A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan Review

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

“Everyone we've lost, we'll find. Or they'll find us.”- A Visit From the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan

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.

I have been wanting to read A Visit from the Goon Squad for years, and at the same time I've been putting it off. I do this sometimes with books that seem like they'll be five star reads for me because I'm worried that I won't like them as much as I think I will. 

And I didn't have the best first time with Egan's work. I read the unmemorable mess that was Manhattan Beach last October and that caused me to view this novel/short story collection with suspect, and I put off reading it even though I got it almost a month ago.

I shouldn't have. Goddamn, I don't think I've ever gone so completely 180 on a writer before. Because Manhattan Beach got a dishonorable mention on my Worst of 2017 list but there's a good chance A Visit from the Goon Squad might make my Best of 2018 list. Because, while this novel wasn't perfect, I kind of loved reading it and it always stuck in the back of my mind when I wasn't reading it.

I was also impressed by how distinct each chapter/short story was from the other. While I have mentioned before that gimmick-y writers aren't really my favorite thing ever, innovation in the literary world is something I can appreciate and Egan is nothing if not an innovative writer. The closest she came to gimmicks was the PowerPoint section, but even then I kind of liked it.

That being said, the Kitty storyline didn't do anything for me, and I wondered why Egan was so hellbent on including it. I especially wasn't crazy about Stephanie's chapter, she just... I don't know. Annoyed me, I guess. Her brother, Jules, I liked the way his chapter was written but he seemed like a journalist stereotype.

What A Visit from the Goon Squad was missing, in my opinion, was a chapter with Benny's son. It would have been interesting to read about his teenage years, maybe him trying to get closer to his father? Chris felt like someone that Egan wanted to come back to, but ran out of time before she could.

Like most of the books I've been loving lately, A Visit from the Goon Squad is not a novel I will recommend out much. It's a very love or hate book, and those who prefer plot-driven stories to character-based ones will likely get frustrated with trying to follow the many strands of A Visit from the Goon Squad. Still, there's something punk rock about it that makes me love it. Huh. Who would have thought?

9 out of 10