One of the praise quotes on the back reads "Not since Twain has American produced a satirist this funny" which is not true, as the 20th Century produced quite a few satirists who could be considered closer to Twain in humor. However, since this is the only story I've read by George Saunders, perhaps I should reserve my opinion until I have read other works by him.
That said, let's focus on the story: it's good. Sadly, not earth-shattering, and truly not all that original, although the premise is quite nice - a fox who has taught himself human language, both in speech and in writing, and is writing this story as a sort of "wake-up call" to Yumans.
In this, we see the devastation to the home of Fox 8 and the other foxes in his den by human creation of a mall and housing addition, much along the lines of what we saw in the movie "Over the Hedge" and in truth, this story could be expanded into a novella length along the lines of the other great anthropomorphic books (Charlotte's Web comes to mind, as well as another book I once read from the 19th century whose title escapes me at the moment).
There is a very dark scene in which his friend, Fox 7, is kicked to death brutally by two human workers, and I still can't tell if that scene if egregious (simply there for shock value) or if it makes a salient point about the mindless cruelty of human beings. The fact that the rest of the story is lighter by comparison truly makes that scene stand out.
While there are some happy moments in the story (the image of the other fox dancing when she tells him that she doesn't want their future cubs to have a grumpy dad), ultimately the story leaves one unfulfilled. In short, the story's too short. Needs to be a bit more. Again, a novella, perhaps.
But, it's a quick read for waiting in the doctor's office, which is much better than doomscrolling through one's phone, so there's that.
