Red Saunders' Pets and Other Critters — A Closer Reading

The Voice of Red Saunders

Red Saunders' narrative voice is the collection's most distinctive feature. He speaks in a relaxed, colloquial idiom, full of phrases like "I wisht somebody'd telegraph that son-of-a-gun for me" and "the durned ram was prancin' away, wigglin' his tail like little boys does their fingers." This voice is consistent across the excerpts, suggesting that the stories are unified by a single narrator's perspective rather than by plot continuity.

Red often addresses the reader directly, as when he muses on the oddness of expecting life to follow a logical plan. This metafictional touch—a character in a story questioning the nature of stories—gives the humor an extra layer. The reader is invited to laugh not just at the antics of the animals but at the very conventions of storytelling.

Animal Antics and Human Reactions

The excerpts center on a rivalry between Billy the pig and Foxey Bill the ram. The men describe the pig's fighting style as "standin' side by side, tryin' to hook each other in the flank," while the ram "hits you a welt like a domestic cannon and then chases himself off to the sky-line." The humor comes from the mismatch and the men's betting on the outcome.

The animals are anthropomorphized just enough to be funny—the ram wiggles his tail "like little boys does their fingers, with a thumb to the nose"—but they remain convincingly animal-like. The men's reactions, from Steve's elaborate historical analogy to the Doctor's stubborn faith in Bill, are equally entertaining. The excerpts show a pattern: a conflict is set up, the men debate it in colorful language, and the action is described with comic exaggeration.

Structure and Pacing in the Excerpts

The excerpts reveal a loose, episodic structure. Each story seems to be a self-contained anecdote, though characters recur. The pacing is leisurely, with long stretches of dialogue and description before any action occurs. For example, the build-up to the pig-ram fight includes several pages of banter and betting before the combat begins.

The illustrations listed in the table of contents—such as "He was a lovely pet" and "The Doctor goes sailing into the drink"—suggest that the humor is often visual and physical. The text itself relies on a rhythm of setup and payoff, with the punchlines delivered in Red's deadpan voice. Readers should expect a slow-burn style that rewards attention to the characters' voices rather than rapid plot progression.

What the Excerpts Leave Unclear

The excerpts cover only the first story and a fragment of the second. The table of contents lists fourteen stories, including titles like "The Demon in the Canon" and "Agamemnon and the Fall of Troy," which hint at a range of settings and subjects beyond the ranch. It is not clear from the excerpts whether all stories are narrated by Red Saunders or if the collection shifts perspective.

Similarly, the excerpts do not reveal the overall arc of the book. The stories may be connected by theme or character, or they may be entirely independent. The reader should approach each story as a fresh start, paying attention to how the narrator establishes the situation and tone. The humor is likely to remain consistent, but the subjects may vary widely.

For a first reading, focus on Red Saunders' voice and the way he frames each anecdote. The humor is in the telling, not just the events. The excerpts suggest that the collection rewards patience: the digressions and debates are as entertaining as the action. Let the characters' personalities emerge through their speech, and enjoy the absurdity of animals behaving badly in the hands of a storyteller who knows exactly how to spin a yarn.

Reading Red Saunders' Pets and Other Critters, I kept smiling at how easily luck slips sideways into trouble. That unhurried, dry humor—where the absurd just happens—reminded me of an old golf course in my mind, where Wodehouse sends Cuthbert stumbling through similar quirks of fate. Both feel like warm afternoons, told slowly, with a wink. The Clicking of Cuthbert — Key Ideas to Explore holds that same gentle, puzzled charm.