A Happy Death by Alison Bechdel

This story was very intriguing as it talks a lot about existentialism. I consider myself to be an absurdist thinker, or a believer in the absurdist theory, which is closely related to existentialism and therefore when i hear the word in a story it grabs my attention. The story as a whole was one of great apathy and some sarcasm with a melancholy ending that i thouroughly enjoyed.

“The Myth of the Monkey King” by Gene Luen Yang

The myth of the monkey king was a very strange tale. I felt confused at first because there was a monkey that shot lasers that was born out of a rock for no reason. I was confused at the end when he just walked up to heaven and beat the crap out of every god in the world. Then i realized that there was an underlying meaning. I enjoyed reading this story both for the monkey related violence and the story of someone who was made to feel inadequate because he was different.

Kenko

He wrote a philosophical series of stories because he was bored. I respect that. He seems to me to be a man who likes solitude a little too much, and would get very annoying to be around after a short amount of time. Then again, it might be interesting to have a small conversation with a man i agree with on a few points. Especially the bit about uniformity being undesirable.

"Cinderella" Anne Sexton

The story of Cinderella by Anne Sexton was different from the one I heard as a child. I thought that it was amazing. I enjoyed this version a lot more than the cheesy version I knew before. My favorite line was "that's the way with amputations..." They just bleed and bleed don't they. Beautiful. I think kids nowadays would be able to handle this slightly violent version and don't need to hear any watered down copies.