The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil (Paperback)
Staff Reviews
This is the story of broken hearted Phil who takes out his bitterness on the Inner Hornerites when they spill over the border because Inner Horner is only big enough for 1 of its 6 citizens. Phil ends up deposing the president of Out Horner and goes about dismantling the Inner Hornerites. Saunders'creative genius shines bright in this fable that unfortunately resembles our current situation a little too closely. - randy
— From What the What?!Welcome to Inner Horner, a nation so small it can only accommodate one citizen at a time. The other six citizens must wait their turns in the Short-Term Residency Zone of the surrounding country of Outer Horner. It's a long-standing arrangement between the fantastical, not-exactly-human citizens of the two countries. But when Inner Horner suddenly shrinks, forcing three-quarters of the citizen then in residence over the border into Outer Horner territory, the Outer Hornerites declare an Invasion In Progress—having fallen under the spell of the power-hungry and demagogic Phil.
So begins The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil. An Animal Farm for the 21st century, this is an incendiary political satire of unprecedented imagination, spiky humor, and cautionary appreciation for the hysteric in everyone.
"An astoundingly tuned voice—graceful, dark, authentic, and funny—telling just the kinds of stories we need to get us through these times."—Thomas Pynchon
"Mr. Saunders writes like the illegitimate offspring of Nathanael West and Kurt Vonnegut. His satiric vision of America is dark and demented; it is also ferocious and very funny."—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
"A master of distilling the disorders of our time into fiction."—Salon.com