Set in a village in central France, an American man attempts to sit quietly in a room by himself for one hour, a method promoted by the 17th century philosopher Blaise Pascal as the prescription for all mankind's ills. Tempted by almost everything--fine wines, the grandeur of French cuisine, the beauty of the countryside, our hero soldiers on in pursuit of his special brand of solitude and uncertainty, despite the distractions of neighbors and a highly intelligent female companion.
Thomas Fuller is the prose pen name of Brooks Roddan. He lives and works in San Francisco where he writes every day, enjoys making small-scale paintings and collage, and operates IF SF Publishing, leaving town as often as possible to his cabin in upstate Wyoming where nothing is expected of him.
"… a narrative of literary beauty and philosophical depth …" - RENATE STENDHAL, Huffpost Contributor
"With a unique pace and logic, the text provides a desirable space in which to consider any number of interesting ideas about solitude and connection..." - HOLLY WREN SPAULDING
"Monsieur Ambivalence by Thomas Fuller (IF SF Publishing, $15, 257 pages). If you can't make it to France this year, consider this odd but endearing 'post-literate fable' by Thomas Fuller. Set in the Auvergne, written in brief, stream-of-consciousness installments and illustrated with grainy black-and-white photos , the story is narrated by the title character, a man whose goal — inspired by 17th-century philosopher Blaise Pascal — is to sit quietly in a room for one hour without distraction. Fortunately for the reader, his solitude is frequently interrupted by his lover, Helena, his neighbors, the region's beautiful landscape, food and fine wines." - GEORGE ROWE
"Fuller makes something wonderful here, out of almost nothing: the attempt to sit quietly in a room alone for a least one hour. That he does so in a small village in the middle of France makes it all the more remarkable. Nothing will get in the way of his journey—not love or friendship, not fine wine or cigarettes, not Marcel Duchamp or the grandeur of French cuisine. Lovable and exasperating, a courageous weakling, Monsieur Ambivalence is a friend to all of us who cannot seem to live with ourselves, but who cannot stop hoping to believe that someday we can." - JEAN-PIERRE BEZOUX, Author, Le Source: Secret Fountains of The Auvergne
