To what do you think the title, The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down, refers to, now that you’ve read the book?
I love the Loony Tunes theme music that is based on this song! I went back to listen to the lyrics, which seem to be about ways to have fun and find love despite (or because of) the merry-go-round breaking down, unable to stop and all the lights off. I certainly get the sense of the merry-go-round of capitalism breaking down and spinning out of control, the lights going off – but not sure I sensed many of the characters trapped in the break down finding much fun!
Although, now that I think of it – the capitalists in the bar at the end DID escape from the cruel fates of the others in the room – though we don’t know what happens to them at the VERY end, after the headline event. I imagine they may have experienced some momentary discomfort and panic - but in the end came out just fine!
It’s an apt title since the world is literally spinning on an axis every day (and we hope it won’t spin out of control) but in terms of the economy, one change anywhere affects the economy - we see this with the war in Iran and gas prices.
The same dollar continually goes around the world, it helps some but hurts others.
The merry-go-round is the way everyone’s lives were connected. People in completely different countries ended up being affected by the same financial crisis.The world just kind of stopped working the way everyone expected it to. Everything was spinning along like it always had, and then suddenly it all fell apart. It wasn’t just the economy that broke down; a lot of the characters’ lives did too.
The first thing I thought of reading this question is how the events started out slowly - but as I read the book everything started moving faster and faster, spinning out of control until our financial state collapsed on itself. I have to say that is how I read the book, slow and steady, and as the book was coming to an end I could not read fast enough.
It’s a perfect title for the book. The economy will always be on a never-ending up and down cycle with all the riders hoping to be the one person to grab that brass ring.
I loved how all of the characters were connected by the same desire for money and how the author at the beginning of each chapter drew lines to connect the characters place where they lived. Illustrating how each life effected the next person..the merry go round just kept moving from one character to the next, until it all fell apart at the end.