Reviewing the collection in The New York Times, Adam Begley found irony in Saunders' love for satirizing brands and the way his writing style had itself become a brand: "A dedicated satirist, he has made the buying and selling of packaged experience a favorite target of his bitter wit. And yet with his third collection of stories, "In Persuasion Nation," he's peddling a line of signature goods. Expertly made, unmistakably his, they'll be consumed with gusto by the loyal customers who enjoyed "CivilWarLand in Bad Decline" and "Pastoralia." It's the kind of ironic twist he delights in: George Saunders, sworn enemy of commodification, is in danger of becoming a dependable brand name."[2]
In Salon, Laura Miller wrote, "When he's firing on all cylinders, no one beats George Saunders at rendering the comic nightmare of life as a wage slave in contemporary America."[3] A review in The Nation further focused on Saunders' original style: "Saunders’s laughs are a cover, a diversion, beneath which reside some profoundly serious intentions regarding the morality of how we live and the power of love and immanent death to transform us into vastly better creatures than we could otherwise hope to be. These are the biggest intentions an artist can have."[4]
A writer for Kirkus Reviews argued, “Though much of the fiction is slapstick funny in a dark, deadpan way, a spiritual undercurrent courses through the work, as desire and suffering feed on each other, and God may be just another pitchman or empty promise. Where many short stories at the creative vanguard seem to bear minimal relation to the world at large, Saunders’s work is as effective as social commentary as it is at exploring the frontiers of fiction.”[5] A more moderately positive review appeared in Publishers Weekly. The writer found stories such as “93990” and “My Amendment” tedious, but also stated that “Saunders's vital theme—the persistence of humanity in a vacuous, nefarious marketing culture of its own creation—comes through with subtlety and fresh turns.”[6]
