Title: A Visit From The Goon Squad
Author: Jennifer Egan
Genre: Contemporary, Music
Publisher: Knoptf
Publishing Date: June 8th 2010
My Rating: 5/5 Stars
Goodreads Synopsis: Bennie is an aging former punk rocker and record executive. Sasha is the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Here Jennifer Egan brilliantly reveals their pasts, along with the inner lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs. With music pulsing on every page, A Visit from the Goon Squad is a startling, exhilarating novel of self-destruction and redemption.
My Review:
!Contains Spoilers!
This book was everything. Even if you dislike this book, there’s no denying that Jennifer Egan is a talented writer. Every chapter was different and I couldn’t put it down. We got to spend very little time with all these different characters but I got attached to them so quickly and so strongly.
This book left me thinking about the way time flies and how much we change. Most importantly, how many people we leave behind. People who we used to see everyday when we were younger and thought it would always be like that…
The dreams we have can fade away and the answer we give in our teens to that frightening question of “Where do you see yourself in X years?” is, most likely, not the right one.
Jennifer Egan did an amazing job with the storytelling of this book. For instance, I was so deep into the Safari Chapter during the dance scene when suddenly, out of nowhere, we found out that in a few years sweet Rolph commits suicide at twenty-eight and Charlie’s life becomes a living hell. It broke me but it was also a wake up call. This is the real world. This can happen. Free spirited children can grow up to become struggling adults, fighting their demons.
This was such a rich story, I think you can find at least one character you can relate too. Like I said in my Goodreads review: “This book is one of those things that you either love it or you hate it, there’s no in-between. Some people say they weren’t able to connect with the characters, but for me it was love at first sight.”
One of my favourite reviews for this book is one by the New Republic: “It ends in the same place as it starts, except that everything has changed, including you, the reader. ” and there’s no better way to describe this book.
This is my favourite book and I highly recommend it.
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