The overhead fan here at the condo we are renting is operated by a remote control. I’ve never seen that. I’m maniacally addicted to overhead fans.
Actually, we are renting three condos because there are that many of us. I’ve got to say that communal child-rearing is very convenient. I don’t have to provide all of the meals and entertainment myself, which is very relaxing. Of course, the community here is that of my own extended family, and not anything that’s been assigned to me which would have made this intolerable.
This is an earlier book by Jennifer Egan. The Candy House that I wrote about recently is a sequel. Egan is massively talented, and Goon Squad is as impossible to put down as The Candy House.
Egan’s getting better at her craft, and while the earlier book is great, it’s still not as accomplished as its sequel.
Even within Goon Squad we can observe the writer’s growth. The earlier chapters are weaker than the later ones. For instance, at the beginning of the book Egan gives little summaries of what happens to the characters after the episode she narrates. (“Lou will marry Mindy and they’ll have two daughters, the youngest of whom will inherit his business after he dies, etc.”) The fussy concern over how the reader imagines what happens next and the desire to control that process is a mark of an inexperienced author. An accomplished writer feels secure enough in her talent to avoid trying to tell people how they should read or understand her book. Thankfully, Egan dropped this annoying habit after the first half of Goon Squad.
I’m very glad I discovered this writer. Egan doesn’t teach any lessons or offer any profound insights. What she offers is a completely unmarred, unmessed-with, narcotizing pleasure of reading. Her books are very enjoyable to read. And that’s what makes a great writer.
The HIMARS could have been in Ukraine in March. Or April, May, June. But they weren’t. Everything was done to ensure that Ukraine’s victory is delayed as much as possible.
This is exactly how COVID was managed. Everything was done to inflict maximum pain and prolong the issue as much as possible.
We traveled in a group, with kids, wearing Ukrainian symbols. Everybody stared at us with kind and respectful curiosity.
And when at the security control my sister revealed that she travels with a Nespresso machine in her handbag, people must have decided we are refugees who escaped with a single, dearly beloved appliance.
The Europe that gave us Descartes’s “I think therefore I am” is now giving us the worldview based on the idea of “My feelings were hurt, therefore I am.” And that’s a dead end.
He also mocks the woke obsession with “green” fads in a really funny way.
What I find interesting is that there are clear similarities between Arestovich’s thinking and that of the conservative Argentinean historian Marcelo Gullo Omodeo. Both say that Europe has amputated any possibility of the future for itself when it started on the road of self-denunciation and historical guilt. Now, Arestovich and Gullo Omodeo say, Europe is only a museum for tourists from other parts of the world. The parts of the world where people love life and don’t think we all need to live in pods and take a shower once a month “to save the planet.”
I’m sure Arestovich and Gullo Omodeo never heard of each other. This is good because it means these ideas are cropping up in many different places.
The only time YouTube (or any website) gives me Republican political ads instead of a barrage of the Democratic ones is when I listen to the chief Ukrainian ideologue Arestovich. He’s a brilliant man, speaks beautifully, and has the kind of insight that is sorely lacking in the world since Zygmunt Bauman’s death. I was listening to Arestovich explain why the EU is a doomed project when the video was interrupted by a Ron DeSantis ad.
Folks, oy vey, someone make this go away. I love DeSantis’s policies. He’s amazing. But I don’t think he can win nationally. He has a horrible voice and the charm of a meat grinder. I love the words he’s saying but the voice and the affect are so off-putting, I didn’t listen to the end. Most normies outside of Florida have absolutely no idea who he is. I don’t know how he’ll be able to win them over.
My news feed is filled with stories of unbelievable bravery of Ukrainians fighting for sovereignty. And every once in a while I come across something like this:
It’s amazing to think that people would waste their lives on something this pathetic when they’ve been so fortunate as to live in peace and opulence. When I imagine how proud of themselves they are after this pitiful prank, I feel deep compassion for their castrated lives.
