Gargantua - Rabelais

This first book of Rabelais, well actually wasn't written first.  He wrote about Garagantua's son Pantagruel first and them came back and filled in some back story.  I hadn't known that until I was about half way through 'Pantagruel' and it is interesting to compare styles back and forth.  While 'Gargantua' is certainly shocking in parts, it is less so than 'Pantagruel'. 
Gargantua is a giant and this is the story of his birth, upbringing and days as a student.  Right away we get a feel for Rabelais' style as he explains in anatomical detail how Gargantua was born to his mother in an usual way.  He came out of her ear.  Rabelais tells us that he sees nothing in the Bible that would prevent such a thing from happening.  He goes on to tell us what kind of things Gargantua would do during a normal day.  There is a Renaissance writing rule that says if you're going to list three things you should probably list fifty.  We get that in full scope.
Two early bits stood out for there shock value.  The first is a list of the euphemisms that Gargantua's maids have for his penis.  The list goes on for paragraph after paragraph.  The second takes place when Gargantua greets his father and tells him that he has been searching for the very best way to wipe his bum.  His efforts were exhaustive and included all kinds of cloths and fine things and then on to various animals.  I won't spoil the ending but I will say that I've never felt 1/100 so adventurous on the toilet.
We read about growing up in France in the early 1500s and we hear about Gargantua's exhausting daily routine of study and exercise.  From what I can tell there is quite a bit of historical value here as a glimpse into life at that time.  I won't dispute that.
Then we read about a dispute over cakes that somehow escalates into a full scale war on Gargantua's home province.  He comes back from school and does mighty things.  I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't the first time many people had read an account of a foolish war.  In fact, that is one of the wonders of the reading.  I kept asking myself how in the world this got published back in the day that it did.  If it's shocking today (and some of it is) then how must this have been in a time where life was sometimes very cheaply held.
Did I enjoy it?  Yeah, I really did.  Rabelais has a very earthy humor and it's easy to see the smile on his face as he was writing.  Would I give it to teenagers to read?  As I said the other day, I don't know if I would want them to read it but at the same time, I'm absolutely certain they would enjoy it.