A Visit from the Goon Squad in Reading with Style

May 21, 2012 Connie G rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories, book-club, california, 1001-books, contemporary-fiction, music, new-york

This is a very creative book which is a little challenging to read unless you know what to expect. Jennifer Egan wrote this book as separately published short stories, done in different styles, which are interlocking. The chapters move back and forth in time. There are major characters that show up in many of the chapters, and minor ones that are featured in only a couple chapters. I made quick notes about each character as I finished a chapter, in case I needed to refer back to when I had encou This is a very creative book which is a little challenging to read unless you know what to expect. Jennifer Egan wrote this book as separately published short stories, done in different styles, which are interlocking. The chapters move back and forth in time. There are major characters that show up in many of the chapters, and minor ones that are featured in only a couple chapters. I made quick notes about each character as I finished a chapter, in case I needed to refer back to when I had encountered them first.

Jennifer Egan compared this book to "the great storytelling albums that she grew up with in the 1970s: The Who's 'Tommy', Pink Floyd's 'The Wall', David Bowie's 'Ziggy Stardust'. A concept album is a story told in parts that sound completely different from each other...yet also work together."

One character says, "Time is a goon, right? You gonna let that goon push you around?" All the characters are pushed around by time in the book as the chapters take you back and forth through fifty years. People connect and disconnect at different times of their lives, always changing as they move on. Many of the characters are rebelling, have serious problems in their interpersonal relationships, suffer from substance abuse, and are fighting depression. But there are moments when they recover and grow, and the next generation seems to have their lives more together. As they go through time, interpersonal communication changes as we get more into the digital age in the 2020s. Music also changes from the accoustic sound of a band of high schoolers in the 1970s to a sound that is very digitalized and professionally mixed in a studio.

Chapters of the book are written from various points of view in first person, third person, and even second person. One chapter is written from prison, and another is done in Power Point. There is a lot of texting in the most modern chapter.

This book takes some effort on the part of the reader. While I would not want a constant diet of very modern books, I enjoyed reading this book because it was so creative and different. ...more

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Oct 09, 2012 Whitney rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: music

"Time is a goon," whatever that means. But now the book title makes sense. All the characters are facing the approaching discomforts of middle-age. They are all involved in the superficial aspects of the Music Business. I didn't find any of them sympathetic, so I was a little relieved to find this book a quick read. It was a good reminder for myself, the reader, to not get wrapped up in petty nonsense. Because I don't want to end up like these poor schmucks. ...more

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Jun 12, 2019 Megan added it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I really liked the structure of this, the non-linear, collaged-together stories. I also loved the powerpoint chapter: it was my favorite part of the book, which I both didn't expect going into the book or even when first starting that chapter, but I found it a perfect emotional vehicle for the very precise story it was telling, and it lifted my opinion of the book as a whole.

The characters felt to me like very objectified, bland archetypes, and I wasn't sure it that was purposeful or what (given ...more

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Nov 18, 2011 Rosemary rated it liked it · review of another edition

There was a lot about this book that I liked, but the way it jumped around in time and points of view, telling you the future of characters you hadn't even had time to start to care about, drove me crazy. I think you would have to read it twice in quick succession to sort everybody out, while there are a lot of other books out there...
...more

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Mar 13, 2012 Tanya Patrice rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks

More like 3.5/ rounding down instead of up though. I listened to this on audio which I don't think was ideal for this book. Since there are so many different narrators, I wish I had a hard copy so I could look back when I got confused as to how some of the characters were related. And the "Power Point slide section" was the low point for me. Sure it was gimmicky, but having a kid as the narrator seemed out of place in this tale (and the thing about measuring pauses in music - not a fan of this). ...more

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