Safari
July 16, 2012 9:20 AM Subscribe
Jennifer Egan's short story Safari can be read at NewYorker.com (~6600 words), or can be read to you in a wonderful performance by Hope Davis (59:00). Jennifer Egan previously.
It is a chapter from Goon Squad.
posted by purpleclover at 9:45 AM on July 16, 2012
posted by purpleclover at 9:45 AM on July 16, 2012
That's a chapter from A Visit From The Goon Squad, right?
Which was published as a short story in The New Yorker.
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/01/11/100111fi_fiction_egan.
It may also be worth noting that Goon Squad is being adapted by HBO (in addition to Franzen's The Corrections, Karen Russell's Swamplandia!, and Chad Harbagh's The Art of Fielding, if you believe The Millions).
posted by aught at 10:01 AM on July 16, 2012
Which was published as a short story in The New Yorker.
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/01/11/100111fi_fiction_egan.
It may also be worth noting that Goon Squad is being adapted by HBO (in addition to Franzen's The Corrections, Karen Russell's Swamplandia!, and Chad Harbagh's The Art of Fielding, if you believe The Millions).
posted by aught at 10:01 AM on July 16, 2012
It may also be worth noting that Goon Squad is being adapted by HBO (in addition to Franzen's The Corrections, Karen Russell's Swamplandia!, and Chad Harbagh's The Art of Fielding, if you believe The Millions).
What the fuck!
posted by grobstein at 10:10 AM on July 16, 2012
What the fuck!
posted by grobstein at 10:10 AM on July 16, 2012
I hated A Visit From The Goon Squad so very, very much. The fact that it won a Pulitzer can only be evidence that no other books were written that year.
Well that's just, like, your opinion, man.
Anyway, I came in here to say that the PowerPoint chapter toward the end of the book made me bawl almost uncontrollably. I thought it was a wonderfully well-written and well-crafted book that deftly captures what it feels like to be alive right now.
posted by spacewaitress at 11:02 AM on July 16, 2012 [2 favorites]
Well that's just, like, your opinion, man.
Anyway, I came in here to say that the PowerPoint chapter toward the end of the book made me bawl almost uncontrollably. I thought it was a wonderfully well-written and well-crafted book that deftly captures what it feels like to be alive right now.
posted by spacewaitress at 11:02 AM on July 16, 2012 [2 favorites]
I don't like a lot of New Yorker fiction, but I did enjoy that story when it came out. I hadn't picked up that it was a book chapter, but I'm not surprised, it seems like everything they publish is.
posted by Forktine at 11:13 AM on July 16, 2012
posted by Forktine at 11:13 AM on July 16, 2012
Goon Squad is being adapted by HBO (in addition to Franzen's The Corrections, ...
Actually, HBO chose not to pick up The Corrections.
I loved Goon Squad (and The Art of Fielding for that matter), but I'm not sure I'd like to see it as an HBO series. Why can't they just make an original series instead of adapting books?
posted by barnoley at 11:57 AM on July 16, 2012
Actually, HBO chose not to pick up The Corrections.
I loved Goon Squad (and The Art of Fielding for that matter), but I'm not sure I'd like to see it as an HBO series. Why can't they just make an original series instead of adapting books?
posted by barnoley at 11:57 AM on July 16, 2012
the PowerPoint chapter toward the end of the book
I think I liked that chapter about as much as I like Powerpoint.
That's legitimate. To me it seemed like a good way to get into the mind of a character whose inner life is fraught with the same kind of emotions the rest of us feel, but who ordinarily isn't able to express those emotions in a "normal" way.
posted by spacewaitress at 12:27 PM on July 16, 2012
I think I liked that chapter about as much as I like Powerpoint.
That's legitimate. To me it seemed like a good way to get into the mind of a character whose inner life is fraught with the same kind of emotions the rest of us feel, but who ordinarily isn't able to express those emotions in a "normal" way.
posted by spacewaitress at 12:27 PM on July 16, 2012
Egan gets some credit for trying new things w/r/t the PPT riff and the Twitter "story," but both times it came off really, really contrived to me. I loved *Goon Squad* up until that point, and the sheer preciousness of it really took me out of the book.
Dollars to donuts she has no real idea what "twitter" is, or any real clue about twitter culture. That showed through in her "story" in the New Yorker.
posted by uberchet at 1:51 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
Dollars to donuts she has no real idea what "twitter" is, or any real clue about twitter culture. That showed through in her "story" in the New Yorker.
posted by uberchet at 1:51 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
The best thing about the ppt chapter was that it hastened the end of a dull and overhyped book. I read the short in the NYer and enjoyed it, and recognised it when I got to it in the novel, but it was probably the best part of the novel, which was in turn really a bunch of short stories about people you don't really like.
posted by sagwalla at 2:23 PM on July 16, 2012
posted by sagwalla at 2:23 PM on July 16, 2012
Sagwalla, I have very much the same sentiments about the book. It's well crafted but not very enjoyable. (But then that goes for nearly all the New Yorker short stories I tried.)
posted by of strange foe at 3:00 PM on July 16, 2012
posted by of strange foe at 3:00 PM on July 16, 2012
Read the story when it was in the NYer and was betting I'd see it again in Best American Short Stories 2010 and there it was. Have not made it into Goon Squad after two tries. Did not know "Safari" reappears as a chapter so may try again. Could not stand Art of Fielding (don't believe the hype?). Opinions, etc.
posted by emhutchinson at 6:57 PM on July 16, 2012
posted by emhutchinson at 6:57 PM on July 16, 2012
P.S. I do like Hope Davis, however.
posted by emhutchinson at 6:58 PM on July 16, 2012
posted by emhutchinson at 6:58 PM on July 16, 2012
From the "20 Under 40" I have enjoyed Tea Obreht's "The Tiger's Wife" and especially Gary Shteyngart's "Super Sad True Love Story"
posted by sagwalla at 10:44 PM on July 16, 2012
posted by sagwalla at 10:44 PM on July 16, 2012
Still haven't read Goon Squad, but Egan's "Look At Me" was one of my favorite books of the last decade.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 7:30 AM on July 17, 2012
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 7:30 AM on July 17, 2012
Egan gets some credit for trying new things w/r/t the PPT riff and the Twitter "story," but both times it came off really, really contrived to me. I loved *Goon Squad* up until that point, and the sheer preciousness of it really took me out of the book.
I keep wondering, did folks who disliked the PPT chapter read the whole thing? I admit I was dubious when I started it, but by the end I was quite moved. I realize tastes vary, but Goon Squad was one of my favorite books of the last few years.
posted by aught at 1:11 PM on July 20, 2012
I keep wondering, did folks who disliked the PPT chapter read the whole thing? I admit I was dubious when I started it, but by the end I was quite moved. I realize tastes vary, but Goon Squad was one of my favorite books of the last few years.
posted by aught at 1:11 PM on July 20, 2012
(Yes, I read the whole thing. Still seemed like contrivance to me.)
posted by uberchet at 10:07 AM on July 27, 2012
posted by uberchet at 10:07 AM on July 27, 2012
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posted by nicwolff at 9:37 AM on July 16, 2012