Fair enough, and we're in agreement about Wallace. I can at least understand people enjoying Saunders, even if I can't get nearly as excited about his work these days, since I find it to be rehashing the same exact topics in the Exact same style. At least his topics are creative!

I think that a lot of Paul Auster's work — especially his earlier stuff — gets rather surreal. Like Saunders, a lot of it reads exactly the same, too.

You really think that Saunders is the best we have? Better than T. C. Boyle? Better than Steven Millhauser? Or do you mean just better at his very specific type of fiction, which I for one find strained and repetitive, especially when read in a huge chunk. He's inventive, sure, but also moralizing and sometimes…

The Bollywood number was terrific, as were the tableaux, if for no other reason than because Ali Ellis popped in to steal something and then just as quickly disappeared. In fact, I'd say this episode overall was better than average for the show, even bogged down with the annoying side-plots.