One Day
So I’m sitting at the kitchen table, my feet atop it, searching for enough light to read my Kindle, thinking that this book has become generic, that it’s disappointing me and then…
Did you get that e-mail today? The page everybody’s passing from Boing! Boing!, about the making of 10cc’s "I’m Not In Love"?
I’m not in love with that song, but I’m a huge 10cc fan. I heard "Clockwork Creep" on Sirius XM yesterday and it made my day, that someone else remembered, knew too. Anyway, if you watch this video you’ll be impressed with the effort, the attempt to build something good and satisfying. That doesn’t seem to be the goal these days, people just want to get famous and rich.
Rich. That’s another thing that was addressed in "One Day". How you reach a certain age and realize that’s where you are, you make peace with your surroundings, your economic status, you’re happy, assuming you’re in a relationship. Are you in a relationship? Or are you hobbled by your idiosyncrasies, convinced the lonely life is satisfying as you secretly yearn for companionship, and connection?
I didn’t start with "One Day". I caught up on the newspapers first. Two days worth. Of course I read the highlights, the headlines online, but I was looking for the peripheral stories, the ones that make all the difference, like the one in yesterday’s "Times" about compilation Websites, like the HuffPo. The new one is Techmeme.
I had the idea of doing one of these years ago, so it makes me feel good the concept is being verified. Yes, I do feel left out, but is my core mission money or art? Am I a writer or a businessman?
Maybe you’re both. Maybe that’s the conundrum of life. You’re everything in this imperfect world that’s become ever so much more incomprehensible. You struggle to make sense of it, and you can’t. Maybe that’s the younger generation’s advantage, they know it’s not supposed to make sense, that you can’t see everything and know everything and that it’s more about your core social group than individual achievement.
And this was all an intro to writing about Jennifer Egan’s "A Visit From The Goon Squad". Can’t recommend it. Recommendations have to be so good that everyone will stick through the enterprise to get to the sweet, sticky center. If you’re recommending something, it had better be instantly gripping, or you’ll endure the backlash. Oh, don’t you know? We’ve all got standings in our head, of credibility. Push too many losers, push too much stuff at all and we start to ignore you, you’d have to lay fallow for years and come up with a killer rec for us to start paying attention again.
So I’m not recommending "Goon Squad", even though the framework is the music business. But if you want to take a chance, the plot twists and the insights will creep you out and thrill you.
But that’s not really why I’m writing about it either. I’m writing about it because of the two chapters at the end, where Egan writes in the future. Or, as we used to say about Frank Zappa records, "How did he (she) come up with this shit?" With one chapter done completely in PowerPoint.
All a long-winded story to tell you that we talk about that which takes risks, which pushes the envelope, to quote Chuck Yeager. Dr. Luke? Katy Perry and "California Gurls"? What’s there to say, they created a confection for radio play.
But Jennifer Egan…Â She truly tried to do something different, she was shooting for the stars and there’s plenty to discuss.
I’ve had my Kindle for a little over fourteen months. I’ve read over forty books. That’s the digital era for you, change the format and we consume more. Doubt me, just look at music. People might not be paying, but they’re listening.
And now I’m way off point.
The point is the way David Nicholls described what happened to a character in "One Day", 88% of the way in, was so good that I was shocked, so good just like the elements of "I’m Not In Love". Egan triumphed, she tests limits and creeps us out all the way through, Nicholls loses the plot sometimes, or it’s too much about plot, the structural device. But when we experience truly innovative thinking, it stops us in our tracks. Doesn’t matter if it’s books, movies, music, painting or sculpture. The truly great shocks us and has us asking, HOW DID THEY COME UP WITH THAT?
That element has been lacking in mainstream music and films for far too long, no wonder they’re declining. Â
Because it’s all about wonder.
We want a smile on our face. We want to kick back and look at the ceiling, thrilled to be alive. We want you to dig down deep and show us what you’re made of, shoot for the head and heart instead of the wallet.
