Chapter 12, innovation at its best.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I embarked on the ominous "PowerPoint" chapter. Would it live up to the hype it was receiving from the class? How could there be a random PowerPoint thrown into a novel that already had a news article for a chapter and contained a section written in the second person? It seemed as though Egan wanted to drive her readers insane while writing, "what would completely blow their minds? I've already thrown in an umpteenth amount of characters, a constantly shifting time line, and very, very confusing plot, ...how about adding article and a PowerPoint? That would really throw 'em off." The crazy thing is, it works.

This book isn't like others. It's far from normal, so I'm not quite sure why I thought it would be. Throughout the novel we see a series of events unfolding, these events, which seem unrelated and obscure, matter, the characters matter. Evidence of this is when a character, Lulu, is mentioned in the middle of chapter four as the future wife of the future grandson of a present character. She is given only a sentence but returns in chapter eight and again in chapter 13. A character who seemed so irrelevant returns and has a big role in the book's ending.

The chapter I found to be the most innovative would in fact be the PowerPoint chapter. I know it sounds cliché as the entire class probably choose it but there's a reason for it: it's different, very, very different. The chapter allows readers to see into the mind of its creator, Alison. We see her life through her eyes, although we've seen the two characters she calls mom and dad in a different light. We are able to see the feelings of appreciation and resentment she shares for each of them and why they exist. In a few words, the PowerPoint is able to make what most writers of regular chapters aren't: a connection. We, the readers have invested time in the characters of Sasha and Drew and to see them portrayed as a mother and father, especially through a PowerPoint created by their daughter, it gives the characters so much more depth that a typical novel can't reach.

Goon Squad is different, but it's a good different. It's the kind of different that opens new doors in literature, questioning the status quo, creating future masterpieces.