Respond to two of the following:
1) A Visit from the Goon Squad is structured as a series of interlocking short stories. Although the stories feature the same set of characters, most of whom are associated with a 1980s punk rock band, no single character appears in all the stories. The time at which each story takes place jumps around quite a bit, with some of the middle chapters being set far earlier than the opening chapters. And there are numerous flash forwards in the stories themselves. All in all, the narrative form of the book is unique. Write about your impressions of and reactions to this narrative form. What does the narrative structure allow you to see better than a traditionally structured story? What is more challenging in reading a novel in this form than in reading a more traditional novel?
2) We do not learn the meaning of the title of A Visit from the Goon Squad until the last chapter when the aged Scotty gets cold feet about going on stage, Bennie tells him, “Time is a goon, right? You gonna let that goon push you around?” The “goon squad” is time. The book is about, among other things, what time does to people. Respond to several of the following: Who is treated justly by time? Who changes the most? Who changes the least? Whose life turns out to be the biggest surprise? If you are having trouble remembering what happened to who when, visit this page, which has a useful timeline for each major character.
3) Compare one of the characters from A Visit from the Goon Squad to a somewhat similar character from one of the other stories or novels. For instance, I might compare Lou Klein to Pete from Maggie, Girl of the Streets, Bennie to Blake from “The Five-Forty Eight,” or Sasha to Eleanor from “Physics,” or to Maggie. What are the similarities and differences in circumstances, outlook, and conduct of the characters? How many of the differences can be accounted for by personal choice, and how many by cultural and historical circumstances? Make ethical comparisons, too. Which of the characters is a better person (or in some cases, a less bad person)?
December 9, 2017 at 12:13 pm
1)“A Visit From the Goon Squad” by Jennifer Egan introduced a unique narrative structure that I was not accustomed to. Each chapter varied with different stories and characters. I expected the characters to be independent in their respective chapter however, as I kept on reading I realized how they were all intertwined. My first glimpse into this connection was in the second chapter when the character Sasha makes a slight appearance within Bennie’s story. Then the format followed in the third chapter when Bennie was slightly mentioned in a new plot. Within each chapter the characters have a lot of flashbacks. Egan eased the reader into this narrative form by mentioning a therapist in the first chapter. As the book went on, the flashbacks did not require a therapist’s reaction, instead it was the character’s reminiscing about their past. At times the flashbacks were also backstories to each person. The combination of backstories and flashbacks added more substance to each character, enriching their story. Egan did a great job with foreshadowing or slightly hinting at characters. For instance, in chapter four a young warrior’s grandchild marries a woman named Lulu. Egan does not abandon Lulu, instead she introduces her in chapter eight and further explains her story. At times, it was difficult to keep up with the timeline because, the book ranged from 1950’s to post 9/11 and it required a lot of in detailed reading. This book is not one to skim over because there are so many hidden gems that fully amplify the themes present within the book.
2) Most of the characters in the book are treated justly by time. The one character that stood out to me the most was Sasha. From chapter one I noticed her struggle with her identity and theft issue. She has a hard time battling wrong and right and she closes herself off from people like Alex. She wants to stay in the present and not worry too much about the future because of her past experiences. She does not have a good teenage/young adult life; She runs away from home, tries to commit suicide and unfortunately gets fired by Bennie as his assistant. She realizes her destructive lifestyle and takes a new turn by marrying her college friend, Drew. With him she settles down and has two children. Her daughter Alison has a hard time understanding her mother’s obsessions with junk and art. However, when Sasha makes sculptures out of trash and toys she symbolizes the notion that anyone can pick up the broken pieces in their life and glue it back together. Similar to how she did with her life. Sasha figures herself out with time and that is what a lot of characters were also able to accomplish. For instance, Bennie has trouble finding himself within the music industry. He strives for the best and often times finds himself getting the worst, like the sister group he signed to his label. At the end of the novel, Scotty’s debut is a great success and Bennie finally finds something exciting to occupy his time with. Even Kitty’s acting career takes off towards the end of the novel even though she struggled with its downfall in the past. Unfortunately, some people were not as lucky. Rolph and Rob die young, Dolly gets pulled from her industry as a public relations specialist, and Lou dies after a long life of regret and drug abuse. In the end, some people have a shocking turnout but for others their future is expected.
December 10, 2017 at 3:57 pm
1) A Visit from the Goon Squad is a novel that is structured by combining a series of different interlocking short stories. Throughout these short stories, we meet a similar set of characters but not one main character is present within all 13 chapters (short stories). While reading this novel, I also noticed that the timeline jumps around a lot throughout the short stories because some chapters can be in the past while some may be in the future and then go back to the present day. After completing this read, I am not a fan of Jennifer Egan’s unique style of writing for this novel. I was completely lost when I was attempting to read this novel, I was unable to make sense of any themes or timelines reading this book. I would be the one to argue that if Jennifer Egan presented this story in chronological order all in the same medium, not having some chapters as powerpoint slides, readers including myself would better be able to see the story and meaning of the book with greater ease. Yes, I did find it interesting for Ms. Egan to incorporate different mediums within her writing, specifically the power point presentation, but that does not make this story easier to comprehend. I wholeheartedly that by Egan incorporating different genres and forms of writing as well as having a unique style in which chapters are complete different short stories in no chronological order makes the overall experience of reading and comprehending the novel a much more difficult task than what it should be.
2) While you are reading A Visit from the Good Squad we see that the novel incorporates a variety of different short stories in which we meet a familiar group of characters. The short stories are faced with changes in time moving from past to present and to the future, not in that definitive order. The changes in time play their own effects on all the characters throughout the book. I believe that Bennie Salazar’s life plays out to be the biggest surprise. If we look at Bennie’s life through a chronological timeline and not in the way his life was told in the novel, we see that he joined a rock band in high school called the “Flaming Dildos” showing an early interest in music. From there we learn that he becomes an apprentice to Lou Kline, Bennie’s mentor who owns a recording studio. We believe that Bennie is destined for success and fame due to his early musical success but then during his early 40’s his downfall begins. He sells his label company, gets caught cheating on Stephanie, his mentor passes away, gets thrown out by Stephanie, and gets fired for serving a terrible lunch to his corporate controllers. To end of his story, we see that he actually organizes Scotty’s Footprint concert and has a daughter named Ava with his wife, Lupa. Bennie’s life was the most surprising because from an early age he was destined for success, faced tons of difficulty, but managed to end his life living happily and successfully. I believe that Drew’s life changes the most throughout the novel and lived the most unexpected absurd life. We know Drew to be Sasha’s boyfriend but when we look at his life in chronological order, it’s shocking to see how he turned out. Drew was born in Wisconsin promising his parents he will go to law school in order to run for Senator and then President. Then Drew starts dating Sasha and one night when Sasha isn’t around, Drew sneaks off with Rob at night to swim in the East River in which Rob drowns and dies. Due to Rob passing away, Drew becomes a doctor rather than becoming President. Later on, Drew marries Sasha and move to Pakistan, a long way from Wisconsin, where they have two children. Drew’s story ends with him running a clinic in which he is conducting open-heart surgery on a girl whose parents are illegal, and then the girl passes away. Drew’s life changes the most because we meet Drew as a boy from Wisconsin who has dreams and aspirations of becoming the President but instead moves to Pakistan and is a doctor who runs a clinic and conducts heart surgery on a girl who passes away. Besides his multiple marriages and a different number of children, I think Lou Kline life changes the least over time. Lou Kline coming back from barely surviving the war in Korea, we learn that he runs his own recording label with a studio. Lou Kline offers Bennie from the “Flaming Dildos” a recording contract. Then Lou Kline goes on an African Safari for a business venture. Lou has a variety of affairs and children throughout his life, but besides that, his life didn’t seriously change because he stays in the music industry, as well as remains a rich and wealthy man.
December 10, 2017 at 8:05 pm
1) A Visit from the Goon Squad is structured uniquely from other novels. Rather than a chronological order, the novel has each section or chapter written as individual, interconnected short stories. Whereas it may be odd to consider something like this a novel, I think it is an appropriate fit. The structure that was introduced was quite unique; I was not used to the unorthodox structure. However, this unique, unorthodox structure aided to the overall theme and plot of the novel as a whole. Without it, perhaps A Visit from the Goon Squad may not have had the same take away for me. Although it seems useless and inefficient, the format that the novel is written in actually proves to be effective in certain aspects. For instance, the separate short story structure allows for each character to be well thought out and realized throughout the chapter they feature in. Since the whole story does not surround or focus on a specific character, it thus allows for each character to be individualized in their own way in their own chapter. On the other hand, A Visit from the Goon Squad proves to be a challenging read because of the way it is written. Because of the numerous flash-forwards in the separate stories, it is hard to tell what is going on at some points. The separate stories also lack a chronological order, making it hard to follow along with. With that being said, A Visit from the Goon Squad still provides its readers with a compelling set of stories that satisfy the readers.
2) Throughout the novel A Visit from the Goon Squad, time is a recurring theme. Time changes each of the characters differently and it is a matter of how they respond to these changes which determine their eventual fate in the novel or the short story they are a part of. To begin, the character I find to be treated most justly by time would be Alex. Although Alex isn’t changed very much by time, he ends up in a position unlike some of the other characters in the novel; he ends up with a family and a job. Alex marries Rebecca and has a daughter and eventually promotes a once in a lifetime concert. Other than that, I believe Sasha to be the character that is changed the most by time. From being a kleptomaniac to marrying and living in the California desert, Sasha changed the most. On the other hand, I find Lou Kline to be the character that changes the least over time. Lou remains in the music industry throughout his entire time spent in the novel. He is a music producer and attends the Flaming Dildos band’s gig and ends up serving as Bennie’s mentor. Though he may have had several affairs and children with several women, Lou Kline seems to be the most static character over time. Finally, Rob Freeman’s life is the most surprising of the bunch. After the suicide attempt, it was hard to tell what would become of Rob. When he drowned in the East River, it was an extremely surprising end. Overall, the characters of A Visit from the Goon Squad are influenced, in one way or another, by the goon that is time.
December 11, 2017 at 1:26 pm
1) “A Visit From the Good Squad” is a story told in a unique way that I did not expect before reading the novel. Not only is each chapter told through the different lives of different stories and characters, but as the book progresses, the stories become intertwined. The book almost feels like an anthology series in which varied, separate stories are told, but all exist within the same universe, so that the opportunity for different stories to connect is possible. To facilitate this style of writing, the chapters are composed of many flashbacks, or characters reminiscing about their past. The stories of each character were developed through these memories, and allow the reader to see into the backstory of a character. With flashbacks often comes foreshadowing, an element of writing Egan does a fabulous job at integrating into his storytelling. This is apparent in chapter eight when the character Lulu made a return from her appearance in chapter four when she married the warrior’s grandchild. Some other connections between plotlines are when Sasha makes an appearance in Bennies story in chapter 2 and then in chapter 3 Benny receives his slight appearance when he is alluded to. The format is very flexible, and intriguing but requires detailed and very focused, cerebral reading. The reader must stay on their toes and recount each character’s stories as they pop in and out of different narratives. Although a little difficult to keep track off as opposed to a traditional, non-anthology story, it is a unique and impressive style for Egan to showcase.
2) Time is the most unpredictable element of life, and governs our existence from the time we are born to the time that we die. In the space between is our life, and what happens during that time is what we make of the universe we are given. The character Sasha is a great example of a character that is able to take the reigns of life and change for the better throughout her story. With a history of kleptomania, and a big ego, she puts herself in danger and closes herself off to relationships with people such as Alex. As an adolescent she was troubled, and ran away from home as well as attempted to commit suicide. It is after being fired by Bennie as his assistant that she realizes her lifestyle is damaging and it is critical that she makes a change. To turn he life around, she decided to marry her friend from college Drew, and eventually has 2 children. By the end of the novel, she is living in the California desert and has a stable family and life, something she had trouble finding in her younger years. A character I found to be static despite his multiple affairs and children was the character Lou. Throughout the novel, he is a music producer and never changes his profession. Eventually, he attends the gig of Benny’s band the Flaming Dildos. It is there that he becomes Benny’s mentor, another character that was heavily influenced by time. Benny began his life as a music prodigy, always pursuing his passion and looking for opportunities to be a musician. It seems natural to assume that based on his early success in the industry, Benny was destined for fame. However, his life takes a downward spiral in his mid-life when he is caught cheating on Stephanie, sells his record company, and suffers the loss of his mentor Lou. Similar to Sasha however, Benny can turn his life around in a way that was unexpected by the reader. Benny marries his wife Lupa, and has a daughter named Ava. By the end of the story, he is back working in music, his passion, organizing Scotty’s Footprint concert. The character’s life that ended in the most disappointing or shocking way was the character, Rob. Although already previously attempting to commit suicide, it was surprising to find out that his body was found in the East River, and that time had finally had its way with him.
December 11, 2017 at 3:03 pm
1) After starting to read A visit from the Good Squad by Jennifer Egan, it became clear that this novel did not follow the traditional rules for novel structure. Instead of containing one overarching story with a set list of characters throughout, this book contained several short stories in which the same set of characters were present but they appeared at separate times. As a whole, I did not enjoy reading a novel like this because I felt it was unnecessarily confusing at times and made it much easier to miss key plot points. As a casual reader, I more often than not like to read things that are easily followed because I feel I understand the theme of the novel much better that way. By presenting characters and stories to the reader in this way, Egan made her novel so that unless you’re paying close attention the entire time you’re reading, you can easily miss a subtle connection between characters. While I did not personally like this style of novel, I can still see the benefits in writing a book this way. For example, this style of writing is almost a more realistic interpretation of how relationships and interactions work in real life. Instead of just a straight forward storyline, this novel shows the complexities that exist between different people which can be more engrossing to a reader who is fully immersed in the story.
2) In the last chapter of the novel, we learn that one of the main themes of the book is what time does to people. After reading the novel, one character I felt was treated justly by time was Bennie Salazar. Just by looking at his life timeline alone, it is clear that he lived a pretty fulfilling life and was able to pursue his passions. This is seen in the way Bennie shows an interest in music from as early as his teenage years all the way until he is in his 60s. This also shows how he did not change much even with the passing of time because his passions remained constant. However, one thing that appears surprising about Bennie’s timeline is that despite his fulfilling life he still cheats on Stephanie with her friend Kathy.
December 11, 2017 at 5:55 pm
1) The novel “A Visit from the Goon Squad” is a series of stories about different narratives of people’s lives. The story of these people are not told in a chronological order, rather it is associated with various people in the 1980s to 2020s. I, personally, found this type of writing style very intriguing and unique. At first, I assumed that the story is going to be specifically about Sasha and her disorder of Kleptomania. However, as I continued reading other chapters, the narrative structure of the novel changes to different perspectives of various people’s story. Each chapter and story has its own meaning and values. This structure is more challenging than the traditionally structured story where one can easily follow the thoughts and plot of one protagonist. At first, I thought the transition from one chapter to another was a bit confusing and hard to follow. Although I realized these stories focused on different people, there are some connections between the various characters. For instance, the chapter of “The Gold Cure,” introduces Bennie Salazar, a divorced record executive, and another chapter “A to B,” the focus is on Bennie’s wife Stephanie before they get divorced. This narrative structure is effective is telling multiple points of views from various characters, but it is challenging and confusing to understand all the stories as go back and forth with the previous chapters.
2) The character, Sasha from “A Visit from the Goon Squad” and the teenagers in “Mugging” have similar actions of stealing from others, but these characters are also different in their stealing motivations. In the first chapter of “Found Objects,” Sasha meets with her therapist, Coz, to resolve her problem with stealing other people’s belongings. During the date with Alex, she saw a woman’s wallet in the bathroom stall. She reluctantly took the wallet and was about to leave the restaurant. However, the poor woman desperately ran out to the couple to ask for her missing wallet. It was later revealed that the woman was from out of town and she is trying to catch a plane. Looking at the frantic and fearfully woman, Sasha felt guilty and sympathetic. After they have called for security, Sasha went back into the bathroom to discreetly put the wallet back into the bathroom stall. However, the woman barged inside and Sasha revealed that she stole the wallet. Sasha apologizes to the woman and asks the woman to keep this incident as a secret. Stealing is Sasha’s poor habit and once she satisfied her urge, she immediately feels a sense of comfort and relieves. In this story, the readers get to hear and understand the background of the thief. Sasha struggles with her disorder and tries to resist from taking other’s things. On the other, in the article of “Mugging” by Allen Ginsberg, he talks about his incident of getting mugged on the streets. The young teenagers grabbed the narrative by the neck and threatened to kill him with a knife if he does not pass his money, credit cards and watch. From this point of view, it is seen that the thieves are aggressive and heartless. However, from the chapter of “Found Objects,” it sets a different tone and objective to the subject of stealing. The thieves from Allen Ginsberg’s story may have been struggling financially and desperately needed money to survive. From the story of Sasha, her conduct and motivation to steal are physically less violent and uncontrollable. Sasha’s disorder of Kleptomania is an illness that she is trying to cure her therapist. While in “Mugging,” the two teenagers harshly hauled the narrator into the dark ally and thrashed him to the cold cement. Their conduct is more cynical and unethical. The teenager’s action can be viewed as an economic instability, which can be a driven factor for their aggression of stealing from others.
December 11, 2017 at 7:26 pm
1) The narrative structure of Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From the Good Squad is particularly interesting and effective. Rather than a traditionally structured narrative which follows a set of characters and their interactions with one another, Egan’s novel follows independent characters and their respective stories for every new chapter. What’s interesting is that certain characters have plots that intertwine, especially the first character that is introduced, Sasha. The first chapter introduces Sasha and Alex, and follows Sasha’s stealing problem. In the next chapter, Bennie is presented, who happens to be Sasha’s assistant; he has the problem of living through past memories and feels exceedingly lonely in his present life. He consumed gold flakes with his coffee because of the myth that the combination would increase sexual desires and events. Both Sasha and Bennie are introduced as flawed, struggling characters which have a minor detail in common that helps intertwine their stories. Then the third chapter follows a group of friends, Scotty, Alice and Jocelyn, and Rhea; Rhea, the narrator of the chapter, was in love with Bennie in her teenage years, which is the string that attaches the two chapters. The chapter involves a huge love circle, in which characters are in love with one another but the feelings are not reciprocated. The fourth chapter, broken down into three parts: Grass, Hills, and Sand, depicts amongst other characters, Lou on the safari in Africa, a man who was introduced briefly in the third chapter. Each of the succeeding 9 chapters in the novel follow a similar pattern of isolated mini stories attached together by a common thread, being a shared character in some way. The stories constantly change from different time periods, which makes the stories more dynamic– characters have flashbacks throughout which introduce the lives of previous characters mentioned. In this sense, I think the structure enables the reader to read each chapter independently, but recall the bigger picture through the allusions to other characters and points in time; I feel as though life exists in this sense, everyone has their own story, but perhaps we are all connected by some invisible force.
2) In the last chapter, the reader finally discovers that the “Good Squad” refers to time, which all makes sense because the novel followed the evolution of numerous characters and their relative stories throughout time. In my opinion, Bennie Salazar is treated justly by time. From the beginning of the novel, when he was introduced with his friend group in high school, he joins a band called the Flaming Dildos but slowly stops keeping in touch with Scotty when he starts to date their friend Alice. He meets Sasha later in life, who becomes his assistant. He has a relationship and child with Stephanie, but cannot remain faithful; the novel ends as the plot circles back to mirror the beginning. Bennie organizes a concert with Lulu and Alex and marries Lupa. His life is favored by the unexpected force that is time. He ends as a successful man, living his dreams initially introduced from his high school period. One of the characters that experience immense change throughout the snippets presented in the novel is Scotty. His childhood is particularly rough, as his mother passes after taking sleeping pills, then after a period in which he disappears, he maries and divorces Alice, and finally starts a music career at the end of the novel, with help from Bennie. Sasha manages to flip his life around and emerge from a state of hopelessness that he experienced in his childhood. Sasha’s life to me, was the biggest surprise in the novel. As the first character the reader was introduced to, we could immediately detect Sasha’s troubled nature as a thief with trust issues. She was introduced in the first chapter alongside Alex, on a date where she felt the need to steel a woman’s purse. She almost gets caught by her date but begs the woman not to expose her; she clearly doesn’t like opening up to others about her problems in life. After working for 12 years under Bennie’s wing, time catches up with her and she is fired for her obsessive stealing tendencies. Certain characters, such as Lou who consistently pursued music, did not change drastically, while other characters were lucky at the hands of time, and others, who perished throughout the novel, where not.
December 11, 2017 at 9:08 pm
1) The unique narrative form used by Jennifer Egan in her novel “A Visit from the Goon Squad” is both interesting and challenging. The novel’s structure of interlocking short stories involving different characters and taking place at different time periods is very different from most other novels. In some ways, I find this narrative structure to be interesting and informative in that it helps to present the unique perspectives and relationships of different characters in the novel better than traditionally structured novels. These unique perspectives and relationships help to provide a broader and more diverse view of the events that take place within the novel. In addition, the varying time periods help to convey the theme of time which is central to the novel. However, I also find this narrative structure to be more challenging to read than more traditional novels. The changing narratives, characters, and time periods make the novel somewhat difficult to follow and comprehend. It is often difficult to keep track of the novel’s evolving aspects from one chapter to another, and the structure makes it somewhat difficult to synthesize the novel as a whole.
3) In “A Visit from the Goon Squad”, Lou Klein is very much similar to Pete from “Maggie, Girl of the Streets.” Both Lou and Pete are unfaithful and manipulative men who take advantage of the women who fall in love with them. Both men attract women, capture their hearts, and then abandon them. In “Maggie, Girl of the Streets”, Maggie falls in love with Pete and runs away from home with him before Pete leaves her for Nellie and abandons her out on the street. Similarly in “A Visit from the Goon Squad”, Jocelyn falls in love with Lou who tells her that they’ll “see the whole goddamn world” (90) together, before being cast aside by him like the previous “three marriages he bored through and then kicked away” (86). Both Lou and Pete show a disregard and a lack of empathy for the women that they hurt, and both display a careless attitude towards their actions. The main difference between the two characters is that while Pete is selfish and only concerned about himself, Lou does show love, compassion, and loyalty to his children, especially Charlie and Rolph. This difference can be attributed to personal choice in that while Pete chooses not to commit himself to anyone, Lou chooses to commit himself to his children despite not being able to have them live with him because of custody disputes. Such a difference also helps to show that Lou is a somewhat better person than Pete in that while he is unfaithful to the women that he has relationships with, he is faithful to his children. In addition, while both men are unfaithful to the women who love them, Jocelyn and Rhea are willing to visit Lou before he dies despite the pain he has caused them.
December 11, 2017 at 9:52 pm
1. Jennifer Egan uses an unconventional writing style in which she writes in different time periods and focuses on different characters instead of following one character in chronological order. Egan uses this to give each person a chance to tell their own story whether it’s in the past or now. However, these stories often connect with each other and show us the relationship between characters. For example, Sasha, Drew and Rob impacted each other with the love relationship they had but they still had different stories to tell. Although Egan uses this style, I personally find it more challenging to read a novel like this. I had to focus on how each chapter changed, determine who will be narrating and the time that this took place. Additionally, I prefer to learn about a character over time and see how they develop due to the events that they face. There is a greater feeling of joy or despair when you see how the characters have turned out instead of learning who they are and then looking at the events who made them who they are. However, you can obtain more information about each character from Egan’s style. Each character is given their own chance to explain themselves and the actions that they have performed. In a traditional style, you would get more details about the main character instead and little about the other characters that interact with the main characters.
2. A Visit from the Goon Squad focuses on time and how the characters change because of it. The character whose life turned out to be the biggest surprise to me was Sasha. In the opening chapter, Sasha is at a therapist discussing her tendency to steal and how the items that she steals loses meaning because the owners are no longer there. My initial reaction to this was that she was going to go to jail for her crimes. However, this does not happen. Instead, she finds a husband and starts a family of her own. I was surprised that she did not have a tragic ending since she had a difficult life when she was younger. Although this is different from what I expected, I do understand that she is trying to change herself in a positive way. The person that changed the least was Lou. He continued to love music and this can be shown when he visits the concert that the Benny’s band had. Additionally, he also provides support to Bennie as his mentor and helps him pursue a musical career. Additionally, he continued to get into relationships despite his failed ones. He had three marriages that gave him six children including Charlie and Rolph. He also gets himself in a relationship with Jocelyn after those marriages failed.
December 11, 2017 at 11:15 pm
1. Jennifer Egan put obvious thought and consideration into the structure of her novel, “A Visit from the Goon Squad.” It is very unique in that it moves in a nonlinear fashion, moving back and forth through a broad time range. At first, the unconventional style was off-putting and confusing. It was difficult to keep up with the various characters introduced and understanding what purpose they each served. For example, the story begins with introducing Sasha with her therapist. Even in this first chapter, there is a leap back in time as Sasha recounts a memory of a date she had in which she stole another woman’s wallet in the bathroom. Then, the next chapter jumps into Bennie Salazar’s life, who we find out is Sasha’s boss. But then, Egan lost me when she then introduced yet another character, Rhea, all the way back in 1979 who seems entirely unrelated. These first impressions were a bit negative, but later developed into an appreciation and sense of awe by the end of the novel when everything ties together. As the story moves, common themes start to emerge and visible ties form between characters. The story picks up again with Rhea, Jocelyn, and Lou fast-fowarded into the future. Rhea has moved on to have kids, while Jocelyn is struggling with addiction and Lou’s health is failing. They all gather by the pool in a sense of nostalgia of past times. This is a common theme in the story that is highlighted by the various points of view made possible by Egan’s nonlinear structure. In addition, Egan is able to juxtapose the lives of the characters from one point in time to another within the text. For example, she purposefully places the chapters of Sasha’s life from her time at NYU to Naples. At NYU, she is young and innocent, surrounded by college friends. But then it immediately jumps to her Uncle looking for her in Naples, as he finds her alone and estranged from society and people. This contrast between stages in Sasha’s life cannot be posed together in a traditional, chronological storyline. Although initially daunting, the novel’s structure was carefully and intentionally crafted to weave a web that brought the characters and themes into full screen.
3. Sasha can very well be compared to Eleanor from Tama Janowitz’s, “Physics.” Both deal with a struggle of time and its unforgiving and inevitable nature. Throughout “A Visit from the Goon Squad,” Sasha battles with her addiction to stealing and fears for her future. She wants to give herself a better life, away from the turbulent lifestyle she has led in the past. Her appearance is very important to her, and she tries to beat the effects of time by at least preserving her youthful appearances, even if that means lying. On her online dating profiles, she lists herself as 28 years old, when in reality, she’s 35. She compares herself to other women who have most likely already started a family, like the woman she encounters at the restaurant whom she almost stole her wallet from. Finally, she ends up marrying her old college flame, Drew, and settling down with two children. Eleanor, on the other hand, was not a troubled thief, but also got caught up in the past and the hopes of her future. After a rather uneventful and disappointing dinner party with her boyfriend, she realizes that she’s not getting any younger. Just as Sasha realized it was ready for her to let go of her past lifestyle, Eleanor had an epiphany that she, too, was ready to have children. This thinking about the future gets her regretting her past and all her life decisions; one of them being not understanding physics. Sasha comes to this realization in a gradual way, the idea becoming larger and more pressing, while Eleanor stumbles upon it almost accidentally, like by chance. Although Eleanor may not have been a chronic stealer, she was no less subject to the effects of time than Sasha. Both were faced with a split in the road where it came to a time to choose where they wanted to be in life.
December 12, 2017 at 12:18 am
1) One of the most intriguing aspects of A Visit from the Goon Squad is its deviation from the standard, chronological method of storytelling. Instead of discussing events in sequence, the life stories of several characters are told in a series of short stories that alternate between flashbacks and visions or fantasies of the future. While a cursory flip through the novel may leave the reader confused, and cause him to declare the unique style simply confusing, a deeper read of the text unveils the wisdom behind this stylistic choice. Egan mentions a therapist in the first chapter of the novel, which somewhat foreshadows the loose structure of the novel, as a therapy session consists of the clients telling of spontaneously recalled ideas and experiences, and not of a single tale. The nonchronological telling of the stories in The Goon Squad is very appropriate because the novel, in essence, discusses a group of characters trying to make peace with their sense of identity. The book seems to touch on our “instinct” to try to formulate and cling to a clear idea of who we are. The characters in the novel often seem to believe that the rest of the world sees them the way they see themselves, although this is grossly inaccurate. The world may see a person for what is currently occurring in his or her life, but to ourselves, we are a combination of who we were and what we went through in the past, and who we hope to be and what we hope to achieve in the future.
2) A memorable moment in the book is when Bennie states “Time is a goon, right? You gonna let that goon push you around?,” leading readers to consider the extent to which the book is a commentary on how time treats people. Not all of the characters in the book are treated “fairly”but time. For instance, both Roph and Rob die at a young age, and Lou dies, admittedly not at a young age, but after a long hopeless struggle with drugs and dependence. However, for the majority of the characters, time proves to, in a way, “heal all wounds” and bring good things to the patient. For instance, since his early days in the band The Flaming Dildos, Bennie seemed destined to be a rock star. However, as he reaches his middle ages, his glittering destiny seems to fall through, as he lives in a constant decline. However, although much later than he had initially expected, Scotty’s successful debut finally brings him the recognition he had always hoped for. Sasha, too, is an example of a character for whom giving things some time brought her eventual satisfaction. After suffering a difficult childhood and struggling with kleptomania, Sasha seemed destined to be a lowlife. However, she eventually married, had children, and devoted herself to making sculptures out of trash, symbolizing that anyone can piece something good out of what appear to be useless remnants. Even Bosco, a spastic skinny redhead who becomes overweight from medication and appears unhappy finds eventual satisfaction, admittedly unexpectedly, from owning a dairy farm.
3) If I were to compare a character from A Visit From The Goon Squad to a character from another novel we read this semester, I would compare Lou Klein to Pete from Maggie, Girl of the Streets. Lou Klein and Pete both seduce innocuous, hopeful young girls, Maggie in Pete’s case and Jocelyn in Lou Klein’s. Both characters are also very wealthy, and clearly greatly value their heightened social status. They both quickly abandon the girls they seduce in favor of other, more “sophisticated” or long-term relationships. However, neither of them live out the rest of their lives happily. Pete is eventually abandoned by Nellie, the “classy” woman he left Maggie for, and Lou Klein struggles with illness and is eventually killed by a vengeful Jocelyn. In both cases, characters that initially seem “blessed” with fortune and powers of seduction come to be, metaphorically, punished by fate for their unethical actions.
December 12, 2017 at 2:59 am
1. As a novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad has a structure that is too fragmented for my taste. I do enjoy reading short stories, but I think that calling it a novel is a stretch since there is no central plot. I have read novels that were similar to A Visit from the Goon Squad; however, the ones I have read tie back to a main plot. This type of narrative structure is better at portraying to the reader the different perspectives of the novel. Rather than focusing on just a few characters, this novel lets the reader explore the different stories through a unique set of eyes. Although we get to see various points of view, this novel also makes it hard to follow and remember what happened before. It throws the reader into a sort of confusion since the stories are so radically different. Unlike traditional novels, A Visit from the Goon Squad has its own unique style of portraying the story to the readers.
2. The passage of time affects everyone, but it affects some more drastically than others. A character that I thought was treated justly by time was Scotty Hausmann because he achieves his success in the music industry when he becomes an older man. Despite being thrown garbage at a performance at a young age, Scotty makes a comeback later in his life, which demonstrates how time healed his past. A character that I thought changed the most was Sasha because from looking at a timeline of her life, she endured a lot of experiences that really changed her life more than once. For example, her father had disappeared when she was just 6-years-old. Then at the age of 17, she runs away to Tokyo with Wade but then gets abandoned by Wade in Hong Kong. When she is 21, she even witnesses the drowning and death of Rob. By her 30s, she leaves NYC and goes to live in Pakistan. She then moves to live in a California desert in her late 30s. Just thinking about how much she has experienced, I think Sasha has definitely undergone the most change. A character that I think hasn’t changed that much is Bennie Salazar because he stays in the music industry for most of his life. Despite a few incidences, Bennie’s career and life experiences has remained in the realm of music. The character that I thought turned out to be the biggest surprise was Bosco life because he went from being a rock star to someone who is overweight from cancer medications and who had his hip replaced, and then ends up with a dairy farm. He was expected to become successful in the music industry but it turned out completely differently through time.
December 12, 2017 at 9:59 am
1. “A Visit From the Goon Squad” by Jennifer Egan introduces a distinct narrative structure involving short stories that move back and forth with each individual character. Within a character’s story, there are often jumps to the future, offering a contrast between the past, present, and future. When reading the novel, one can tell that the characters are all connected in one way or another. There are also several flashbacks within the novel’s chapters, which helped develop the character’s story. I personally found this novel to be a challenging read. I had difficulties understanding the novel and each individuals story with all of the jumps in time, making it hard for me to keep track of what was going on at some points. Although it is not a style I personally favor, I understand how this novel can be argued as effectively written. Her writing style brought light to the complex lifestyles of each character. It tells multiple points of views making it easier for the reader to better understand the novel.
2. Time is a reoccurring theme in the novel “A Visit from the Goon Squad.” Each character is affected by time and the way they handle situations leads to their eventual destiny. Sasha is one of the many characters to be affected by the theme of time. She has a history of kleptomania which is an illness she tries to cure with the help of her therapist. When reading this novel, the reader can tell how she closes herself off to Alex. Sasha is depicted as a troubled adolescent-a thief with trust issues. When she is at her therapist talking about her stealing problem, it can be seen that she only steals from people because the objects have a meaning for the individuals. She attempts to find a connection to others through the objects she steals. She goes through a lot in her life. She ran away, attempted suicide, and was fired. It comes to the point where she realizes that she must bring change to her life. She ends up marrying her college friend Drew and they have two children together. In the end, she is seen to have a stable life, which was something she struggled with in her earlier years. Lou Kline is a character that changes the least over time. He is a music producer that has multiple affairs and children. He one day attends a gig of Bennie’s gang the Flaming Dildos and there he becomes Bennie’s mentor, helping him pursue his music career. Bennie began his life as a music prodigy. However, his life quickly goes into a downward spiral. He is caught cheating on Stephanie with her friend Kathy, he sells his record company, and he also copes with the loss of his mentor Lou. His life turns around when he marries Lupa. They both have a daughter named Ava. Towards the end, it is seen that he is working in music again and is able to pursue his passion. Rob is the character that I think had the most shocking ending. Although he did attempt suicide, his death was caused by drowning in the East River. Even though not all of the characters were affected by this theme of time, all of them must fight the powerlessness over it and the changes that come along with it.
December 12, 2017 at 11:37 am
1) A Visit From the Goon Squad provides is a unique story because it plays around with time and our preconceived notions about how stories should build one or a few characters throughout the story. There are many novels that take the approach of playing with time. It is not a new phenomenon whatsoever. Indeed, there is a subset of play types, called circular, plays that play with time in a similar fashion, with the start and the end located in the same temporal lane while the middle of the story delved into such event that occurred (or are occurring? – tense is hard to pinpoint regarding stories that play with time like this) before the middle and the end. The reason one might choose to write like this is evident if someone would like to add a simple twist in that the plot starts at a time of high tension, then highlights the events that led to this moment of high tension, and then finally pans to the climax and final resolution. Though each of the short stories from A Visit From the Goon Squad have their own coherent plots and climaxes, there are essential overall ideas that pass from story to story that serve the novel in much the same way. What makes this novel truly unique or more so than other novels is that, for each individual character, the characterization is built in the limits of a couple pages and then their characterization is dropped in order to move to the next story and the next character. We rarely see them in a substantial manner again. To me, that’s a shame and a waste of characterization value. We are already attached to some characters or at least feel some way towards them. If the characters were connected a tad more throughout the story, it could have made the novel stronger and the ideas more tightly bounded.
2) It is hard to describe time as anything but a force of nature. We may choose to associate it with some kind of pithy punchy quote like “time is a goon” but that is more of a reflection on the human state of mind than time itself. It is not time that is a goon, it is the human state of mind that is a goon for thinking that time is a goon, thus removing proper responsibility from people and applying it to a universal force. Thus, saying that time is just or unjust is simply wrong. Personification cannot be applied to time. Time is time, not some great benefactor or terrible destroyer. It is what people choose to do with time that makes or breaks them. This can be seen extensively in the case of Sasha, who takes center stage in the first story as a kleptomaniac who, despite her best intentions and her confrontation of her own guilt, gives in to her temptations. She moves around plenty of times in order to get away from her past. Indeed, she moves from NYC to Hong Kong to Pakistan and finally to the Californian desert. Of her own volition, she moves beyond her past and what encapsulated her life before. She is free from the confines set upon her because she chose to be. She devoted her life to making sculptures out of trash, which is a prominent image that speaks to how she created everything from nothing. Nothing was given to her and yet she still made do, not because of time but because of herself. The person who changes the least throughout the novel is possibly Bennie Salazar, who we first hear of as Sasha’s mean old boss. He remains the way he’s presented throughout the novel and he sticks to what he knows in the realm of music regardless of time. He chooses not to change himself. Sasha’s life was definitely the biggest surprise for me because she was able to pick herself off the ground. When reading the first short story, I felt bad for her but by the end I was dejected and convinced that she would not get any better. However, she eventually makes a new person out of herself despite the odds being stacked up against her, which is certainly a valiant feat.
3) Two people who I think are comparable in their stories but who definitely have different ways of dealing with their issues are Sasha from A Visit from the Goon Squad and Maggie from Maggie: Girl of the Streets. The two of them are trapped, albeit in different ways. Sasha is trapped within the confines of her own museum while Maggie is trapped by society. Societal bounds are easily the more escapable of the two. However, Sasha is the one who truly escapes her confines. This speaks volumes about both Sasha and Maggie. If I’m being honest, Maggie is quite simply weak. Sasha fought against her own mind and won whereas Maggie could not escape the entrapments of the outside world. It is possible that this speaks to the times in which they lived. Sasha lives in a more progressive age that allows her to have some level of mobility. However, that is, in the end, an excuse. It might be harder but it can be done. And it would be done if Maggie were as strong as Masha.
December 14, 2017 at 3:04 am
This isn’t the first time I’ve read a novel that follows the unique style that the Goon Squad did. In fact, I’ve noticed various other books and TV shows that have this confusing style where various stories of different contexts and time periods are occurring simultaneously. Granted the Goon Squad does this to an extreme extent, this style/ technique is actually extremely common in all types of story-telling because it gives the audience a sense of satisfaction when they put the pieces together to find the grand result. This could be the moral of the story, a sudden and surprising twist of the plot, or something along those lines. What matters is the writers gives the audience the opportunity to solve the story themselves rather than having it be spoon-fed to them bit by bit. So it wasn’t new for me and was fun to read (albeit a bit confusing). Another thing I realized was how in this story format, there is a different aspect in giving details. In a normal story plot, the writer has to give details that make sense to both the world of the audience and the reader. A character can’t suddenly know what his enemy is planning without a logical reason. Granted there are stories where you the reader are omniscient and you know everything, then the writer doesn’t really keep this in mind as much because all the details can be given to you without the thought of “how do I know this”. For me, the Goon Squad didn’t really have this effect. A lot of the relationships (many of which are romantic) seemed static to me, just bits of information. I think the most noticeable aspect of the Goon Squad is how sudden each section is. Sometimes, stories will alternate between two different ongoing stories, while this novel does, there are so many time jumps and between various characters. It was certainly confusing to read at first.
To me, one of the main comparisons that jutted out to me was Maggie from Maggie, Girl of the Streets, and Sasha Grady from A Visit from the Goon Squad. One similarity is the difficulty experienced by both girls. Granted they’re in different contexts (Sasha wasn’t born into the poor class and forced to sell flowers on a rainy street). Another similarity between these two characters is their desire to enter this concept of “adulthood” that they are currently not in. For Maggie, this had to do with elegance and being able to fit in with the higher class women to be recognized as a sincere “lady”. With Sasha, it’s a bit more complicated in that her desire for adulthood doesn’t have much to deal with making more money or that sorts. With her childhood riddled with drugs, stealing, and other bad things, she wishes to live a normal life, whatever definition “normal” is. The last aspect that seemed strangely similar was how Maggie and Sasha both have frequent interactions with men, and the influence they have on the men they meet in their lifetimes. Maggie’s interactions is mostly with Pete and it results in Maggie becoming quite self-destructive while Pete enjoys his time being played by Nellie. This theme of self-destructive nature is common in both stories, and shares the time jump where it’s “and then they became horrible and their life was ruined”.
December 14, 2017 at 11:50 pm
1. I was highly impressed by the structure of the novel as it is a tricky endeavour to venture into the uncharted territory of contemporary literature. Egan’s highly experimental structure that featured narrative like stories from many different interconnected characters of the music industry allowed the readers to develop a more wholesome perspective about the novel. The narrative structure allows the readers to feel the emotions of each character personally rather than receive a superficial character description from a traditional book viewpoint. Furthermore, I especially enjoyed the section of the book that was structured as a powerpoint presentation as it took me by surprise. It was something that I had never seen before and thus, I thoroughly enjoyed navigating through that section. I believe that this experimental structure can be challenging at times as it spans a long range of time all the way from the mid twentieth century to the twenty first century. Thus, a reader must be aware of the plot and character at all times-something that can only be achieved through close reading.
2. A Visit From the Goon Squad speaks to people in all different places in theri life as it talks about how time ultimately controls our life. The right thing can be destroyed if the timing isn’t right. Time steals innocence and forces coming-of-age upon some characters. These are all themes related to time that are present in the novel. I think Sasha changes the most internally as her whole life represents a battle between good and evil in which good ultimately wins. Growing up in a broken household from a young age, Sasha finds herself coping with mature issues at a tender age. This correlates to the rebellious teenage struggles with stealing as she is growing up, and even into her adult life when she gets fired by her boss for stealing. I believe she has a true coming of age when she marries her college boyfriend Drew and decides to pick up the broken pieces of her life and put them together. Although her children have a difficult understanding why Sasha creates art with trash and broken toys, in reality she is is metaphorically building something beautiful out of her own broken parts. Furthermore, Sasha’s outcome was also the biggest surprise to me as her life had such a rocky beginning. Although she fought many obstacles while growing up, she eventually takes control of her life and learns to be happy by creating art.
December 14, 2017 at 11:51 pm
1. I was highly impressed by the structure of the novel as it is a tricky endeavour to venture into the uncharted territory of contemporary literature. Egan’s highly experimental structure that featured narrative like stories from many different interconnected characters of the music industry allowed the readers to develop a more wholesome perspective about the novel. The narrative structure allows the readers to feel the emotions of each character personally rather than receive a superficial character description from a traditional book viewpoint. Furthermore, I especially enjoyed the section of the book that was structured as a powerpoint presentation as it took me by surprise. It was something that I had never seen before and thus, I thoroughly enjoyed navigating through that section. I believe that this experimental structure can be challenging at times as it spans a long range of time all the way from the mid twentieth century to the twenty first century. Thus, a reader must be aware of the plot and character at all times-something that can only be achieved through close reading.
2. A Visit From the Goon Squad speaks to people in all different places in theri life as it talks about how time ultimately controls our life. The right thing can be destroyed if the timing isn’t right. Time steals innocence and forces coming-of-age upon some characters. These are all themes related to time that are present in the novel. I think Sasha changes the most internally as her whole life represents a battle between good and evil in which good ultimately wins. Growing up in a broken household from a young age, Sasha finds herself coping with mature issues at a tender age. This correlates to the rebellious teenage struggles with stealing as she is growing up, and even into her adult life when she gets fired by her boss for stealing. I believe she has a true coming of age when she marries her college boyfriend Drew and decides to pick up the broken pieces of her life and put them together. Although her children have a difficult understanding why Sasha creates art with trash and broken toys, in reality she is is metaphorically building something beautiful out of her own broken parts. Furthermore, Sasha’s outcome was also the biggest surprise to me as her life had such a rocky beginning. Although she fought many obstacles while growing up, she eventually takes control of her life and learns to be happy by creating art. She represents someone who took control of her life and fought her past.
December 18, 2017 at 12:15 pm
1) The structure of Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Good Squad more closely resembles a collection of short stories. Some characters are more central and reappear quite often, such as Bennie and Sasha, but no one appears as a central character so it is very difficult to pin point who the main character is. This literary structure allows me to see the characters through time, and helps develop more round characters as they are explored through multiple different perspectives. The characters feel more fleshed out, although that could in part be due to Egan’s skilled writing and penchant for highly believable personalities. However, as a reader, the central threaded message spread throughout the stories is fairly difficult to follow, at times getting lost entirely. Some of the stories feels like odd ones out, such as the story in “Safari”. It feels odd to give Lou, who doesn’t seem all that important, an entire chapter to flesh out his character with backstory. I also found it mildly difficult to keep track of the stories and feel that if they were perhaps ordered more chronologically or perhaps if one followed another that shared a character, the book as a whole would have felt more cohesive. The order of some of the chapters at times felt as though done without much premeditation. However, the chapters themselves were mini immersive stories that were quite enjoyable to read.
2) Of all the characters treated unjustly by time, Rob was the one hit hardest. He was essentially robbed of his life by time, even though as a character he was in fact one of the more sympathetic ones. Egan has a penchant for characters who at once evoke pity and disgust, who we feel bad for but at once gravely dislike. Rob is however not one such character. He is a kind but troubled character with whom it is easy to empathize and his tragic end seems cruel given how undeserved it is. It is hard to say who changes the most but it seems as though Lou changes the least. The final scene of You (Plural) mirrors the events at the 1979 concert and suggest to me that Lou, even in death, remained the same man he was when we first met him. The biggest surprise came from Sasha, whom I did not expect to end up in a marriage to Drew and with children. It really seemed as though Sasha greatly matured over the course of her life, but such a traditional life was not something I had envisioned for a character who had such disregard for established etiquette .
December 19, 2017 at 12:01 am
The style of this novel is different than most, but I liked the different types of chapters and how they were written. The author is trying to make the reader connect all the points together and so she writes with flashbacks and flash-forwards and only one or two recurring characters or events to tie everything together. I read Let the great world spin by Colum McCann last year that was written in a similar style where there is one thing connecting all the chapters or characters. In a visit from the goon squad, Sasha is a constant character that relates the other characters together. In Let the Great World Spin, there are two main characters that are seen in multiple chapters from different character perspectives, but there’s also the tightrope walk between the twin towers by Phillip Petit that all the characters experience in one way or another. The event is in every single chapter to connect characters to other characters and their perspectives. For example, one chapter is about a businesswoman walking on the street when she sees everyone looking up to see Phillip Petit. She hears a telephone ringing and pick it up and starts talking to students in Palo Alto, California. In a previous chapter, we learn about a character with a son in Palo Alto in a computer program and the businesswoman is actually on the phone with him describing the tightrope walk. McCann tried to connect everything even if it is connected to only a tiny thread. A Visit from the Goon Squad is the same with Jules, Kitty Jackson, Lulu and how they’re all connected through Dolly.
The title, A Visit from the Goon Squad, is revealed to mean what time has done to the characters in the novel. In my opinion. I think that Sasha has changed the most and I think it is rather fitting since she is the only character mentioned in every chapter. She goes from stealing anything from the people around her because she has a need for it to having a family and using her previously stolen items to make collages and other artworks. Despite the many misfortunes in her life, she was able to have a “happy ending” and control and eliminate her habit of stealing from others.
December 19, 2017 at 12:01 pm
1)A Visit from the Goon Squad employs a very unique style of weaving independent stories into one cohesive narrative. As a result, reading the story is similar to solving a jigsaw puzzle. At first, each piece appears to be distant and unrelated, just like the individual narratives from each of the characters. As more pieces are fit into the puzzle, the puzzle begins forming its final solution and the story begins forming the big picture. Yet, each story isn’t completely isolated. For instance, the novel begins with Sasha and Alex, and we learn that Sasha has an addiction for stealing. In the 2nd chapter, the characters aren’t completely throw out. Rather, each chapter is like a building block for the “final” story. In chapter 2, Sasha is still in the story but Bennie is introduced as the one with troubles in his past. The story continues on following this “jigsaw puzzle” piece and the overall story becomes clearer as it progresses.
2) Goon is defined as a bully or thug who is used against an enemy. In the final chapter of Visit from the Goon Squad, Bennie compares time to a goon, hinting that the passage of time is an oppressive force that only pushes one forward and not backwards. However, time is a natural force that nobody can bend to their liking. It isn’t a force that has a mind of its own. Rather, it is a concept that humans instill into their minds, thinking that as time passes something must have been lost. I believe that the person who changes the most from this social construct of time is Sasha. She begins with a pretty rough life, having her father abandoning her. That was perhaps the reason why she began shoplifting as there was no fatherly figure to teach her right from wrong. At 21, her life begins to take a sharp turn when she attends NYU. Rob, whom she had dated, perhaps had the shortest and least unexpected life. On page 141, he tried to cut his wrists, which foreshadowed his later death when he drowns in water.
December 22, 2017 at 3:18 am
1) The narrative form of Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad is interesting in the sense that the reader is bombarded with so much information from all sides that it is rather difficult to keep track of the individual life stories. The nonlinear structure grants bits and pieces of a character’s life, not necessarily in chronological order, so it may become more confusing as readers progress further though the book, especially if they mix up scenarios between characters. Unless there is a timeline or a guide of some sort, a few flips back through the book may be necessary to grasp the entirety of the plot. The unique style reminds me of Christopher Nolan’s crime/thriller film Memento, in which the protagonist attempts to find the murderer of his wife. The process Is made much more challenging with his memory loss, rendering him incapable of recalling the events fifteen minutes prior, and the viewers of the film experience the frustration because the nonlinear narrative somewhat follows the protagonist’s current situation. It is not until the end of the film that viewers can piece together the storyline, and reading A Visit from the Goon Squad was a similarly perplexing experience that culminated in an abundance of answers at the very end. However, this narrative structure gives a detailed account of the factors that lead to the resulting situations, and this builds suspense for the final reveal, wherein readers are able to piece the entire story together.
2) The well-known adage of “time heals all wounds” may have been true for some of the characters as they progressed through life, but time was only the catalyst for even more misfortune. Out of all the characters, Dolly and her daughter, Lulu, were treated most justly by time, in that their lives, despite taking a turn for the worse, eventually improved. Dolly initially had a very successful career as a public relations agent, but a single party that left guests severely harmed resulted in imprisonment. However, she secures a job with a dictator after her release, her relationship with Lulu recovers, and then she switches her career once again to being the owner of a gourmet shop. The daughter similarly experienced a better life as time went on, as she started from a difficult childhood to becoming Bennie Salazar’s assistant and organizing Scotty’s immensely successful concert. Bennie Salazar is arguably the character that changes the most in time, jumping from job to job and relationship to relationship. Lou Kline, however, maintained his bad habits of infidelity and drug use throughout the entire storyline. Sasha’s life turns out to be the biggest surprise because she went from being a thief to an assistant to a parent of two children, making art out of trash. Her life was an upward journey, in a sense, and that was unexpected from someone who started out committing crimes.