A Visit from the Goon Squad in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Jan 30, 2015 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it

Shelves: pulitzer-winner, lotsa-buzz, nyc, literary-schmiterary, 1001-books

one review of Station Eleven said this book had the same "feel" of intertwining narratives.

People get old, people change, people lose touch with high school friends, people die. That's all true, but it's not as insanely depressing as depicted in this book.

All the mention of punk rock epic got me over excited. I've listened to a fair amount of punk in my life, but I was never a groupie or an insider. I don't feel the punk rock vibe here, so either I'm not enough of a groupie to "get it," or this one review of Station Eleven said this book had the same "feel" of intertwining narratives.

People get old, people change, people lose touch with high school friends, people die. That's all true, but it's not as insanely depressing as depicted in this book.

All the mention of punk rock epic got me over excited. I've listened to a fair amount of punk in my life, but I was never a groupie or an insider. I don't feel the punk rock vibe here, so either I'm not enough of a groupie to "get it," or this isn't really very punk. I was confused by music people in NYC talking only about California punk. It made me think maybe the author isn't a fan of punk at all, and she didn't bother checking in with anyone who was. No fan confuses the NYC scene with the California scene. But maybe an author from California might.

I'm not really sure why I liked this book as much as I did. I think because it was well written, and the characters were quirky and dark, and the constant intertwining of story lines was satisfying in that way that perceived patterns in madness are always satisfying.

I didn't notice at first, but this is actually a book of thirteen short stories, all connected in some way. Each chapter has its own beginning and ending.

Things i didn't like about this book:
It's too fucking depressing. Every character in is book (except the children) has grown old and is confused and depressed and not really sure what happened or where youth disappeared to. As if every character had been held in a coma for a few decades and suddenly came to. Ridiculous. I'm middle aged, but I don't meander about, bemoaning my fate and wondering here my youth went. I know exactly how I got to where I am today, and I'm perfectly happy with my life today. Growing old is not depressing.

I read this to satisfy the Pulitzer Prize category of the 2015 Ultimate Reading Challenge. I wasn't expecting much, since most of the Pulitzer winners just aren't my cup of tea. I don't understand how they choose the winner each year. It's like they go out of their way to choose books I don't like. (Obviously, it's not about me.) ...more

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Jun 20, 2011 Martin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011books, favorites

A really wonderful book that somehow simultaneously manages to:
1) live up to sky-high hype,
2) deliver unexpected twists in spite of massive media coverage, and
3) be a page-turner while being about as uplifting as watching ten consecutive episodes of Frontline.

This is one sad novel-in-time-fragments, yet I couldn't put it down. There's no "plot" to speak of, just the exploration of characters and the connections between those characters over a huge swath of time and many different time-periods A really wonderful book that somehow simultaneously manages to:
1) live up to sky-high hype,
2) deliver unexpected twists in spite of massive media coverage, and
3) be a page-turner while being about as uplifting as watching ten consecutive episodes of Frontline.

This is one sad novel-in-time-fragments, yet I couldn't put it down. There's no "plot" to speak of, just the exploration of characters and the connections between those characters over a huge swath of time and many different time-periods. Those connections, relationships and people are so carefully drawn and finely crafted that I could have kept reading forever.

Occasionally the book missteps into overly broad satire -- and by "overly broad" I mean that the satire becomes situational and somewhat heavy-handed for my liking. Most of the time Jennifer Egan's satirical instincts are deftly embedded in character and relationship, letting readers draw meaning for themselves, but in a couple of notable spots the characters get too thin, the situations too over-the-top, and the whole affair strains with effort. Most notably I'm thinking of "Selling the General" (which is the only chapter I disliked) but I also include in this the final chapter, which (while also being beautifully written and terribly sad and pretty daring) struggles to make its points within character & relationship, and moves outside of that successful formula to comment in ways I didn't love. The vast majority of the book was so absolutely gorgeous with subtlety, as perfectly subtle as anything I've read -- that I did find myself ever so slightly disappointed that, in the final chapter, the human characters were too shallow to sustain The Commentary.

That said, 95% of this book is writing so pure that it fills my heart with both appreciation and rank jealousy. "Elegant" is the word that most aptly comes to mind. I devoured this book in a week flat, am filled with thoughts and reactions to it, and have just had a long, thoughtful discussion about it with my wife (who also loved it). It's hard to ask for anything more from a book. Further, it's hard for me to think of a book recently I've enjoyed -- or engaged with -- more. ...more

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Sep 21, 2011 Kerry rated it it was ok

Paths cross. People change. Would your friends now recognize the you of 20 years earlier? The author spits darts at the music industry, humanity and reveals a dark take on the future of them both through intersecting individuals. My interest peaked early and then petered out and I am not going to like...tanked at the end. Also, when books have characters that I dislike, I sometimes find it difficult to enjoy the book.

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Jun 26, 2013 Lori rated it it was ok

Shelves: audio

This is one of those tales of many lives and how they sometimes intertwine. That vehicle has been done better and I just didn't get into this one. Perhaps it would have been better to read as I did have to review who I was dealing with periodically. ...more

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Feb 01, 2012 Arianna rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, library-book

Meh. This really wasn't anything special. Definitely not a Pulitzer-worthy book! But I have to say, the ultimate circularity of the story was worth it in the end...I really did love the last chapter. The penultimate one, though? NOT enjoyable. Powerpoint slides to show how different school will be in a decade? Really???

Otherwise...it was an enjoyable read. It was just really not entirely worth my time, I felt. I don't think my life will be any different for having experienced it.
...more

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May 19, 2011 Nadine rated it it was amazing

I found this book to be so, so sad, but so, so beautifully written. And the stories were sufficiently intertwined that I found it very compelling and hard to put down. It deserved all the rave reviews it got.

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