A Visit from the Goon Squad

The narrative of this book “A Visit From The Goon Squad” by Jennifer Egan exposes the occasional gem amongst the gritty bones of New York City. When least expected, a spark of wisdom shines through, almost like nostalgic extracts from Egan’s own experiences, and it glows with insight. I’ll let you find out about the Goon Squad.

The reader can easily get lost in the emotional excavation, the shock value, tense family moments, clever graphs and charts which illustrate Chapter 12 (but don’t read it until you know the storyline well enough), the overlapping revelations and the ever-present tension simmering under the surface.

However, the spaced-out college days, the typical jobs, the duplicitous marriages and the inevitable declines are not new. The way Egan handles them springs the odd surprise but in doing so, the characters are sometimes pushed ahead too fast and too obviously and I felt interest but not empathy. Various characters are too driven by substance-abuse to warrant later sympathy for their lifestyle choices. Some better than others. Sasha is the enigma throughout the novel although it’s hard to believe her life; Dolly and Lulu are bizarrely larger than life; Ted is my favourite: Benny and Scotty are typical floundering rockers; Kitty, Jules and Alex are foolish and the list goes on.

The post-modern approach gives this book the edge and it manages to claw itself free of being mundane and helps connect the chain of events, yet, sadly for me, with neither memorable humour nor thought-provoking prose. The one ray of hope? Egan uses light a lot in her descriptions and with diamond-like beams she brings that living, breathing entity called New York City to life.

A remarkable tour de force, with each chapter written from a different point of view, reflecting beautifully the different characters. Including a most innovative Power Point chapter. It is also an unusual way to push forward a plot, without regard to chronology.

This said, it doesn't really deserve 5 stars: it tries too hard to be original and ground-breaking, and worse, it leaves the reader behind without any possibility to "latch on" to a character. A book to be fully satisfying (in my view) has to offer character(s) with whom the reader can empathize and live with them their tribulations. This doesn't happen here and it is a pity. But look for the next Jennifer Egan book! She is hugely talented and will surely deliver sooner or later a fully satisfying book!