Jennifer Egan’s spellbinding novel circles the lives of Bennie Salazar, an aging former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Although Bennie and Sasha never discover each other’s pasts, the reader does, in intimate detail, along with the secret lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs, over many years, in locales as varied as New York, San Francisco, Naples, and Africa. We first meet Sasha in her mid-thirties, on her therapist’s couch in New York City, confronting her longstanding compulsion to steal. Later, we learn the genesis of her turmoil when we see her as the child of a violent marriage, then a runaway living in Naples, then as a college student trying to avert the suicidal impulses of her best friend. We meet Bennie Salazar at the melancholy nadir of his adult life—divorced, struggling to connect with his nine-year-old son, listening to a washed up band in the basement of a suburban house—and then revisit him in 1979, at the height of his youth, shy and tender, reveling in San Francisco’s punk scene as he discovers his ardor for rock and roll and his gift for spotting talent. We learn what became of his high school gang—who thrived and who faltered—and we encounter Lou Kline, Bennie’s catastrophically careless mentor, along with the lovers and children left behind in the wake of Lou’s far flung sexual conquests and meteoric rise and fall. A Visit from the Goon Squad is a book about the interplay of time and music, about survival, about the stirrings and transformations set inexorably in motion by even the most passing conjunction of our fates. In a breathtaking array of styles and tones ranging from tragedy to satire to Powerpoint, Egan captures the undertow of self-destruction that we all must either master or succumb to; the basic human hunger for redemption; and the universal tendency to reach for both—and escape the merciless progress of time—in the transporting realms of art and music. Sly, startling, exhilarating work from one of our boldest writers.
A Visit From The Goon Squad
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Review
Thriftily evokes many disparate American lives in less than 300 pages, vividly showing how the virtues of the realist tradition historical depth and strong point of view can be combined with a modernist aesthetic of fragmentation and dissolution. --The Guardian
Egan s writing is remarkable for its ability to anchor postmodern trickery to more reassuringly solid novelistic virtues ... Goon Squad hangs together with the airiness of a mobile, constructed to catch the slightest gusts of longing and lust. -- The Sunday Times
Very smart and very funny--BBC Radio 4 s Saturday Review
Is there anything Egan can t do? Remarkable... Darkly, rippingly funny... Pitch perfect.--New York Times Book Review Best Books of 2010
It may be the smartest book you can get your hands on this summer--The Los Angeles Times.
Truly magical... A Visit from the Goon Squad is a new classic of American fiction. Time Magazine, Best Books of 2010.
If Jennifer Egan is our reward for living through the self-conscious gimmicks and ironic claptrap of postmodernism, then it was all worthwhile. . . . A deeply humane story about growing up and growing old in a culture corroded by technology and marketing. . . . [A] triumph of technical bravado and tender sympathy. . . . Here, in ways that surprise and delight again, she transcends slick boomer nostalgia and offers a testament to the redemptive power of raw emotion in an age of synthetic sound and glossy avatars. Turn up the music, skip the college reunion and curl up with The Goon Squad instead. The Washington Post.
Egan constructs the novel with great skill and greater empathy. Village Voice, Best Books of 2010.
Wildly inventive and lovable. O, The Oprah Magazine, Best Books of 2010.
A Visit from the Goon Squad [is] an exhilarating, big-hearted, three-headed beast of a story. . . . [A] genius as a writer. . . . We see ourselves in all of Egan s characters because their stories of heartbreak and redemption seem so real they could be our own, regardless of the soundtrack. Such is the stuff great novels are made of. Marie-Claire
[Egan is] a boldly intellectual writer who is not afraid to apply her equally powerful intuitive skills to her ambitious projects. . . . While it s a time-trekking, tech-freakin doozie, the characters lives and fates claim the story first and foremost, and we are pulled right in. . . . Brilliantly structured, with storylike chapters. Elle.
Jennifer Egan is a rare bird: an experimental writer with a deep commitment to character, whose fiction is at once intellectually stimulating and moving. . . . It s a tricky book, but in the best way. When I got to the end, I wanted to start from the top again immediately, both to revisit the characters and to understand better how the pieces fit together. Like a masterful album, this one demands a replay. The San Francisco Chronicle.
[A] spiky, shape-shifting new book. . . . A display of Ms. Egan s extreme virtuosity. --The New York Times
Clever. Edgy. Groundbreaking. . . . For all of its cool, languid, arched-eyebrow sophistication that s the part that will make you think Didion and for all of the glitteringly gorgeous sentences that flit through its pages like exotic fish that s the DeLillo part the novel is actually a sturdy, robust, old-fashioned affair. It features characters about whom you come to care deeply as you watch them doing things they shouldn't, acting gloriously, infuriatingly human. --The Chicago Tribune
Egan s writing is remarkable for its ability to anchor postmodern trickery to more reassuringly solid novelistic virtues ... Goon Squad hangs together with the airiness of a mobile, constructed to catch the slightest gusts of longing and lust. -- The Sunday Times
Very smart and very funny--BBC Radio 4 s Saturday Review
Is there anything Egan can t do? Remarkable... Darkly, rippingly funny... Pitch perfect.--New York Times Book Review Best Books of 2010
It may be the smartest book you can get your hands on this summer--The Los Angeles Times.
Truly magical... A Visit from the Goon Squad is a new classic of American fiction. Time Magazine, Best Books of 2010.
If Jennifer Egan is our reward for living through the self-conscious gimmicks and ironic claptrap of postmodernism, then it was all worthwhile. . . . A deeply humane story about growing up and growing old in a culture corroded by technology and marketing. . . . [A] triumph of technical bravado and tender sympathy. . . . Here, in ways that surprise and delight again, she transcends slick boomer nostalgia and offers a testament to the redemptive power of raw emotion in an age of synthetic sound and glossy avatars. Turn up the music, skip the college reunion and curl up with The Goon Squad instead. The Washington Post.
Egan constructs the novel with great skill and greater empathy. Village Voice, Best Books of 2010.
Wildly inventive and lovable. O, The Oprah Magazine, Best Books of 2010.
A Visit from the Goon Squad [is] an exhilarating, big-hearted, three-headed beast of a story. . . . [A] genius as a writer. . . . We see ourselves in all of Egan s characters because their stories of heartbreak and redemption seem so real they could be our own, regardless of the soundtrack. Such is the stuff great novels are made of. Marie-Claire
[Egan is] a boldly intellectual writer who is not afraid to apply her equally powerful intuitive skills to her ambitious projects. . . . While it s a time-trekking, tech-freakin doozie, the characters lives and fates claim the story first and foremost, and we are pulled right in. . . . Brilliantly structured, with storylike chapters. Elle.
Jennifer Egan is a rare bird: an experimental writer with a deep commitment to character, whose fiction is at once intellectually stimulating and moving. . . . It s a tricky book, but in the best way. When I got to the end, I wanted to start from the top again immediately, both to revisit the characters and to understand better how the pieces fit together. Like a masterful album, this one demands a replay. The San Francisco Chronicle.
[A] spiky, shape-shifting new book. . . . A display of Ms. Egan s extreme virtuosity. --The New York Times
Clever. Edgy. Groundbreaking. . . . For all of its cool, languid, arched-eyebrow sophistication that s the part that will make you think Didion and for all of the glitteringly gorgeous sentences that flit through its pages like exotic fish that s the DeLillo part the novel is actually a sturdy, robust, old-fashioned affair. It features characters about whom you come to care deeply as you watch them doing things they shouldn't, acting gloriously, infuriatingly human. --The Chicago Tribune
Book Description
Winner of the Pultizer Prize. A brilliantly entertaining novel about memory, time, art and how humans connect at every level.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
112 of 120 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm not sure how to begin describing Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad to you, but I'll do my best! I'll start by saying that it's an original and imaginative novel which revolves around a large number of different characters, most of whom are involved in the music industry in some way (be it as musicians, producers, record label owners, publicists, or music lovers). The main theme of the book is time and Egan uses her characters to explore what happens to us as we age and how life doesn't always turn out the way we hoped it would.
I don't know exactly how many characters there were in this book, but it felt like hundreds! Two of the most important are Bennie Salazar, a record executive, and his assistant, Sasha. Most of the other characters are somehow connected to either Sasha or Bennie, whether directly or indirectly. We meet new people in almost every chapter and I found I needed to pay attention to every new name as even someone who seemed completely insignificant could reappear later in the book.
Each chapter is written in a distinct style and has its own unique feel. One chapter takes the form of a celebrity interview; another is presented as a PowerPoint slideshow. Some chapters have a first person narrator; others are told in the second or third person; we move from past tense to present tense, from one country to another and backwards and forwards in time. I don't think I've ever seen an author incorporate so many different styles and ideas into one novel - which could be either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your personal preferences. If you like books that are adventurous, innovative and different, then you're probably going to love A Visit from the Goon Squad. If not, you might find it all a little bit confusing and overwhelming like I did.
Many of the chapters seemed more like self-contained short stories than part of a novel and although each one is linked to the others in some way, I thought the book felt too disjointed. For me this made the experience of reading it quite uneven - there were some parts that I really enjoyed and some that just didn't interest me at all. The air of experimentation, along with the PowerPoint presentation and the futuristic world portrayed in the final section, made the whole book feel very `modern' and this is maybe another reason why it didn't really work for me. I suppose I just prefer novels which have a more conventional structure, less jumping around in time and place, and a stronger plot.
A Visit from the Goon Squad sounded fascinating and I can see why a lot of people would love it - it's a very unusual book which sparkles with originality and creativity - but it turned out not to be my type of book at all.
I don't know exactly how many characters there were in this book, but it felt like hundreds! Two of the most important are Bennie Salazar, a record executive, and his assistant, Sasha. Most of the other characters are somehow connected to either Sasha or Bennie, whether directly or indirectly. We meet new people in almost every chapter and I found I needed to pay attention to every new name as even someone who seemed completely insignificant could reappear later in the book.
Each chapter is written in a distinct style and has its own unique feel. One chapter takes the form of a celebrity interview; another is presented as a PowerPoint slideshow. Some chapters have a first person narrator; others are told in the second or third person; we move from past tense to present tense, from one country to another and backwards and forwards in time. I don't think I've ever seen an author incorporate so many different styles and ideas into one novel - which could be either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your personal preferences. If you like books that are adventurous, innovative and different, then you're probably going to love A Visit from the Goon Squad. If not, you might find it all a little bit confusing and overwhelming like I did.
Many of the chapters seemed more like self-contained short stories than part of a novel and although each one is linked to the others in some way, I thought the book felt too disjointed. For me this made the experience of reading it quite uneven - there were some parts that I really enjoyed and some that just didn't interest me at all. The air of experimentation, along with the PowerPoint presentation and the futuristic world portrayed in the final section, made the whole book feel very `modern' and this is maybe another reason why it didn't really work for me. I suppose I just prefer novels which have a more conventional structure, less jumping around in time and place, and a stronger plot.
A Visit from the Goon Squad sounded fascinating and I can see why a lot of people would love it - it's a very unusual book which sparkles with originality and creativity - but it turned out not to be my type of book at all.
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I've just finished this book and I'm so glad I squeaked it into the last week of 2011 as it has definitely made my top ten books of the year. It is a wonderful book which kind of journeys through the world of post 9/11 America through the lives, loves, memories, failures and achievements of a bunch of characters whose lives cross and recross from chapter to chapter. It is not always clear as you are reading, which character relates to which character and you never know if they will pop up in someone else's story later on. I loved the thrill of recognition coming across someone you have already read about but finding out about their past or their future, and piecing together all the disparate lives. It is dark and sometimes funny, often sad and wistful and always totally engaging. I absolutely loved it.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By Antenna
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
This is likely to divide opinion sharply since it rejects the convention of a clear plot, and flits back and forth in time with a variety of viewpoints and sheer number of characters which may prove confusing.
It is a series of short stories rather than a novel, focusing in turn on different members of an amorphous group who have in common only some kind of link to the music industry - they know, or know someone who knows, either Bennie the driven music manager, or Sasha, his light-fingered assistant whose kleptomania may have some deeper emotional cause.
I enjoyed the quirky incidents and offbeat humour of the first seven chapters, and the game of anticipating which character mentioned in passing would turn up as a key player in the next episode. I liked the way the author always managed to overcome my irritation at being dragged away from one group of characters, by skilfully hooking me in to the next one, only to be disappointed again at having to leave the new story with strands left unresolved, perhaps forever.
Some of the relationships are genuinely moving, such as the hard-bitten, selfish, corrupt Lou's love for his sweet, gentle son, whom he cannot help inadvertently damaging, just through being the bastard that he is. I was impressed by the study of Scotty, mentally ill but managing after a fashion, who convinces himself half the time that being a failure is as good as being a success.
My good opinion suffered a blow in Chapter 8, an over-farcical account of a disgraced PR manager trying to make ends meet by advising a genocidal dictator of some unnamed country, which was an annoyingly unconvincing mixture of Arab desert too close to lush African jungle. The there are two sections I grew too bored to read properly: an intentionally bad , I think, parody of a journalist's interview with a movie star, followed by an attempt to relate to an autistic boy, and to show his thought processes, through a PowerPoint presentation - a novel idea, but it goes on for 74 pages - has the author not heard of death by OHP? After that, the return of the final chapters to some of the original characters lacks the power to engage me, in a work which seems to have lost its way - perhaps because the subjects are essentially rather uninteresting and underdeveloped players in an artificial and shallow world.
On one hand, this book is unusual, often creative and original, with what you might call brave experiments (but shouldn't the author be clear-eyed enough to see where they may have fallen short?), yet there is too much that is contrived, gimmicky or glib for me to rate this as an indisputably worthy Pulitzer winner.
It is a series of short stories rather than a novel, focusing in turn on different members of an amorphous group who have in common only some kind of link to the music industry - they know, or know someone who knows, either Bennie the driven music manager, or Sasha, his light-fingered assistant whose kleptomania may have some deeper emotional cause.
I enjoyed the quirky incidents and offbeat humour of the first seven chapters, and the game of anticipating which character mentioned in passing would turn up as a key player in the next episode. I liked the way the author always managed to overcome my irritation at being dragged away from one group of characters, by skilfully hooking me in to the next one, only to be disappointed again at having to leave the new story with strands left unresolved, perhaps forever.
Some of the relationships are genuinely moving, such as the hard-bitten, selfish, corrupt Lou's love for his sweet, gentle son, whom he cannot help inadvertently damaging, just through being the bastard that he is. I was impressed by the study of Scotty, mentally ill but managing after a fashion, who convinces himself half the time that being a failure is as good as being a success.
My good opinion suffered a blow in Chapter 8, an over-farcical account of a disgraced PR manager trying to make ends meet by advising a genocidal dictator of some unnamed country, which was an annoyingly unconvincing mixture of Arab desert too close to lush African jungle. The there are two sections I grew too bored to read properly: an intentionally bad , I think, parody of a journalist's interview with a movie star, followed by an attempt to relate to an autistic boy, and to show his thought processes, through a PowerPoint presentation - a novel idea, but it goes on for 74 pages - has the author not heard of death by OHP? After that, the return of the final chapters to some of the original characters lacks the power to engage me, in a work which seems to have lost its way - perhaps because the subjects are essentially rather uninteresting and underdeveloped players in an artificial and shallow world.
On one hand, this book is unusual, often creative and original, with what you might call brave experiments (but shouldn't the author be clear-eyed enough to see where they may have fallen short?), yet there is too much that is contrived, gimmicky or glib for me to rate this as an indisputably worthy Pulitzer winner.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Burn out and fade away
Reading A Visit from the Goon squad is like going to an incredibly cool party, meeting someone you feel an instant connection with, talking all night, then realising they are... Read more
Published 17 days ago by Dario McGeachy
1.0 out of 5 stars
trivial
Trite, trivial,but perfectly readable, lightweight stuff, except the slide presentation and the weird ending full of text speak. Read more
Published 1 month ago by jd
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very well written and lots of fun, but a bit confusing
This is a very well written book, with great characters, a riotous, atmosphere and a feeling that you're going to reach a powerful truth soon. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Ryan Lister
2.0 out of 5 stars
Too clever by half
The proliferation of styles, number of characters, time shifts and settings make this book confusing to read. Despite the variety, I never really got involved. Read more
Published 2 months ago by K. J. Saunders
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting
I enjoyed this book very much. Whilst reading it I kept getting asked what it was about and to be honest I couldn't with any certainty say. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Sarah Smith 1986
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing
I tend to buy books on the basis of reviews that I have read in the press. The reviews for this book were excellent. Read more
Published 4 months ago by alan hall
4.0 out of 5 stars
A visit from the goon squad
I found the last chapter very hard to read on kindle as the way it has been downloaded means that you can not increase the size of the diagrams or font. Very difficult to read. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mrs. J. F. Hanrahan
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Young Person's Book
Egan is a brilliant writer and I was hooked by her first story. Halfway through the book, however, I lost interested in her young characters with their adolescent-type problems. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Aline P'nina Tayar
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sweet music
I'd heard a lot about this book, and was excited and a little nervous about reading it. Excited, because of the hype; nervous, because something that is so hyped often... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Barry Bootle
3.0 out of 5 stars
Brillliant - but not an easy read
While A Visit From The Goon Squad is brilliantly and tightly written, it is difficult to keep up with the changing time frames and shifting perspectives in each chapter. Read more
Published 8 months ago by D&D
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