“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.