Kelso

Probably not everyone's cup of tea, but I was pleasantly surprised by much I enjoyed it. The prose can be a little off-putting - lots of repitition of run-on sentences - and at times is excessive, but once I settled into the ride, I found it to be very lyrical. It's a fun, absurd brand of historical fiction (centering around Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz) with some real anchors in philosophy, told through a blind astronomer recounting the story of how he lost his eyes. (I enjoyed the whimsical, occassionally derranged, antics of the royal family in the second half of the books, and that's when I really got into it.)

I appreciated what the book had to say about grief, absence, and tragedy, I just didn't enjoy how it said it. An interesting piece about humanity - a man whose history is marked by quiet tragedies, leading a life that never really amounts to anything, and in the end only creates more pain for those left behind. The journey to get there wasn't for me though. The prose is repetitive and the plot barely moved - felt more like a meandering poem than a novel. Still, impressed by the author's ability to evoke a sense of compassion for complicated character.

Really love this creator, but this collection of short stories left something to be desired. Read like a screenplay. Main character felt like a self-insert for the author, which could have been an opportunity for honesty, but any attempts at sincerity are obscured by existential/pseudo-deep intellectual quips that would have done numbers on tumblr back in 2012, contrived plots, and banterous dialogue that doesn't sound like how anyone actually talks. The whole cast is more or less indistinguishable from the narrator in their voice/characterization (unsurprising, considering the author usually writes one-man-show style short-form video content where he plays all the characters). That said, the author has a good sense of nostalgia and humor that I think and hope will resonate more in future works.