reply
It’s Ray J’s catch-up day so here are chapters 24-25. Warning: Tangents ahead.
> Starting with Brendan in chapter 24: Poor Brendan. “Losing” Kimmy and Chase at the same time. Pretty impressive maturity level to recognize “the truth is, I probably miss Chase even more than I miss Kimberly.”
> Brendan refers to Aaron and Bear as Chase’s “Neanderthal pals.” I remember that putdown from when I was in school. For the past several years, I’ve been seeing fairly frequent mentions of how paleoanthropologists are trying to correct misperceptions of Neanderthal intelligence and culture, so I decided to look up the history of anti-Neanderthal sentiment. Apparently, the world of science has been having this debate for several decades. One of the stories I remember reading when it came out was a New York Times feature called “Neanderthals Were People, Too” from 2017—the same year as RESTART. Another good simple overview is a story in Time called “Much of What We Thought About Neanderthals Was Wrong. Here’s Why That Matters.” (ß Story titles are linked)
> I’m so relieved that Brendan is holding out hope for Chase to still be a good guy.
> Slugfest! Brendan’s brainstorm of ideas for his new video has a GREAT potential name. Of course, the book SLUGFEST probably was a better story than watching Sluggo crawl up a wall!
> Anyhow, that reminds me of another GRK book title I’ve seen out of context. The book OLD SCHOOL, which comes out in January 2025, is going to cause an interesting conundrum. If you go to the “The Books” section of this website, you’ll find a listing of GRK’s books under various categories. So, the big question: Will OLD SCHOOL fall under “Hot Off the Press”? Or should it be in “Classics,” which specifically tells readers to GO OLD SCHOOL to see the full list of Korman Classics?
> I’m amused by the verb “millimetering” that Brendan uses to describe the slug’s pace. I’m about 95 percent certain that Americans don’t want to give up on imperial measurements only because they’re too important to our idioms. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure… the whole nine yards… wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole…. Well, that’s my yardstick—but, hey: YKMV (your kilometerage may vary).
> When Brendan realizes he captured the music room attack on video, his first thought is to mend the Chase-Joel-Shoshanna-Video Club relationship, not to use the evidence to get Aaron and Bear in trouble. Brendan’s a pretty great guy.
> Moving along to Chase in chapter 25: Poor Chase. He gets a glimmer of hope with Brendan’s text message to meet him about “something important you have to see.” But he’s so bummed about the theft of Mr. Solway’s medal, he can’t even enjoy the possible thawing of tensions.
> The girl in the blue dress! Thank you, Mrs. Tottenham!
> (Did everyone google “Renoir girl in blue dress with watering can” to see the painting Chase was remembering?)
> We find out exactly what caused Chase to fall off the roof! And we get an answer to what happened to the missing medal!
> “Have you forgotten what happened to you last summer? Do you have amnesia about the amnesia?” – Mrs. Ambrose. 😊
@Jade: “Football! I’m really glad Chase can go back. By y’all’s comments I’m beginning to realize that maybe he shouldn’t… whoops.” Interesting point. I think I partially have been anti-football for Chase because Dr. Cooperman said it would be safer to take off the season, and partially because Mr. Ambrose is so keen on Chase’s quick return. (Since I dislike most of what Mr. Ambrose says and does, my kneejerk is to disagree with him on this!) But giving it some more thought, I wonder if I’m associating “old Chase” with football, and I worry that football could trigger a return of some of his previous personality. And I’m so glad you brought up Chase’s sadness about losing his friends. Forming those friendships with the vidiots was the best proof that Chase had really changed. Now, he’s doubting himself and doesn’t have any friends—old or new—to turn to.