.7 and 7.9, closest to this book.
