so i might be off by a day on the reading, but this is what i found interesting--chris blackall

The flashback chapter, Why I'm Not Where You Are, was incredibly well written. To expound on this rather vague statement, this chapter stuck out to me because the way in which it was written seemed like a tv show or movie. This sounds bad, but it isn't. In this chapter, Foer is able to simultaneously flash back and forward in the midst of a letter and memory and not only reveal a cogent plot line, but have these plot lines intermingle in such a way that the pieces yield more than the sum of their parts. It's a gestalt, which is a beautiful thing. Honestly I feel like Foer may have viewed the pieces of this chapter like the 'climax' of it when the young boy Thomas (the grandfather) is having sex with his crush (the grandmother) in a space divided from their fathers by only books. I say this because of the finesse with which Foer weaved the conversation of the fathers with the underage coitus going on right next to them. The words of the two fathers war talk only heighten the passion (ironically enough) of the two young lovers.

"I want to make love," Anna whispered, I knew exactly what to do, night was arriving, trains were departing, I lifted her skirt, Mr. Goldberg said, "I've never recognized it more," and I could hear him breathing on the other side of the books, if he had taken one from the shelf he would have seen everything. But the books protected us." (127)

So, to connect this cacophony of ideas...
SO, if this scene were like a movie the conversation of the fathers would be the beat. The meter. The pace. The back and forth. (hehe) They speak of war, the penetration of one country into another (a subconscious connection to sex). And the pace builds. Even the reader reads faster. And then the moment comes. The beat has reached a frantic pace, though it has not changed at all. Foer mentions trains departing, phallic imagery with a mechanical (therefore logical therefore sterotypically masculine) twist. The train is departing, it is going somewhere. And the conversation continues. The beat continues as the beating hearts of the two soon-to-not-be-virgins quicken. And then...

"I was in her for a second before I burst into flames, she whimpered, Mr. Goldberg stomped his foot and let out a cry like a wounded animal...."

THIS IS CINEMA!!! Like OMG I can picture this whole thing... and not in a creepy/ pervy way either. I don't what else to say. This weaving of plot lines and place and the known and unknown is beautiful. This is how you tell a story, I suppose.