The Semplica Girl Diaries by George Saunders

Laughter best medicine, etc., etc., 

I could throw around a whole dictionary’s worth of superlatives for The Semplica Girl Diaries by George Saunders and it still wouldn't do this amazing short-story justice. This has to be a modern classic, right? It’s one of those stories that feels immediately iconic, the kind you finish and then just sit there thinking, how did Saunders even come up with this?

Told through a brilliant first-person diary format, the narration is hilarious, quirky and poignant all at once. Saunders leans hard into satire with light sci-fi touches, creating a world that’s only a few unsettling steps removed from our own. On the surface, the narrator is just a well-meaning suburban dad trying to keep up appearances, give his kids a good life, and prove to himself and others that he’s made it. Beneath the glossy surface, the story becomes a warped, nightmarish version of the American Dream, where status symbols matter more than empathy and “keeping up with the Joneses” slides effortlessly into moral horror.

What makes the satire so effective is how normal everything feels to the narrator. He talks about debt, social pressure, birthday parties, and lawn envy with the same anxious sincerity, even as the world around him grows more grotesque. Saunders skewers the idea that success and happiness can be bought, measured, or displayed, showing how the American Dream (when reduced to consumption and comparison) can hollow people out without them even noticing. It’s hilarious in that awkwardly uncomfortable kind of way and by the end, it lands with a emotional sucker punch that’s both shocking and deeply moving. 

I may not have been entirely convinced before but George Saunders is truly a masterful short-story writer.