A Visit from the Goon Squad in Around the Year in 52 Books

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

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

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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Jul 11, 2011 Rachel rated it really liked it

Shelves: music

Second Read:
I remember enjoying this book when I first read it, over 10 years ago. Recently added The Candy House to my TBR list, but realized it's a sequel novel to this one. Hence the re-read. I still think it's very cool how everything weaves together, and love all the music references. This time I bought the kindle version and listened along with the audio at the same time. Much easier to follow. The theme of time, and how things change with age, was something I picked up more now that I'm o ...more

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Oct 23, 2011 Susan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, bay-area

The plot ricochets around a couple of central characters, Sasha and Bennie. I felt little enthusiasm for reading this book for much of the first half. Later, I warmed up to it a bit, but not enough to try to sort out all the details of the shifting chronology.

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May 08, 2019 Jana rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobooks, book-club, x2019-reading-challenge

I may have liked it better if I had read it rather than listening to the audio book. So very many characters in different time periods. It was a little hard to adjust.

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Mar 28, 2020 Ryan Mac rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

I didn't quite see why the praise for this book of what is essentially a bunch of short stories about characters that have some connection to each other. I thought that the first chapter or two was pretty interesting but then it jumped around in time to other less interesting characters and went downhill from there. Nothing really happens in the book--just glimpses of several people's lives over time. ...more

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