Title: A visit from the Goon Squad
Author: Jennifer Egan
Date/year published: 2010
Genre: Contemporary fiction, literary
Format: e-pub, borrowed from local library through Libby App, read on Kindle
Why did I choose to read it: If I’m being honest, because “goon squad” was in the title. But when I read the description on Libby, I thought it sounded fun. It’s a bestseller and National Book Critics Circle winner.
Synopsis: How the lives of an aging former punk rocker, now record executive and his troubled young assistant’s live entwine and reveal their hidden pasts.
Thoughts:
I was surprised at how little I enjoyed this book. I had difficulty finishing it! With praising quotes like “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), and “Pitch perfect… Darkly, rippingly funny…” (The New York Times Book Review), I feel I must have missed something. I’ve read musician autobiographies where I didn’t know the importance of every person named but still followed along and enjoyed the books. So I’m not sure why I didn’t follow this one.
Honestly, I felt like I was reading a string of short stories loosely connected and pressed into a book. When I dug a bit deeper into the book, I discovered that that is exactly what it is. Some critics claim it a novel, others a collection of short stories. Maybe that was part of my struggle. The loose connections holding the stories together were just that, loose, and I was trying to read it as a cohesive story.
Would I re-read or recommend it?
Reread: No. I might try Egan’s other book, maybe see if its her writing style I struggle with and not the tales she’s telling. Each reader, like each writer, struggles with some styles while other styles are easy to grasp.
Recommend: Probably not.
lisatrefsger.com 