Monday, August 20, 2012

Goon

I thought this was interesting (from Wikipedia):

In one story, a character named Bosco declares: "Time's a goon, right?", referring to the way that time and fate cruelly rob most of the book's characters of their youth, innocence and success. As Bosco complains: "How did I go from being a rock star to being a fat fuck no one cares about?" Some of the book's characters do end up finding happiness, but it is always a limited happiness, and it is rarely in the form that they intended. In an interview, Egan explained that "time is the stealth goon, the one you ignore because you are so busy worrying about the goons right in front of you."
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2 comments:

kc said...

I really liked the goon metaphor for Time, and especially the idea of an entire "Goon Squad" coming to visit. (Before I read the book I had a much different mental image of what the Goon Squad might be). I think it's a much more vivid depiction of the effects of time than the usual similes of time being a thief, etc. It's more sinister but also more comic somehow. And that very simple question of how a person gets from Point A to Point B is a universal that haunts or surprises all of us at some point in life.

4:45 PM, August 20, 2012
Erin said...

Yeah, I loved the metaphor, too. As I've gotten older, I've certainly started to have a more complex relationship with time. I used to be eager for time to pass, to get older; I never gave much thought to what might be changing around me, what I might be losing or gaining as time passed. Lately, though, time feels much faster. I think of it as much more precious, a non-renewable resource that's always trickling away. (This makes me sound like an old fart.) Anyway, I had thought of the "goon squad" being a group of people in the book and was really pleased when the metaphor was revealed.

10:59 AM, August 24, 2012

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