Fox 8

Saunders is that rare writer who is utterly original, inventive – yet accessible - with a grasp on the human condition only found elsewhere in Tolstoy and Chekhov… Charming and funny … It is also sweetly naïve and throws a light on hypocrisies and ridiculousness as well as making the reader view everyday things a little differently, in a childlike way … The story is wonderfully illustrated by Chelsea Cardinal, which adds to the fairy tale feel * i paper *
Here is a writer whose output varies widely in theme and style, but where the unifying element is the deep sense of goodness that radiates from it … Reading Saunders is moral education … It’s a story that can and will be read by children – my own 10-year-old love it – but it’s also a book of deep, complex truths … Very funny … A story about cultural difference and tribalism, about greed and the destruction of the American landscape -- Alex Preston * Observer *
Very funny … With Fox 8, Saunders does something one might, in isolation, think it almost impossible for a book to do, which is to resensitise the reader to violence * Guardian *
When it comes to delivering pathos, humour and character with trip-along efficiency, underestimate Saunders at your peril … Saunders is a masta at werk * Esquire *
What starts as a sweet, idiosyncratic tale quickly becomes bleak and brutal as it emerges that Fox 8 is an émigré’s tale. It’ll take you an hour to read but will stay with you far longer * Metro *
Fox 8 is not just ahandsome little stocking-filler but can help to transform the world in its own small beautiful way -- Arifa Akbar * Financial Times *
A sweet little morality tale about disillusionment, cruelty, inequality and, finally, hope … It feels like literature enacted as a form of activism. Not many writers could get away with this, but somehow Saunders carries it off * Evening Standard *
Remarkable … From the opening sentence, Fox’s voice leaps off the page … Saunders is a master of narration, and Fox’s voice is perfectly pitched * Scotsman *
George Saunders’s Fox 8 is a deceptive little crittur – it begins as the brightest of fables but then carries us briskly to the pits of bleakness. It reminds us of the skill of Saunders’s phenomenal ear, and of his great, enduring kindness as a storyteller -- Kevin Barry * Irish Times *
Tugs the heartstrings * Daily Mail *
A sweet and simple book. It has a lot of charm, and, as one would expect, a degree of melancholy and anger given Saunders’ previous work … There are aspects of eccentricity, inquisitiveness, innovation and ingenuousness about the rest of the fable … By the end, we have a happier, sadder, wiser Fox and no easy endings * Scotland on Sunday *