Saunders is clearly a master with words, and his stories are razor-sharp. I'm sure I'll remember some of the more startling images from this collection - a young boy tied to a tree like a dog, a prisoner deciding to torture himself to save another, immigrant girls strung together in gardens - and the way Saunders paints these scenes so plainly that just makes their horror even more powerful. I'd read his short story "Jon" (not included in this collection) over a decade ago and loved it, so I'm not sure why it took this long to read some more of his work. Looking forward to reading "Lincoln in the Bardo" at some point, too.