Inspirational Enzo

Many of the quotes I liked from The Art of Racing in the Rain were either really long or didn't work out of context. This one was just the right length and connected to the book enough while not seeming completely crazy out of context. Like, "The zebra keeps dancing," would have. The image I chose looks a lot like my dog even though it's actually from Google Images. Despite what the book said, I always pictured Enzo as a Golden Retriever. This quote, while a little YOLO-ish, really expressed what Enzo learned from Eve's death. He vows to appreciate life as she did and I think that is a wonderful sentiment. It showcases one of the best parts of the book: Enzo learning from the people around him how to be a good man.

Enzo the dog?

I love dogs. When I was little my favorite books were all about dogs. So I was very excited to read a book narrated by a dog. Well, I’ve been disappointed.

It’s not that the narration is completely off, but there is something we expect from a talking, or at least a thinking dog. Well what we expect is this:

 

But even if Garth Stein wanted to go for something more subtle than that he had to at least capture that doggy nature. Enzo is sweet, sometimes, but is just a bit too much like a man. I suppose that may be the point, that is Enzo’s goal after all. But then, why advertise your book as being narrated by a dog. It’s narrated by a human soul trapped in a dog body.

Because of how I feel about this I think the best parts of the book are when Enzo does act like a dog and doesn’t understand how the world works. For instance, the demon zebra. Enzo hallucinates this crazy zebra massacre and continues to be haunted by the evil zebra stuffed animal.  At first, it weirded me out but it’s strangely growing on me.

 

Anyway, this is going to sound mean, but I don’t really understand the appeal of this book. I understand people wanting to read a book narrated by a dog (so did I) but  I don’t understand why they would recommend this  book, which to me is NOT really narrated by a dog. It’s narrated by a prophetically wise soul that just happens to follow this guy named Denny around.

I'm Amazing Amy

Which “Gone Girl” Character Are You?

1. You got: Nick Dunne

   You have good intentions, we know. You want what’s best for everybody, but you’ve definitely made some mistakes. Still, you’re mostly trustworthy and a genuinely good guy. After all, it’s not *your* fault that you’re awkward in front of a camera!

   20th Century Fox
2. You got: Amy Dunne

   Amazing Amy. You’re a planner. You’re organized. And you don’t trust anyone. Sure, you have some parent problems, but you ALWAYS get what you want…even if you have to kill for it.

   20th Century Fox

 

 

 

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised on this one...Just kidding! But I wonder what it would be like to take a serious quiz analyzing what character you would be. It's possible I would still be Amy, but I don't think so. Buzzfeed quizzes like these just ask you what's your favorite color and pet and other random things. They have hardly anything to do with actually being like the character.
Am I anything like Amy? I like to plan things I suppose, but I'm not particularly organized. But I guess I do pay attention to small details. I'm not quite as sociopathic as her, to say the least. It's funny though, I'm not offended or anything by getting her. She is very smart and she knows what she wants and how to get it. Though I certainly wouldn't want to be her even for a second it's, not nice, but interesting to know that at least according to Buzzfeed I am somewhat similar to Amy Elliot Dunne.

crazycrazycrazycrazy

Honestly, towards the end of Part One I had completely given up hope for Nick. The evidence was so strong against him and when he went out to the shed and thought nonononono  I believed we would find Amy’s decaying body inside. Then I flipped the page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So yeah, that was my basic reaction to part two of Gone Girl. Everything I had thought I knew about Amy was a total lie. She had literally created a character to take her place, to mess with the reader’s mind and turn them against Nick the way the police and the media betrayed him. When I started the book, I was first on Nick’s side. He seemed kind of messed up but Amy seemed really demanding and manipulative. As part one went on, however, I grew to pity Amy more and more. By the end I thought Nick had to have done it and that maybe Gillian Flynn had known that the reader would think that the killer would not be Nick because that was too obvious so that then the least obvious thing to do was to make Nick the killer. That’s how good Amy’s scheme was. I had to justify that to myself. The woman is so messed up, so evil, I was literally crying over how disturbed I was by her.

I was the most creeped out by this section of Amy’s confession:

“I remember always  being baffled by other children. I would be at a birthday party and watch the other kids giggling and making face, and I would try to do that too, but I wouldn’t understand why. I would sit there with tight elastic thread of the birthday hat parting the pudge of my underchin, with the grainy frosting of the cake bluing my teeth, and I would try to figure out why it was fun.”

But looking back on it, it’s just kind of sad. Clearly there is something wrong with Amy. Probably due to the way she was raised, but it has to run deeper than that. She actually is insane. A sociopath or something. She is smart and meticulous but has no real grasp on her emotions. Which is actually pretty good for her, since the only times she messes up are when those tiny shreds of humanity come out.

The Blank Space Where Amy's Sanity Should Be

After watching the Blank Space music video about a billion times, each time loving it even more all I can see is Gone Girl. It was on maybe my third viewing that I suddenly put together the connection between the Taylor Swift song and Gillian Flynn’s novel. I heard the lyric “Find out what you want, be that girl for a month,” and thought Oh my God, that‘s Amy. Amy has no set personality, instead changing herself to fit what other people around her want. Despite claiming she only became the “Cool Girl” for Nick, it is clear she has done it before to some extent with  Tommy O’Hara. Amy in the definition of a femme fatale. Just like Taylor in the video.

In the music video, after Taylor goes… well crazy, the guy basically stands there helpless as the dream world around him crumbles. This is what Amy does to Nick. He is helpless to stop her insane schemes and has no way out. She destroys his life. In Taylor's case beating his car with a golf club, throwing his phone in a pool, possibly killing him, but my favorite part is personally this: She throws his clothes off the balcony and they kind of just spontaneously combust. Sort of like how Amy makes practically everything Nick does blow up in his face.

Amy is crazy.  Absolute full on crazy. That’s the image Taylor portrays in her video.

But unlike Taylor, who is faking the insanity in a snarky nod to her critics, Amy is the real deal. She’s a jealous, scheming psycho.

So Happy

We all know the story. Boy meets girl. They fall in love. They get married. Happily ever after right?
 

Wrong!

Murder, deceit, betrayal…these lurk just under the surface of even the most perfect marriage. At least that’s what we learn from a Domestic Noir book like Gone Girl. Domestic Noir, Suburban Noir, Chick Noir? Whatever you want to call it, it means the same thing: A seemingly perfect couple, but something goes wrong down the line. Maybe an affair but more likely (or at least in addition) a murder, a kidnapping, a dismemberment. A creepy dark atmosphere. And of course a disturbing plot twist. It’s what we (quite ironically) live for.   

Gone Girl is an intriguing example of this fascinating new genre. Amy and Nick. The perfect couple. Attractive and wealthy (at least for a while…) this should be a tale of their happy ever after. But something drastically wrong has happened in their marriage. Only we don’t know what. All we know is that Amy is gone. And who is the better suspect than the handsome, sexist, jealous, brooding, smiles at really bad times, husband. Suspense drives this novel forward. We just have to know what’s going on. Did Nick murder Amy? Who is Amy at all? Is she the devoted and determined wife we see in her diary entries? Or is she the manipulative and conniving woman that Nick portrays? In a marriage, especially one like Nick and Amy’s, it is almost impossible for anyone except those two people to grasp what is going in their relationship, and even they have different views. The book certainly has a creepy atmosphere in the unreliable nature of Nick's narration. As for the twist? Only time will tell, but I'm sure it will be deliciously awful. There are dark secrets yet to be revealed. And that just makes it, even more, a Domestic Noir story. The conflict lives close to home. A perfect couple that should be so happy instead are not. Among the two people that should place their trust in one another, lies and mayhem arise.

Organized Chaos

As happy as I am to be done with this, it was so fun to make. With about 50? I'm not really sure. I tried to count but I kept losing my place. characters connected its a little crazy to look at. But I tried to order it best I could, in a way that made sense to me. It's mostly in chapter order with a few tweaks here and there. Notably, the ending Alex chapter is not positioned last, in order to give the most attention to the much more deserving PowerPoint chapter. The relationships of the characters are described along the arrows physically connecting their circles. And in most of the circles are words, phrases, and  dialogue from the book, which are somehow significant to who those characters are. As complicated as a map like this, it really is the best way to begin understanding all the characters from Goon Squad. For music, I chose The Passenger by Iggy Pop, mentioned by Rhea in "Ask Me If I Care." This song, I think, describes both the way many of the characters feel throughout the book, as well as the reader, as the go along for the crazy wonderful ride that is A Visit from the Goon Squad.

I am the passenger
I stay under glass
I look through my window so bright
I see the stars come out tonight
I see the bright and hollow sky
Over the city's ripped backsides
And everything looks good tonight

THAT. TIME. THE. END. IS. FOR. REAL

"The pause makes you think the song will end. And then the song isn't really over, so you're relieved. But then the song does actually end, because every song ends, obviously, and THAT. TIME. THE. END. IS. FOR. REAL."

Song pauses are something I never thought about before. But I've had that feeling before as I'm sure everyone has. When you think "oh the song is over now". But then it's not. It's sort of a weird experience and I never stopped to think why? But listening to songs and looking for pauses makes you understand why the artist would choose to do that. It makes such a difference. Who would have thought the absence of noise in a song would make it better but somehow it does.

Shake it Off, Taylor Swift’s upbeat and carefree song, has a great song pause from 2:43-2:45. This song is fun and joyful, the pause giving the listener a moment after the silly and carefree spoken section before going into the chorus again, dancing and having a ball. I think this pause kind of gives you a moment to register what just happened in the song. The spoken section isn't really something you really expect in a TSwift song and that pause kind of gives you the chance to laugh at how weirdly awesome it is before throwing you back into the catchy chorus.

Shake it Off

 

Skinny Love by Birdy shows a different way to use song pauses. In this sadder pleading song, there are five pauses! (:39-:40, 1:02-1:03, 1:31-1:32, 1:53-1:54, 2:21-2:22) and each of the pauses seems like a breath for the listener to take. There is one more last pause at 2:39-2:41 that is the most interesting.  If you listen carefully, in the middle of this pause a single note is played on the piano, followed by a squeaky noise that sounds like someone moving on a chair. This adds such authenticity to the song, making it seem as though Birdy is in the room with you, playing this song at a piano. When the song finally does end, you almost think it’s just another pause and that the song could keep going on.

Skinny Love

 

The pause in Cool Kids by Echosmith is by far my favorite. It’s just so fun! And probably the most “classic” style of pause. The song could have been over right there but after that two-second pause, suddenly the chorus is back even more sing-able and dance-able than before. The pause has so much power that a musical break doesn’t because there is this moment where you think “is it over?” and you think it could be. But suddenly, almost instantaneously, the song is back and that makes the catchy chorus seem even better than it was earlier in the song. And once you know it's there it's even greater. You wait for the pause, and wait for the chorus to begin again and it just sounds right.

Cool Kids

True, That He's No Prince Charming...

You approach a dark castle sitting on top of a hill amongst the trees. You feel yourself trembling but you keep walking forward, up the bleak pathway. You’re at the front door. It looms before you, tall and imposing. Using all of your strength you open the door a crack and squeeze yourself through.

                “Hello,” you call, softer than you meant to. You speak again, “Is anyone there?”

                The castle seems empty and you turn to leave, feeling both relieved and disappointed. Suddenly you hear a voice from the side of the entryway.

                “Bonjour!”

                “Who is that?” you say fearfully. You do not recognize the voice and it is certainly not your father’s. You see a flicker of light out of the corner of you eye. You eyes adjust to the sudden change and to your shock you see what appears to be a candlestick with a face. A moving, living face starting directly at you.

                Obviously, you scream. You fear yourself grow faint.

                Next thing you know, you’re lying on the ground in a cold dark place. You sit up and hear a familiar voice.

                “Is that you?” You turn and you see him beyond the wall of bars separating you.

                “Father!” you call out in relief. Your father glances around, frightened.

                “What’s wrong? Where are we?” you ask.

                “I don’t want him to hear us. He might get angry,” he answers vaguely.

                “Father, tell me what’s going on,” you say desperately. “We need to-“ Your words are cut off by a terrifying roar. What you see next you cannot believe. A hideous monster with a face the size of a bear’s, eyes like a wolf’s, a snout like a lion, and terrible horns. It’s huge claws move towards you.

                “What are you doing here?” it growls. In your fear you cannot even form words.

                “Answer me!” it howls.

                “Please, I just wanted to find my father,” you plead, finding your voice. “We’ll leave right now.”

                “Leave?” it snarls.“That thief isn’t going anywhere!”

                “Save yourself, please run,” your father begs. Shaking your head adamantly, you turn to the monster again.

                “My father is not a thief!” you say defiantly. The monster laughs coldly.

                “Tell that to my garden! He took a rose from me and he shall pay.” You feel horrified instantly. A rose. That is all you had asked from your father when he left on his journey. Now his imprisonment was all your fault.

                “It was for me,” you whisper. “It’s my fault he took it. Let him go and take me instead.”

                “No!” your father yells. The beast sniffed in disdain.

                “Very well,” it replied, slightly amused.

                Suddenly the beast grabs your arm and leads you out of the dark dungeon.

                “Father!” you yell as you catch a final glimpse of him before you are pushed into another room, this one with a bed and furniture. The monster slams the door and you are left all alone, wondering what your future holds for you in this place.

“It’s so mechanical, methodical, it might be in some dreary socialistic periodical”

These are certainly not the words one would use to describe, “Forty-Minute Lunch: Kitty Jackson Opens Up About Love, Fame, and Nixon!”, Chapter 9 of Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad. This chapter is indeed unconventional. What begins as what could possibly be a real magazine article, though perhaps an unusual one, quickly turns into a manic stream of thoughts coming from Jules Jones, a man who is paranoid, bipolar, and otherwise mentally disturbed.  And as to not be typical in any way, Egan accomplishes the task of relaying this character to her audience through the use of footnotes. Extensive footnotes. Barely less than a full page footnotes.

These footnotes describe everything from Jules Jones’ apparent interest in physics and photons to what Kitty Jackson tasting her salad dressing with her finger might mean. His thoughts move in rapid succession, overanalyzing every movement and applying his own skewed logic to the situation. As the chapter goes on, it becomes clear that Jules is writing from prison. In a sense it becomes his confession for his assault of Kitty. Despite his horrible crime, everything Jules writes doesn’t make him seem despicable. He just seems pathetic. From his description of himself, to his recent break up, everything you learn about him induces a cringing sort of pity.

Some might question why the use of footnotes was necessary. After all, an article is already an out of the ordinary way to write a chapter of a book. Without the footnotes, however, the reader would never get a full sense of how Jules thought. The chapter is already pretty confusing but with no footnotes it would be impossible for a reader to navigate. Through this unique format, the reader gets a full picture of what the inside of Jules Jones’ head looks like. And though it’s not a pretty picture its definitely an interesting one.

Can You Repeat the Past?

Well, according to Gatsby, why of course you can! But we all know how that worked out for him…

Lou from A Visit From the Goon Squad is on that same destructive path. A man who desperately fears growing up and being old, he tries hopelessly to hold onto his past in increasingly destructive ways, from dating a twenty something woman to doing cocaine with his teenage girlfriend.

When we first meet Lou, his girlfriend is Jocelyn, one of Bennie’s high school friends. From the perspective of Rhea, another of the friends, the reader sees that Lou is at least forty yet after the band’s gig he invites these high schoolers to his apartment. He does drugs with them, which shows just how far his immaturity and irresponsibility goes. In a conversation with Rhea he claims, “I am your age,” and “I’ll never get old.” However, one thing Lou does know is music. This is what gives him a connection to Bennie who is eventually mentored by Lou for his career.  He also has a certain charm to him. This is seen in his affect on Rhea in “Ask Me if I Care” and later in “Safari”.

In “Safari”, which takes place before “Ask Me if I Care” Lou is on vacation in Africa with his two children Charlene (Charlie) and Rolph and his (much younger) girlfriend Mindy. Throughout the chapter eleven year old Rolph admires his father  and tries to connect with him but becomes increasingly angry with his father’s misogynistic words towards Rolph’s mother and Mindy.  It is also clear, Lou doesn’t know what to do about raising his daughter Charlie who is desperate for his attention and who he practically ignores. Lou is extremely jealous and angry when he discovers that Mindy has cheated on him with Albert, the safari leader, and this ignites his competitive nature which, the omniscient narrator tells us,  eventually results in their marriage.

In “You (Plural)” Lou is truly an old dying man. His worst fears have come true but he still attempts to reconnect to his past youth with his visitors, Rhea and Jocelyn.

Lou is a despicable man. He’s a misogynist who refuses to grow up and take responsibility for his life. However, there is something very interesting about the character that makes you want to know more. And with a book like A Visit from the Goon Squad you can’t help but wonder if the reader will find out why he is the way he is.

Lost

           In Lost, narrative complexity is not just a unique format; it practically keeps the audience glued to the screen. Lost doesn’t wait around for you to understand what’s going on. From the first episode, the audience jumps headfirst into the unknown. Episode 1 begins in the midst of the plane crash that leaves the characters stranded on what appears to be a deserted island. Soon, however, as night falls some strange noises and falling trees in the forest hint that things are not what they seem. This is not just a normal survival story.

Then comes the part that makes Lost truly different. The next scene is not the survivors waiting around, wondering what it is they saw and heard. The next scene takes place on the plane, moments before the crash. These flashbacks occur throughout the series and give insight about the characters from what they were doing on the plane to their pasts, long before the flight. This is innovative because not only does the audience see the characters develop after they crash on the island. There is also a kind of “backwards” character development going on, where the audience sees why these characters are the way they are on the island. This means the characters are much more fleshed out than the average television characters and makes their stories more intriguing and important for the audience. You also see the same events from the perspective of different characters. This lets the audience put the pieces together themselves to see the whole complex picture of what is occurring during just one event.

Lost gives as little information as possible at the beginning of the first episode. This makes every bit of detail afterward seem more important and more interesting for the audience. There is so much mystery with so little clues that the viewers simply have  to keep watching to figure out what is going on and what will happen next. The more you watch the more you need to know what is happening on the island. That is why a show like Lost  is so popular. There is no way to get closure without watching the series to the end.