AVFTGS: Chapters 12 (Great Rock and Roll Pauses) through 13 (Pure Language)

[Melissa_W Moderator]

Please use this thread for discussion of Chapters 12 (the powerpoint chapter) and 13 of A VIsit From the Goon Squad.

[Fozzie]

What did you think of the Powerpoint chapter?  I loved it.  I thought the idea of pauses in music was very original and it seemed like a great way to portray someone autistic.  Despite what Mom said, I think that journaling through Powerpoint slides is not only writing, but adds another dimension of meaning to the writing, depending on the boxes, arrows, or circles used and flow of them, etc.

Another thing I liked about this chapter was picking up little tidbits which filled out the story, like Sasha marrying Drew and why Drew became a doctor.  I thought it was a fun way to tell the story of how Drew came to understand and accept his son more.  At first, he didn’t understand the pauses in music, but the chapter ended with him graphing aspects of pauses.

[Fozzie]

What did you think of the final chapter?  I didn’t like the idea of paying people to spread the word about an event.  It takes place in the future and could be making a comment on where social media is headed, if it isn’t already there.  However, I did like the subtlety of the chapter with regard to life in NYC in the future --- the helicopters, the security, and the Footprint (Ground Zero).  I also liked how the story came full circle back to Alex, the guy from the first chapter.

[Fozzie]

There was another mention of goon at the very end of the book. 

Bennie talking to Scotty:

“Time’s a goon right?  You gonna let that goon push you around?”

Scotty shook his head.  “The goon won.”

It seems to still agree with what I hypothesized in the first thread.  Time is a goon.  The Goon Squad is a time squad --- people from different times in your life.  The short stories that make up the book depict episodes of the characters during different times in their lives.  The reader is able to see and understand how time has affected the characters.

Other thoughts?

[Melissa_W Moderator]

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Fozzie wrote:

There was another mention of goon at the very end of the book. 

Bennie talking to Scotty:

“Time’s a goon right?  You gonna let that goon push you around?”

Scotty shook his head.  “The goon won.”

It seems to still agree with what I hypothesized in the first thread.  Time is a goon.  The Goon Squad is a time squad --- people from different times in your life.  The short stories that make up the book depict episodes of the characters during different times in their lives.  The reader is able to see and understand how time has affected the characters.

Other thoughts?

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Yes, and goon's are bullies.  I feel that time just keeps shoving the characters along, not giving them any room to pause or rethink.  It keeps picking on them.

[Melissa_W Moderator]

My band teacher always said the rests between the phrases are as important as the notes themselves.

I think this could have been a really boring chapter if it were presented as plain old paragraphs (and, yeah, those little clues were great - no skimming or you might miss one!).

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Fozzie wrote:

What did you think of the Powerpoint chapter?  I loved it.  I thought the idea of pauses in music was very original and it seemed like a great way to portray someone autistic.  Despite what Mom said, I think that journaling through Powerpoint slides is not only writing, but adds another dimension of meaning to the writing, depending on the boxes, arrows, or circles used and flow of them, etc.

Another thing I liked about this chapter was picking up little tidbits which filled out the story, like Sasha marrying Drew and why Drew became a doctor.  I thought it was a fun way to tell the story of how Drew came to understand and accept his son more.  At first, he didn’t understand the pauses in music, but the chapter ended with him graphing aspects of pauses.

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[Fozzie]

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Melissa_W wrote:

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Fozzie wrote:

There was another mention of goon at the very end of the book. 

Bennie talking to Scotty:

“Time’s a goon right?  You gonna let that goon push you around?”

Scotty shook his head.  “The goon won.”

It seems to still agree with what I hypothesized in the first thread.  Time is a goon.  The Goon Squad is a time squad --- people from different times in your life.  The short stories that make up the book depict episodes of the characters during different times in their lives.  The reader is able to see and understand how time has affected the characters.

Other thoughts?

---

Yes, and goon's are bullies.  I feel that time just keeps shoving the characters along, not giving them any room to pause or rethink.  It keeps picking on them.

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Another interesting layer of meaning.

[Peppermill]

It is probably a stretch to compare In Search of Lost Time and The Goon Squad, but since both deal with remembrances and with the impacts of time on life and our perception of our memories and I read them overlapping,  I did.  What particularly struck me was how modern, almost post-modern, The Goon Squad was in comparison.  Lots of things have happened since the horse-drawn carriages morphed into cars and houses became lit by electricity as the twentieth century emerged, not just in physical things but in broadly circulated attitudes and values and expectations.

[Fozzie]

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Peppermill wrote:

It is probably a stretch to compare In Search of Lost Time and The Goon Squad, but since both deal with remembrances and with the impacts of time on life and our perception of our memories and I read them overlapping,  I did.  What particularly struck me was how modern, almost post-modern, The Goon Squad was in comparison.  Lots of things have happened since the horse-drawn carriages morphed into cars and houses became lit by electricity as the twentieth century emerged, not just in physical things but in broadly circulated attitudes and values and expectations.

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I haven't read In Search of Lost Time, but I can understand your comparison with regards to treatment of time.  A Visit from the Goon Squad certainly had time as a major theme.