Temporality Analysis Reflection

Altered chronology in A Visit From the Goon Squad is meaningful because the form of the book supports the content within it. It makes the themes in the book more meaningful because most of the characters in the book struggle with the passage of time. The novel introduces different characters at various points in their lives and the important part is not that they are at those points in their life but how they got to those points. The altered chronology in Visit also makes the novel more entertaining for the readers. The easter eggs hidden throughout the chapters reference past and future chapters. Often times, a character will be in the background during one chapter and be the focalizer of the next, which gives the reader a more in-depth view of all of the characters in the novel. This makes the novel more engaging because readers must try to figure out what time period the chapter is taking place in. The order in which Egan sequences the chapters is deliberately meant to mimic a string of memories and the way in which people think. Egan's novel also mimics the way people tell stories in everyday life.