A. > Recent Status Updates

Dilla's early life. His fascination with vinyl records. Formation of Slum Village.

Started! Detroit history lesson. Polyrhythms.

Finished! Really loved the ending—the analogy to an actor complaining that thr play is over.

End of Book 9. On a tear at the end—to pray for a change in your response instead of a change in the events, on the inevitability of badness in the world (so stop being shocked)

End of Book 8. I laughed when he said that the Generations To Come that people worry about leaving a legacy for are “the same annoying people you know now.”

Adolescence. Fight with the butcher. Failed crushes

End of Book 2. What to tell yourself when you wake up in the morning. Flesh + spirit + intelligence. You are part of Nature. Life is shrinking. Your own soul > others’ souls. External things — neither noble nor shameful, therefore neither good nor bad. The present is all we have, no matter how long we live. Everything is the same; the elements just change all the time. That’s all death is.

Done!

Hawk-dove theory

Chapter 11. Introduction of the Micawber family

“My Chivalric Fiasco”, 6.5/10. A voice story, and a retread of “Escape From Spiderhead’s” artificial eloquence.

Never updated this! Lots of big changes. David Copperfield is an adolescent now, I think. Out of boarding school. His mother has died. The repulsive Mr. Murdstone has taken over.

"Home" -- 9.5/10 The best of Saunders's "realistic" short stories. Captures PTSD and post-war resentment incredibly well

"The Semplica Girl Diaries", 11/10. The image of the Semplica Girls is one of the most horrifying and effective that Saunders has ever conjured up.

“Exhortation”, 6/10. Pure voice.
“Al Roosten”, 5/10. Not super entertaining. Builds up to nothing. Al Roosten not a compelling character.

“Puppy,” 7.5/10. Probably Saunders’s best ~realistic~ story
“Escape From Spiderhead”, 10/10. Harrowing. Darkenfloxx is the stuff of nightmares.

Chapter 2, "I observe". Introduction of Mr. Murdstone. Brooks of Sheffield?

“Victory Lap”, 7.5/10. The setup is tense. The attempt to get into the abductor’s head less so.
“Sticks”, 7.5/10. Seems like a throaway but the last paragraph really got me. Great compression.

Started! Chapter 1. David Copperfield is born, after a tumultuous conversation between Betsy Trotwood and his mother.

“Bohemians”, 7/10. Mostly because of Ms. Poltoi’s kindness.
“CommComm”, 10/10. Brilliant front-to-back. Amazing closing passages.

“I CAN SPEAK!” 4/10
“My Flamboyant Grandson” 6.5/10
“Jon” 10/10
“My Amendment” 5/10
“The Red Bow” 6/10
“Christmas” 7.5/10
“Adams” 6/10
“In Persuasion Nation”, 10/10

“The Barber’s Unhappiness” — 6/10. Credit to Saunders for burrowing into the mind of an incel, but not quite enough going on otherwise.

“The Falls” — 7.5/10. Tepid for much of it, and I’m not sure why the faux literary second character is there. But man, what a life-affirming thunderbolt of an ending.

“Sea Oak” — 11/10, my favorite short story of all time.
“The End of FIRPO in the World” — 3.5/10. Didn’t really work for me. Not much happens. Odd religious ending.

“Winky” — 5/10. The first part—a motivational seminar—is great. The second half, in Winky’s head, not so much. Saunders’s first third-person story!

“Pastoralia” — 7.5/10 The main dynamic conflict is agonizing, but there’s a good amount of filler I think.

“CivilWarLand In Bad Decline” — 10/10
“Isabelle” — 7/10
“The Wavemaker Falters” — 7/10
“The 400-Pound CEO” — 10/10
“Offloading For Mrs. Schwartz” — 9/10
“Downtrodden Mary’s Failed Campaign of Terror” — 5/10

Only Bounty to go!

Mussolini, Hitler, Franco

Started! Historical context.

“The Miracle Worker”, 8.5/10. Compressed history, spanning decades. Isolation collapses, societies reform along familiar fault lines.