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Oblivion and Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature

Probably my least favorite “stories” of the bunch so far, only one left, gonna finish “today!”

Reading this short story collection because I don't have enough stamina for Infinite Jest right now.

"Incarnations Of Burned Children": another disjointed, aimless rambling, just a bit less in all aspects, both negative and positive. Even shorter than the last, which is definitely a blessing. Same rating, 2.5/5.

And with this I'm done with this book and this author, and DNF to both. With all due respect for those that admire him, this is not my cup of tea.

- "Philosophy And The Mirror Of Nature": readable mainly due to being short, but otherwise looks like an aimless rambling, and the title has nothing to do with the story, On the plus side, a few bright spots of humor, and introduced me to a couple of new words I had to consult a dictionary for. Rating: 2.5/5.

- "Mister Squishy": After plodding through the first dozen or so pages of this story, and suffering through its endless ramblings and pointless details, I've decided life is too short to waste on a story that's obviously providing no pleasure, and picked another, shorter one from the TOC. Let's see how it goes.

Mister Squishy and Incarnations of Burned Children

Mister Squishy is a roller coaster man. I had to read that sooooo slowly. The ending was great and jarring in such a mundane and ordinary way. Totally took me out of it for a few minutes I was stunned. Rhys said DFW jerks you around and he wasn’t wrong,

IoBC is two pages and it does so much with so little. So vivid and gut wrenching in its simplicity.

The Soul is Not a Smithy

DFW can capture the rapidity and sprawling web of consciousness like no other writer I’ve encountered.