P.G.O.A.T.

doubtful geste · **Joined:** Mon Jul 13, 2009 1:11 pm **Posts:** 91

was just re-reading the first scene where Joelle and Gately talk (531-38) and was struck by how she seemed to start the scene with a heightening of her Kentucky accent, then noticed that Gately calls her on seeming to change her voice when she is trying to avoid certain topics ("you're all of a sudden talking different again" 536), so dioramaorama is probably right that her radio voice is a bit of a purposeful affectation/veil -- after all, this is a woman who does a radio show from behind a screen!

rennavate · **Joined:** Sun Aug 16, 2009 1:04 am **Posts:** 4

naptimewriting · **Joined:** Tue Jun 23, 2009 10:27 am **Posts:** 28

Babbo · **Joined:** Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:08 pm **Posts:** 10

So what to make, then, of the reference in the JVD suicide-attempt scene:

" ... deveiled, too pretty for words, maybe the Prettiest Girl of All Time ..." (p239)

I'm still confused.

dna · **Joined:** Sun Jul 12, 2009 5:46 pm **Posts:** 23

Gagoots · **Joined:** Mon Aug 24, 2009 1:44 am **Posts:** 12

Well, PGOAT says it herself. She is so pretty that she is deformed. I'm going with this because of the parallel it draws to the section of Canada that we're chucking garbage into. It eats up all the garbage, and is said to be too lush to support life.
This is all wrapped up into one of the major themes of the book, which is beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Mario is probably the most beautiful character in the story, and he is deformed. Etc, Etc.

1.0 · **Joined:** Sat Jun 27, 2009 12:08 pm **Posts:** 24

I'm starting to understand the beauty of this book. When you can take an issue like JVD's appearance and spin a thread of this length off of something that is not even really a central issue to the book. It makes you appreciate the breadth, width, and complexity of the work.

That preamble aside I am still casting a vote for P.G.O.A.T. being disfigured.

PS.
Anyone interested in the effects of feminine beauty on men needs to familiarize them self with the 1933 film Babyface starring Barbara Stanwyck. Interesting on many levels; I caught it on TCM last weekend and it made me think of JVD.

scottbateman · **Joined:** Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:10 pm **Posts:** 5

I like the idea that it doesn't matter if Joelle is horrendously disfigured or horrendously beautiful. It does end up being all the same.

On previous readings (this is my third), I'd had the theory that somehow the acid throw had made her even more beautiful than she had been previously.

Infinite Summer

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