Grays Blog?

[bookslayerone]

"I don’t want to fade away, I want to flame away - I want my death to be an attraction, a spectacle, a mystery. A work of art." The infamous quote from "A Visit from the Goon Squad". The life style of sex, drugs and rock & roll is the premise on which this book is based. It is ironic that a highly...

[graysschoolthing]

I liked how she portrayed these drug using, fake punk, musicians and I think she did a really good job showing readers the allure of this lifestyle. They do what hey want when they want and don't care about much. Obviously none of them grow up without scars of their previous life but I liked how she showed, Bennie at least, becoming successful later in life and how even though he may have been rich and live in a nice place that he was still the same guy he was when he was a teenager.

[graysschoolthing]

at fist i thought the road was going to be really dull, but i like the writing style and really appreciate the book because even if the book seems like the first ten pages over and over i think that it takes great skill to write a book in this manner and still have a story line worth sticking with. I wanted to put the book down after the first few pages but decided to stick it out and have really enjoyed the book so far. The author does a good job in making the reader feel exactly how desolate the world is. My favorite part so far is when the kid has his first coke and how he enjoyed it. It reminded me of something I read he other day talking about the feeling you would have if you could watch your favorite movie for the fist time again or re your favorite book for the fist time. This simple thing really spoke to me about how people can still find comfort and happiness despite how hard the times get.

[jeff-madison-blog]

After finishing the book I can say that it wasn’t my favorite that we have read. I really liked “The Things They Carried”. I thought it made a little more sense than this book did. I can’t say that I disliked this book but I found it a bit more confusing than the others that we have read. I also…

[alysmith92-deactivated20141124]

I honestly liked A Visit From the Goon Squad more, because it seemed more like something I could relate to. It also has a lighter ending than pretty much everything else we’ve read thus far, which is good, because all the others left me in a really lame mood. It also has what I feel is the most important theme of all: Time. Time is such a strange thing, and depending on perception, it’s screwy as heck. Time is what we think when we realize our years have been snatched away like a heartbeat, and time is also what we think when we sit in class for what feels like a year but is only an hour and change (not talking about Contemporary Lit!). 

[graysschoolthing]

i enjoyed this lighter novel too. after ELAIC I was extremely thankful for this book. I couldn't stand the hum drum misery of that book. i am just glad that AVFTGS was a lighter book and i thoroughly enjoyed it. lighter books are always easier to get through for me even if they are boring just because I don't have the characters terrible situation weighing me down as well as an uninteresting story line.

[graysschoolthing]

i really liked a visit from the goon squad and happened upon my favorite characters in chapter 11 I think it was. The people who just sit and talk and smoke pot and stuff. To me they seem like the most normal people out of the whole book even though they still have issues. even though there was no significance to the over all story in my mind i still liked it as a filler chapter. I still dont now if the guy drowned or not someone please tell me.

[kathief4]

Ten

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”- Dr. Seuss.  I think we all do this to a certain extent.  No matter how uniquely individual each one of us is, no one likes being left on the outside.   A common theme in ‘A Visit from the Goon Squad’ so far seems to be fitting in.  Rhea talks about being a fake punker and that only Scotty is real.  The whole band of the Flaming Dildos is trying to fit in the punk scene.  Alice comes from a rich family, but wants to find her own niche within her group of friends.  I think at this point in my life, I relate mostly to Stephanie, Bennie’s wife.  Bennie and Stephanie, being newly rich, move to an upscale neighborhood of old money people and she tries to fit in.  When I married my military husband, I had 2 kids, he had 4.  We got custody of all 6 kids and moved to Guam.  I didn’t have experience as a military spouse, so all of a sudden, I was an officer’s wife, a Mom to 6 kids, and had moved half-way around the world.  I tried to fit in with other officer’s wives, but I just didn’t, so I focused on blending my new family.  I made the wisest choice because our kids are still in my life and the others with whom I didn’t fit in are not a part of my life.  Being me is important.  11/2/13.

[graysschoolthing]

I like this idea of fitting in that is addressed in the book. Not only is it completly accurate it shows that people cant change who they are all that easy. Most of them wear the punk clothes and have the hair and peircings but none except scotty has the heartache and the hate. This is shown when scotty is kicking people off he stage and this violence is the part that makes him happy. The others in the group remind me of alot of younger kids now. They think if they change their clothes or the type of music they listen to and the people they hangout with will make them more acceptable or viewed in a different light, but i dont think they realize that most people can spot someone who may look the part but just doesn't fit in so instead of succeeding at fitting in they ironically juxtapose themself in the way they were trying to avoid.

[graysschoolthing]

Im really liking this book so far. A visit from the goon squad is really good and it is funny how realistic some of the situations are. One thing I really waned to mention in class is when scotty is saying everything is x's and o's just in different formats we said it was hugs and kisses and he had a mental problem. I disagree. I think scotty just has a unique way of viewing the world. This made me think of binary code for computers which is written using only 1's and 0's with only these numbers one can make what they want by using different combinations of 1 and 0. i think scotty was correct by saying everything is just x's and o's but just ordered differently, trying to get that everyone is the same just some happen to be better off than others due to the way the cards fell. The people inside the party are no better than him even though they might act like it due to the haves and the have nots that society creates.

[starespera]

After reading “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” I began to realize that the style of writing and the pictures were more intriguing and had more impact than the story itself. I do not know if it was because the ending had no conclusion, but I think it was because the book had a lot of artistic qualities.  It was creative, fresh and it somehow linked to my favorite hobby: photography. In photography, there’s so much more to it than just the point and shoot, it is far more complex. There’s perspective, angles, lighting etc. that one has to consider. I can link photography to the novel for the simple fact that the author had taken a story and shot (wrote) it in different perspectives.  The author was also flexible with the style of writing and used different techniques, and like in photography, one can use different techniques to paint a specific scene or express a certain emotion. The pictures were just as intriguing as the style of writing. I am a very visual person so being able to see what Oskar was seeing was almost fortunate. The last pictures were the ones that had the greatest effect on me. Even though I was witnessing a man falling, the author’s twist of putting it backwards made the book even more beautiful. It looked like the man was going up to heaven, and that’s definitely comforting. 

[graysschoolthing]

I think th artwork in this boo is pretty good and it enables one to see things from a different perspective. The last group of pictures are my favorite to look and think about. The 9/11 take on this book was really well done. I like watching the documentaries of 9/11 each year just to see what new information people have released every time I watch I learn something new or get a new perspective. People who share these experiences are unique in a way that most of them were there in person and tried to help or did a lot of video recording themselves and it just brings a new perspective that the national media or news sites do not have.

[graysschoolthing]

In elaec one of the most interesting things to me was the entire concept of being in two places at one or being nowhere depending on how you look at it. This is typical of Oskar because he is so smart but I wish the book would have focused a little more on this. I think it is also symbolic of the way the events of the book turned out. Oskar is really smart but he is not an adult or old enough to be taken seriously he is in a no mans land of intellectualism that others are not in. His mom is left in an in between space as she is between event wise her husband dying and her relation with her friend. (Dan?)  

[its-ashree]

If you think about it, Oskar’s grandmother is Oskar’s only true friend in the book. She is always there for him, and always will be. Living in the apartment building across the street from each other, they communicate through walkie-talkies and leave messages on the window. The things she does to...

[graysschoolthing]

I like his grandmother as a friend but I think she is also kind of creepy in her rememberings. I honestly don't care to know about her spying on her sister kissing or anything of a remotly sexual/sensual nature. I like my censured non adultured view of old people and every time this view is breached i wish that I had just stayed home. (arnold from magic schoolbus). I think she is sweet and also that she tells her story more for the sake of her remembering rather than just because Oskar asked her too. This might have been what initiated her story telling and letter writing to him but I think she needs to tell he story just as much as Oskar wants to hear it

[graysschoolthing]

That Child Oskar

so as of now i am pretty annoyed with this book. If the point is to be a sad story then I agree it is sad that Oskar looses his father. Other than this I think that the story seems to ramble on and its not giving me what I really want(Oskars Dad still alive) which is a resolution or some sort of catharsis. The non linear style makes he book tiring and frankly when I dont know who is speaking or what time period is being spoken of the book is not interesting enough for me to turn back a page or two and figure it out. We ge it Oskar you are weird you dads dead you dislike your mom and your grand parents have problems of their own. Good luck.

[jeff-madison-blog]

I can say that I have liked the book “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” so far. It is very well written and fairly easy to understand. To me it seems like it could be a mystery because of how Oskar found the key in the vase in the envelope with the word Black written on it in red ink. After he...

[graysschoolthing]

This part was really cool for me too. I think its neat that a little kid had the courage (or naivety) to wander the streets of New York and just go up to random people. I think he is driven by his fathers death to find this one last mystery. The story teller does a wonderful job of iterating the attitude and perseverance of Oskar. I for one would not have had the stamina to walk around New York all day looking for some lock box that may or may not exist all the while asking strangers questions who may or may not be related in any way to the mystery key.

[graysschoolthing]

Oskar is a really cool kid in my opinion. While he may come off as annoying to some people I think this is just because he he is to smart for such a young kid and his general openness is misunderstood. He may not be more mature than many adults but he does know quite alot that most people do not know. His overwhelming knowledge and his natural intelligence are expressed in weird ways as his innocence seems to get in the way. This overall gives him a unique perspective that is entertaining to behold especially coming from one so young.

[kathief4]

Four.   Random.  Today in class we discussed four writings by different authors.  I must admit that I found them all to be quite random.  Most of them didn’t makes sense to me.  They seemed to be trying to make sense of a lot of randomness and vise-versa.  The readings somewhat reminded me of American humorist Jack Handey’s ‘Deep Thoughts’, “I think a good novel would be where a bunch of men on a ship are looking for a whale. They look and look, but you know what They never find him. And you know why they never find him It doesn’t say. The book leaves it up to you, the reader, to decide. Then, at the very end, there’s a page you can lick and it tastes like Kool-Aid.” 

After discussing them in class, they made more sense, but I still don’t care for this writing style.  I didn’t care for the serious nature of Linda Barry’s comic strips.  I was lost on what Laurie Anderson was trying to communicate.  Even after listening to her tell ‘The Ugly One with the Jewels’, all I could relate it to was a beatnik from the 1960’s.  ‘Beloved’ was a difficult read to make sense of, but I did gather that it was a slave story of the impossibly hard life that was forced upon them.  ‘Shiloh’ was the most linear story and for me the easiest to follow.  I can see the cultural side to all of the stories AFTER discussing them, but don’t think I would have found that cohesive line of thought without the class discussions. 9/18/13

[graysschoolthing]

I laughed when i saw this because i came across his quote just the other day and my favorite part is when the last page tastes like cool-aid. The story beloved seemed weird to me and it did not make much sense. I am still trying to recover from the sexual descriptions of food and that awkward narration in class earlier today. I thought that the cartoons were the most thought provoking not be cause of the pictures (haha)but because of the large thoughts of such a small girl. I think that it was very philosophical but somehow it managed to fit into the story with out being weird or awkward. On second talking of plants and the murder of them to the next, speaking of the existence of God.

[graysschoolthing]

My favorite story was Shiloh and i thought that it was quite humorous but in subtle little ways. In my mind i imagined Leroy's mother in law as a little old lady who scolds her daughter for smoking and is always nagging. Not in an annoying way but in more of a sweet elderly way. I like they way Leroy is intent on building a house even though his wife makes it clear that she doesn't want him to. I just found it funny that he wanted to build a house so bad that he didn't care what his wife thought.

[graysschoolthing]

Lemon Tree

[bookslayerone]

The book “The Things They Carried” turns out to be an addictive read. I can’t seem to put the book down. It creates a canvas with words that enables the reader to feel as though they’re walking side by side with O’Brian and his platoon. I appreciate the way the author makes a transition between…

[jeff-madison-blog]

I agree with you that O’Brien uses such detail in his writing that he makes the reader feel like they are right there along with the soldiers.  The details help the reader to see and feel what the soldiers had to deal with on a daily basis.  The reader understands what the soldiers went through as they moved from place to place, and what they had to deal with as they experienced the loss of a man and a friend from their platoon. I also agree that the hard choices that the men had to make were life changing because they did not know if they would be coming home to their family or if they would be a casualty of the war.

9/7/13

[graysschoolthing]

I feel much the same way as I am reading this. Having no foreknowledge of this book I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only was this an easy read but was also easy to relate to. I read the book fallen angels in high school and while similar it followed a more linear path but still took the time to get to know characters and why they did things. I am enjoying O'brians work as he beautifully illustrates the lives of these soldiers and all the baggage they carry. His book and writing style are unique in ways I have not read before and I would be pleased to read more of his work.

[graysschoolthing]

Curt Lemon. Curt was one of my favorite characters from the start and I was sad to see him go. His death was symbolic in a way that I particularly enjoyed for lack of a better word. In Curt's death one can clearly see the literal death of innocence as Curt goes instantly from playing hot potato with a smoke grenade to being blown away himself. THis stark contrast as well a the description make for a very moving scene and the other soldier humming lemon tree ways so apt yet disturbing on so many levels, but still manages to be humorous.  O'brian also paints this death a little more beautifully than the rest by going into great detail about the particular scenery and the way it seemed that as the light hit Curt he died just about as instantaneously as it gets almost a pleasant death compared to some of the others.