This is quite the treat. I heard the first part of the first story on NPR one Saturday and was captivated. Listening to the whole book just continued the captivation. This guy's brain is a fun place. ( )

Not as funny as I thought it would be ( )

I spread these stories out over several weeks. Even still, only a few were funny. Most had very obvious premises that weren't really worth any elaboration, and the writing is very flat.

> That's the one complaint I have about doing a semester abroad: I'm interested in other cultures, and that's why I came to Saturn, to experience new things, but I'm sorry, the food here is ass.

> In just five years, I'd amassed more accolades than any chimp in history. My mastery of sign language was so vast and fluent, it had earned Professor Fitzbaum a MacArthur Genius Grant.

> The Stromberg family had been practicing this rite for generations. He himself had witnessed his mother shove his grandmother onto an ice floe. They were on a ski trip in Vermont, and his grandmother had forgotten the name of the actor who played Frasier.

> "Gabe's fiction could upend the entire literary establishment. His stories are so original—so unlike anything from Iowa—it could turn the world of letters on its head. And once he conquers that arena, his power will only grow. It starts with a few online stories. Then he finishes his novel. The next thing you know, he's become a figure so globally dominant, all mankind is crushed beneath his yoke. We must stop his rise!" … They hired construction workers to drill outside his window every time he tried to write. … They paid actors to pose as friends and invite him to parties every Saturday, so that he'd be too hungover to write on his one day off. And they sent him a series of girlfriends to distract him from his art with a mixture of affection and love. Still, despite their efforts, Gabe hadn't abandoned his writing. He still threatened to collapse the status quo and tear apart the fabric of society. ( )

Every single story in here made me laugh. ( )

MEH. The first story (Animals) was fantastic and some of the others were okay (Big Break, Sell Out, Guy Walks Into A Bar, Family Business). I would read more, but maybe be more selective. ( )