Michelle's Contemp Blog

Michelle Lei Reviewing  A Visit From the Goon Squad  by Jennifer Egan  A Visit From the Goon Squad Book Cover ~SPOILER ALERT~ A Visit from the Goon Squad is a work of fiction written by Jennifer Egan that was published in June 2010 by Knopf Publishing Group. The novel mirrors and reproduces the feeling of watching TV and it is a character-driven narrative. This means the novel is driven by the characters instead of the plot and the televisual elements work in conjunction with it. The novel begins with Sasha, a kleptomaniac, as the focalizer but shifts when she mentions her old boss, Bennie, who used to pour gold flakes into his coffee. The reader eventually learns that Bennie has dismay for the music industry, which he devoted his entire life to, and is recently divorced. The novel presents the past and future of each character by having the characters talk about memories or things people will eventually do. The use of Chekhov's Gun provides the read...

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 st...

Pauses in songs can last from seconds to minutes and can be sudden or gradual but all pauses are powerful nonetheless. Different artists throughout different genres of music have used pauses to emphasize certain parts of songs and make the overall number more powerful.  In the song "Breezeblocks" by Alt-J, there is a short pause from 1:55 - 1:56 which may seem insignificant but adds depth to the song. From 1:30 - 1:55, the beat of the song speeds up and the pause helps to slow the song back down so that it is at the same pace as it was at the beginning. The song shifts pace about 4 times throughout but the pause at 1:55 indicates a shift in the tone of the song from the fast-paced aggressiveness it was starting to transform into back to the soft, gentleness reminiscent of the beginning of the song.  "Living on the Edge" by Aerosmith is about six minutes long. From 3:33 to 3:40, there is a 7-second pause which indicates a change from the previous part of the...

Seeing Lou during the different stages of his life offers the viewer a different perspective of Lou. Egan's non-chronological structure allows the reader to envision the characters at different stages of their life. The foculizer in each chapter changes, which allows the reader to see the multiple sides there are to Lou: the charming side, the disengaged father, and the old man who goes after younger girls. Within each chapter, the reader's perspective on the character changes in accordance with the foculizer's relationship to the character. These multiple perspectives allow for a more multidimensional character. In the chapter "Ask Me If I Care," the reader meets Lou through Rhea's perspective. Lou is forty-three years old and he picks up Jocelyn hitchhiking. They eventually form a relationship even though Jocelyn is younger than Lou's oldest daughter. Lou is presented as a man who is struggling with the progression of time. He throws wild parties, d...

Jennifer Egan's novel  A Visit From the Goon Squad contains many televisual elements. The "cast" of characters in Egan's novel is introduced in reverse chronological order, creating a non-linear, character-driven narrative. The principle of Chekov's gun is evident in A Visit From the Goon Squad because Egan uses passing comments from previous chapters to introduce characters. Since every chapter of the novel takes place in a different time and space, the reader has to pay close attention to the details that are given throughout the chapter and the chapters before in order to determine when and where the narrative takes place.  The first chapter of the novel titled "Found Objects" introduces Sasha, a kleptomaniac who is currently getting therapy. Since Sasha is the focalizer of the chapter, the reader learns more about her as she delves into the intricacies of her life. Sasha mentions her old boss Bennie Salazar, a famous music producer who ...

Arrested Development portrays the narratives in a complex way by introducing the characters in a series of flashbacks. Through the implementation of flashbacks and the use of Chekov's gun, viewers are provided with information that makes the humor all the more funnier. In the pilot episode of Arrested Development, the Bluth family is introduced to the viewer through a series of short flashbacks that provide information about each character that makes more sense later in the episode. The information from the flashbacks is key to fully appreciate the characters and the jokes that will stem from this information. For example, when the oldest Bluth, George Oscar "Gob" Bluth, is introduced at the beginning of the pilot, the viewer is told that he "recently started The Alliance of Magicians, an organization that blackballs any performer who reveals a magician's secret." This comment is funny in and of itself but becomes even funnier when G.O.B. gets blackball...

Lost was one of the first television series of its kind that introduced viewers to a non-linear narrative through flashbacks and character-focalization. The nonlinear narrative is a storytelling technique that Lost uses well to introduce the characters and their individual stories, specifically in the two-part pilot episodes. Throughout the pilot, the narrative shifts between characters through flashbacks and focalizers.  The first few minutes of the Pilot episode show a chaotic scene in which Jack is the focalizer. Jack wakes up dazed and confused in the middle of the jungle with visible wounds and sounds of screaming in the background. He runs out of the forest and sees the wreckage from the plane crash. The camera follows him as he runs towards the crash victims in order to help them. With Jack as the focalizer, the viewer feels the same confusion he does when he wakes up. Jack tries to help as many people as he can and he is seen as a stabilizing force in the middle of th...