Fred Schafer

What is the value of a life well lived? What indeed is a well-lived life? Does it matter that we devote our lives to just one thing? A career, maybe? Or what if we live our life seemingly aimlessly? Is that a waste of a life? Is there such a thing as a waste of a life? These are all questions that beg to be answered as we follow young Fred on his travels from Europe to North America and back again. It would appear that although Fred had some chances to devote his life to just one thing, he instead drifted aimlessly around two continents with no real purpose in mind beyond some vague notions of becoming a writer some day. Although he took many decisions by choice (like going to college to earn a degree he never really used), many were forced upon him (losing several jobs through no fault of his own) and others, he simply left up to chance (living in Los Angeles with only a dollar left in his pocket and no job and nowhere to live, for instance). Despite the fact that on many occasions on his ramshackle journeys it wouldn't have taken much for things to have turned out disastrous, he always managed to fall on his feet. Despite the apparent aimlessness of his drifting ways, was the universe guiding and supporting his chosen path? Quite simply, Fred could have been leading a completely different life on many, many occasions (the fact that none of his many female involvements resulted in pregnancy is almost a miracle unto itself!) but he was left alone to live the life he chose, almost by default. However, we are only being told a piece of the full story; we are only being informed of but a small slice of the journey because, quite simply, the journey and the life continues...… (mere)

I really enjoyed the authors "Short and Wonderful Life of Henry Hemingway" and the title of this one alone caught my attention. This novel carries over some themes already mentioned in the earlier book, most notably the philosophical debates concerning The Big Bang, the philosophies of Schopenhauer, Sophism, Existentialism and more (if that isn't a heady enough brew). Which is not to say that this is a turgid philosophical treatise by any stretch but rather it's a rollicking surreal ambitious novel that is so fun, it doesn't care what ideological structures it lambasts with its playful irreverence. Echoes of Pirandello's "Six Characters in Search of an Author," and the more recent movie, "Stranger Than Fiction," abound at least in so far as literary characters are given their own voice to speak their minds to their authors or anyone else who would care to hear what they have to say. And what they have to say may surprise you.… (mere)