We were doing Secret Santa last month and I wanted to get something else for a change, so I asked the giver's favorite book, which landed me with A Visit From The Goon Squad. Not something I'd actively seek out or had come across before, but all the better for broadening my view. Definitely a successful experiment and something I will use for further Secret Santas.

Every chapter tells a part of the story from a different POV, and while all characters are somehow connected to either music producer Bennie or his kleptomaniac assistant Sasha the extent to how much they are connected is very different from chapter to chapter. I for one was looking forward at the beginning of each chapter to find out this connection. The changing of characters, time, place and narrative voice between each chapter did make it harder to get into the story, but I think I enjoyed it more than it bothered me.

One chapter is presented in the form of a Powerpoint presentation and this chapter resonated with me most, because I spend my fair share of time preparing Powerpoints myself. I also thought it was refreshing, even if the schemes and wordart were overused on the slides, and it didn't feel like it was made by a 12yo.

When reading I had a very strong feeling this was one of those books for the awards, and seeing it won the 2011 Pulitzer. It also reminded me of Cloud Atlas and If on a Winter's Night a Traveler.

Intriguing read.

This book is a crazy, seeming to head in all different directions. It covers a lot of social issues and much is about free will. It kind of makes fun of everything and is pretty 'out there' a lot. The way it is highlights how ridiculous things are in real life.

Postmodernism scrutinizes the accepted ways of producing art and finds new ways to portray interesting things. Without this approach everyone would still be scratching stick men onto cave walls. In a world in which change happens so fast, it's useful and important to think in terms of what changes, why it changes, and how the change helps or hinders us. Having said that, and in the long run, post modernism is as irrelevant as any other “ism”, all of which had their own junk philosophies to contend with, what matters at the end of the day is the content of art and how society or an individual responds to it that matters. Sadly post modernism could have provoked a radical and revolutionary response to society but its adherents proved conservative, more interested in money and their careers to make any meaningful art. So unlike so many “isms” whose adherents created great works in spite of a particular ism´s junk philosophy, post modernism hasn´t produced many works of literature worth remembering. Postmodernism is not throwing a whole lot of weird stuff together and seeing what craziness happens. This, however, is what a lot of people, including artists, curators, critics, and journalists who all should know better, think it is, This "anything goes" postmodernism is what winds people up and makes them say 'That's not art!' as if there's something which art ought to be.

If you're into literary criticism, read on.

Crews' sequel to the 'The Pooh Perplex' proves that his satire did nothing to forestall the excesses of literary criticism, and the end of the 20th century saw more fracturing of thought and backbiting tendencies then ever.

The format of the case-book was outdated so 'Postmodern Pooh' is presented as the collected talks of a forum on Pooh Studies. Regrettably, Crews was denied the use of Shepard's illustrations, and their absence is felt, though some of the diagrams do their best to make up for it. The essays take on postmodern literary theories as well as colonial, women's and queer studies, and therefore feels more modern, but 16 years is a long time, and overall the book feels more dated then the 50+ year old predecessor. The individual essays also make a lot more effort to quote genuine authors and works to back up their viewpoints - Derrida, Woolf, and even official Pooh-biographer Ann Thwaite herself - giving it a more authentic feel.

The laughs are still there, but a few of them seem to miss the mark. Still worth a read if you loved the 'Perplex'.

The Pooh Perplex

Previous: 'The Pooh Perplex'

Chelsea didn't mean to teleport. But did she mean to be such an annoying character?

Atlantis and Lemuria. Both sunken continents and at war with each other. In this mess Chelsea teleports, to a very secret navy base in the middle of the ocean. But don't worry, only Chelsea is special enough to succeed.

Chelsea annoyed me. If there ever was a character that was so special and had such powers and didn't question anything. She immediately leaves her family and former life behind in order to be with Trevor, her insta-love. The only other thing she finds important is her career in archeology.

I still believe the premise was promising, but since it is one of those blurbs that gives away at least half of the book, it never got really exciting. I've been reading some reviews and they are all very positive so it would seem I was the odd one out, because at times I really was struggling. I never felt the drive to continue and it was fine for me to put it down (even for days at a time). It was not what I expected and frankly, I was a bit disappointed with Gyre.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!