The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil and In Persuasion Nation, by George Saunders

I've encountered this guy's work in the New Yorker from time to time but this is my first sustained experience with his writing. Stylistically and thematically, he reminds me a bit of David Foster Wallace. The stories very much are a satire on contemporary life in the United States. They certainly do have a lot to say. In very short order you may move from hilarity to darkness. Both Seussian and Edward Gorey-like ("A" is for Amy who fell down the stairs, "B" is for Basil, devoured by bears...). Phil, the robot, turns into a megalomaniacal idiot whenever his brain falls out of his "tremendous sliding rack" because the bolt holding it in place comes loose. Then there are some stories, like adams,  which left me unsettled in a way that stories seldom do (I recall one of DFW's short stories about a child accidently burned by boiling water - in of itself a horrible thing; yet that story, too, takes it to a completely different, personal, level). Phil's power-hunger will be familiar to you, darkly and comically mirroring some of the not too bright and self-serving politicians who sit in public office. The landscape is ludicrous and weird. Consumerism and marketing are skewered in jon and American policy in Brad Carrigan, American. But the stories do more - somehow they inject a deeply personal element - a humanity that left me reflective. This is good stuff.