The process is repeated with Jeff and a woman named Rachel. This continues until the drug stops being administered, when they suddenly lose all love for each other. Neither finds the other very attractive until a drug is administered and they suddenly fall deeply in love with each other and have sex. In an experiment to determine the strength of love, Abnesti puts Jeff in a room with a woman named Heather. In order to protect her husband from having to kill the puppy, Callie later abandons it in a nearby cornfield to die.īecause he was convicted of a crime, Jeff has been sent to an experimental prison where inhabitants are guinea pigs for a man named Ray Abnesti, a sort of warden who develops pharmaceuticals. Marie's children beg her to adopt it, but after seeing Bo out the window chained to a tree, Marie decides against it and leaves abruptly. The two women meet when Marie arrives at Callie's house to buy a new puppy for her children. Marie had a troubled childhood and was neglected by her mother. She also has a son with behavioral problems, which she solves by keeping him glued to a handheld video game. Callie wants nothing more than to please him, so she accepts this behavior. When they are not sold, her husband kills them, justifying it by explaining that he grew up on a farm, and animals dying was a constant part of life. They have a very messy home and constantly adopt pets to sell. She sees this as a way to keep him from escaping, because he loves it outside and hates it in the house. In order to keep him safe, she chains him to a tree like a dog in the backyard. She has a son, Bo, who runs away and darts in between cars on the interstate. Callie has a happy life with her husband, whom she loves. Two women, Callie and Marie, lead very different lives. His child recounts life with his dad and how the man eventually lost his sanity after his wife died and began to decorate the pole in bizarre ways. Kyle, a boy who lives nearby whose parents enforce very strict household rules, sees the event unfold and must decide whether to help Alison (who used to be his friend but stopped hanging out with him after becoming popular) or to ignore the situation to keep himself safe.Ī father has a tall pole in the front yard that he constantly decorates for holidays. 'Exhortation' - Originally published as part of 'Four Institutional Monologues'Ī young girl named Alison is kidnapped three days before her birthday. The collection also won the 2013 Story Prize for short-story collections and the inaugural (2014) Folio Prize.

Tenth of December was selected as one of the 10 Best Books of 2013 by the editors of the New York Times Book Review. One of the stories, 'Home,' was a 2011 Bram Stoker Award finalist. The book was published on January 8, 2013, by Random House. It includes stories published in various magazines between 19. Tenth of December is a collection of short stories by American author George Saunders.

Tenth of dec