Home Land author Sam Lipsyte reviews George Saunders's The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil for Bookforum.

Unlike Animal Farm, to which this book will be compared, Saunders isn't taking a recognizable stand against a specific ideology; maybe the post–Cold War era is too fluid and unrecognizable for such conviction. Though progressive political fury informs a good deal of his writing, Saunders's prescription here is more an offshoot of the golden rule than anything grounded in an official talking point.

This is a good thing for the very valuable art of George Saunders. The United States isn't Outer Horner or Inner Horner or Greater Keller. It's all three of them, depending on the context, and it must save itself.

I've reviewed both these guys (Lipsyte, Saunders), and yet neither one of them has taken the time to review me. Does that seem fair to you?

(via Rake's Progress, a cool lit blog I discovered during my continuously frustrated efforts to get Technorati working. He/she/they like all the authors I like. I've added them to the leftbar.)