From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

A Visit from the Goon Squad

Jennifer Egan

Start date: September 15, 2012

Finish date: September 15, 2012

Discussion: Reading List

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 429 topics — 16,905 comments total

Reading List

* The Schedule for July through Dec. 2025
By Lynn · 1 post · 43 views

last updated Jun 20, 2025 08:37AM

In Winter I Get Up at Night by Jane Urquhart Spoilers/Discussion
By Barbara · 13 posts · 17 views

last updated Sep 19, 2025 11:35AM

showing 10 of 14 topics view all »

What Members Thought

May 14, 2011 David Cerruti rated it it was ok

"One cannot review a bad book without showing off."
— W.H. Auden

This book won the Pulitzer Prize, and many other awards. For more than half way through, I thought I had bought the wrong Goon Squad. The one I was reading should have won the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. Consider this fine example of “dark and stormy night” prose.

“With a sudden pressure, heralded by pricks of sweat along my drastically receding hairline, I swab the bottom of my salad plate with a vast hunk of bread and jam ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Jun 30, 2025 Roy rated it really liked it

Another notch in my Pulitzer Prize winner for Fiction belt. Like the previous one I read, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, the format of this book feels more like a short story collection than a novel. Rearranging the chapters would make little difference since we’re not following a narrative from beginning to end. From a marketing standpoint, novels are usually better sellers than short story collections or anthologies. So, even if A Visit from the Goon Squad and Olive Kitteridge were both Another notch in my Pulitzer Prize winner for Fiction belt. Like the previous one I read, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, the format of this book feels more like a short story collection than a novel. Rearranging the chapters would make little difference since we’re not following a narrative from beginning to end. From a marketing standpoint, novels are usually better sellers than short story collections or anthologies. So, even if A Visit from the Goon Squad and Olive Kitteridge were both conceived by their authors as story collections, they have figured out or been advised that it would be monetarily advantageous to categorize their books as novels. Even though Olive barely makes an appearance in some of the chapters/stories that comprise Strout’s book, I feel that the linking of them was a little stronger than was done by Jennifer Egan in her Pulitzer winner. That’s probably because Strout doesn’t experiment much with her prose, but rather, presents a series of events in the fictional town where Olive lives that are each written in the same literary style. Egan on the other hand jumps around from first person to second person to third person point of view. One notable chapter is written as a set of PowerPoint slides. I almost skipped that section, but decided not to and was glad I read it. Olive Kitteridge is largely, even if not completely, about a woman named Olive. The primary characters of A Visit from the Goon Squad are a former punk rocker turned record executive named Bennie Salazar, and a woman he employs named Sasha. But plenty of other characters are visited throughout the narrative, to the point where I lost track at times of whether I was revisiting a character who was at a different stage of their life than where they were at in the previous visit, or being introduced to a brand new character making an appearance because they are connected to Bennie and/or Sasha in some way. A Visit from the Goon Squad is mostly about the process of aging, and the music that helps shape our lives as we go through a variety of stages. Struggling or professionally successful, single or married or remarried, satisfied with one's lot in life or barely holding on to sanity as the bastards beat you down. Individually, each chapter is absorbing. It doesn't matter who is centered in it because each character's situation is as wonderfully displayed by Egan's steady hand as the others. Egan succeeds at an author’s primary job which is to make you care about what’s going on and who it’s happening to. But she refuses to stay in any one place. The setting of the current chapter will be a different time and place than where the preceding chapter left off, abandoning one story that reads as a strong standalone piece, presenting a new one to cast its spell before moving on to something else. Some chapters will be more compelling to you than others, per your taste. The one featuring a dictator had me briefly wondering if I had wandered into a different book and genre entirely, not that I didn't enjoy it. As for the previously mentioned PowerPoint section, it reads like…well, a PowerPoint presentation. Yet it manages to reveal a considerable amount of detail about the characters featured in the slides. A Visit from the Goon Squad is not as wildly experimental as a book such as House of Leaves, so no need for you to pull any hair out or to pour yourself a stiff drink while reading Egan’s prose. But she takes risks for sure and mostly pulls them off. I’m not a big re-reader of novels, but this is one I may come back to at some point down the line. I’m pretty sure that I missed out on some stuff because I was not paying sufficiently close attention. Some novels allow you to follow along effortlessly while others demand greater focus in order to notice character arcs to the full extent. A Visit from the Goon Squad falls into the latter category, and a second read would probably be beneficial to my full comprehension. Then again, an author’s job is to get it right the first time because many readers will leisurely visit a book just once. The Pulitzer Prize committee felt that Egan succeeded in a big way. As for me, overall, I enjoyed this book. But if I was to rank the Pulitzer winners that I’ve read so far, quite a few others would be placed above this one. Not meant as a slight, since the lower end of the best of the best is still a pretty sweet spot to be. When I choose to reread a novel, I prefer that it’s because I was so overwhelmed by its beauty the first time that I want a second helping, rather than rereading to confirm that I kept proper track of everyone and everything going on. In general, I like short story collections that feel like a collection of great short stories, and novels that feel, regardless of how many characters it contains, like a single great story. But I'm not the one handing out Pulitzer Prizes. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Sep 24, 2011 Dree rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2011-reads, the-northeast, 1001-read, pulitzer-all-winner-short

I love books like this. The multiple narrators and points of view, the jumps across time and space, the finding out what happened to characters (even minor characters). What really happens in the book? I can't exactly explain it--we just learn about a variety of characters and the ways their lives interact, whether they know it or not. Much of it is a little bit funny, some crazy, some sad. But it is just points in the lives of some people. And it's great.

I was leaning toward 5 stars, but I got ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 03, 2012 Happyreader rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

A total Facebook novel, even when a good amount of the narrative takes place in the pre-Internet age. Everyone and every narrative is loosely related but ultimately isolated – and so sad. Sad when they’re young, sad when they’re old. Hopeful that it’ll get better when they’re young and regretful and shocked that they aged when they got old. No deep investigations but status updates along the way, although much less cheerful than actual FB status updates. Let’s just hope that in the real 2020s, n ...more

Like · see review

Feb 09, 2012 Victoria rated it really liked it

Shelves: new-york-stories

So many different stories and lives expertly woven together. Each chapter could seemingly work on its own as a short story. Really enjoyed this book, a concept unlike anything I've read before. It makes you realize that the world is much smaller than you think. ...more

Like · see review