The 4-Hour Workweek is an ambitious study of time and relationships, inspired by Proust and The Sopranos. It's a delight to read, with interconnected characters and shifting narratives that explore human interconnectedness.
Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad is a unique and ambitious novel that defies easy categorization. Inspired by Marcel Proust's À la Recherche du Temps Perdu and HBO's The Sopranos, the book explores themes of time, relationships, and human interconnectedness. The narrative shifts between different characters and time periods, creating a symphonic work that is both complex and engaging. Each chapter has its own distinct voice and mood, ranging from satire to tragedy, and the characters' lives are revealed with great elegance and economy. The book is a delight to read, gradually distilling a medley out of its polyphonic voices.
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The book received rave reviews when it was published in the US last year, and for good reason; it has since been named a finalist for several prestigious American prizes.
This is a difficult book to summarise, but a delight to read, gradually distilling a medley out of its polyphonic, sometimes deliberately cacophonous voices.
I've never found a description of attempted rape funny before, but when Jules Jones writes (from prison) his account of his assault on Kitty Jackson during an interview, it becomes an uproarious parody of David Foster Wallace that owes more than a little to Nabokov as well, as Jules describes finding himself with 'one hand covering Kitty's mouth and doing its best to anchor her rather spirited head, the other fumbling with my zipper, which I'm having some trouble depressing, possibly because of the writhing motions of my subject beneath me.