Xander Fuller > Recent Status Updates

Finished the fourth book. Much better than the previous, taking on a quest-like tone and reminding me of Gulliver’s Travels, but with more shit and fart references.

Finished the third book. It is definitely taking a while to get through. It's basically a long detailed description of Panurge wondering if he should get married and all the people he's discussing this problem with, with Pantagruelion, a magical plant, being the ending portions. Def getting the misogyny in this part though, but whether it's intentional or satirical, is to be determined.

Finished the second book. Definitely easier to get through now that I’m used to the archaic language. Still goofy and ridiculous but it’s charming, like a really old tall tale or a legend of Chaucerian origin.

Finished Book 1, and boy is it a long and tricky read. Because I’m reading the translation that was done in the late 17th century, it reads practically like Middle English, with the variety of spelling decisions and lack of cohesion in a modern retelling. But this is therefore the closer in accuracy to the French which was written in the 16th century, so still quite old and archaic at times.

I like the silliness.

Finished 'The Journey of a Lifetime', a pleasantly dark little tale about a man's love for trains and journeying on them. Definitely a good one.

Finished 'A Schoolboy Prank'. Another really good one. It seems the latter half of the collection is where the real meat of the content is. A very grim and mournful tale of homosexuality repressed within a teacher and the students he taught, charged with all the inappropriateness of its leanings.

Finished 'Exotic Pleasures', which is very Twilight Zone-esque with its fantasy/sci-fi elements paired with real-world human problems, this one concerning intimacy and pleasure. Liked it a lot.

Finished 'The Uses of Williamson Wood'. Along with 'Joe', it's probably the most shocking of the stories, and though it's good with how it's written, the subject matter definitely isn't for everyone.

Finished 'The Fat Man in History', a sort of brutal look into a communist world where fat people are considered less than human for being 'counterrevolutionary'. Pretty gnarly stuff.

Finished 'Joe', 'The Puzzling Nature of Blue', 'Conversation with Unicorns', and 'American Dreams'. The first was shockingly provocative, the second both entertaining and frustrating, the third short and sweet(but not sweet like happy), and the last is probably my favorite so far. Very curious concept but wow it's memorable.

Finished 'Report on the Shadow Industry', a very short story about boxes of shadows that people spend a lot of money on and are fascinated by. Makes me think of blah blah technology bad blah but it could be just a short little idea on actual government and manufacturing deadly things.

Finished 'Withdrawal', a macabre look into a furniture/art dealer who has a clientele of disturbed individuals who buy macabre things from him. Sort of a grittier Weekend at Bernie's.

Finished 'Concerning the Greek Tyrant', a meta-story of the Odyssey featuring Homer predicting what happens to his characters, who can also interact with him. Not too bad.

Finished 'Peeling', a very surreal little story that can be considered a horror story of sorts. What's real and what's not is the crux of it. Also finished 'The Windmill in the West', which is probably my favorite so far. Very disorienting of a soldier alone guarding a division between the 'east' and the 'west', supposedly America and Australlia, but gets confused as to which is which.

Finished 'Peeling', a very surreal little story that can be considered a horror story of sorts. What's real and what's not is the crux of it.

Finished 'Crabs', 'Life and Death in the South Side Pavilion', 'Room No. 5(Escribo)', 'Happy Story', and 'A Million Dollars' Worth of Amphetamines'. The first was interesting, felt like a critique on White Australia feeling lost, the second was odd, the third was interesting but felt sorta directionless, the fourth was meh, and the fifth was interesting too, sort of a reversal of fortune scenario.

Finished 'Kristu-Du', a quick commentary on the goals that drive a creative mind to support even a dictator in its pursuit of glory and longevity.

Finished 'Do You Love Me?' and 'Last Days of a Famouos Mime', both very short and only slightly underwhelming. The former is odd but interesting in its undertones, and the latter is more compelling but much much too little to glean a whole lot of other than standard 'entertainment is soulless' kind of thought.