A Visit from the Goon Squad

by Jennifer Egan

John Steven Gurney (Illustrator)

Jennifer Egan's spellbinding novel circles the lives of Bennie Salazar, an ageing 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 long-standing 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, revelling in San Francisco's punk scene as he discovers his ardour 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.

• ISBN10: 0307593622
• ISBN13: 9780307593627
• Publish Date: 8 June 2010 (first published 1 January 2010)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Anchor Books
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 241
• Language: English

Reviews

[Jyc]

★★★★ // a lovely piece on the inevitability of aging, growing old alone, and just this overall cloud of sadness that hovers over you each passing day.

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

This is quite a curious novel. It is really more a series of short stories connecteed by one or two characters--like looking through an old photo album and remembering the stories behind the pictures. That being said I really did enjoy the book except for the chapters that involved Rhea and Lou. Because of their somewhat loose connection with Bennie and the odd point of view in which these chapters were written, these chapters were my least favorite.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

A Visit from the Goon Squad is really unique and well written, but it left me without any form of closure. This is a collection of short stories rather than a novel; telling individual memories from people (and family) involved in a record label that is struggling to remain in touch with the digital age. The people in the book include musicians, producers, assistants, executives and publicists; but all their memories doesn’t really quiet make a complete story, there is too many holes and information missing. It does feel a collection of short stories from the good old days that have been pieced together to try and understand what it was like. While I enjoyed the stories and the way the book was writing (including a whole perspective done in PowerPoint) I wanted more and expected more from this Pulitzer Prize winning novel.

[lisacee]

Wow! I loved this book so much.

You know those books where the author tries to weave multiple characters together but you have to struggle to remember how all of them are connected? This is not that book. The many characters, with a center of Bennie the music exec and Sasha his assistant, live throughout decades during this book but it all flows seamlessly.

This book manages to jump between characters and years without confusing the audience or feeling forced. I feel like I know all of the characters and I loved watching them progress through their connected lives. I know this will be a book I will return to, just to spend time with these characters again.

The storytelling style varies from normal (though beautiful) prose, to a magazine article written from jail, to a PowerPoint slide show. Again, seamlessly.

I don't want to give too much away because it was so much fun experiencing it and I don't want to ruin that for anyone reading this. This is the best book I have read in a really long time, and I have enjoyed a lot of good books recently. Wow! I loved this book so much.

You know those books where the author tries to weave multiple characters together but you have to struggle to remember how all of them are connected? This is not that book. The many characters, with a center of Bennie the music exec and Sasha his assistant, live throughout decades during this book but it all flows seamlessly.

This book manages to jump between characters and years without confusing the audience or feeling forced. I feel like I know all of the characters and I loved watching them progress through their connected lives. I know this will be a book I will return to, just to spend time with these characters again.

The storytelling style varies from normal (though beautiful) prose, to a magazine article written from jail, to a PowerPoint slide show. Again, seamlessly.

I don't want to give too much away because it was so much fun experiencing it and I don't want to ruin that for anyone reading this. This is the best book I have read in a really long time, and I have enjoyed a lot of good books recently.