The reviewer praises Jennifer Egan's 'A Visit From the Goon Squad' for its innovative structure and compelling narrative, which spans decades and multiple perspectives. The book's loose braiding of connections and simmering tone of regret make it a standout work of fiction.
Jennifer Egan's 'A Visit From the Goon Squad' is a remarkable piece of fiction that defies traditional narrative structures. The book is a collection of linked stories that span over 40 years, each chapter offering a different perspective and time period. The reviewer highlights Egan's ability to maintain coherence and momentum despite the fragmented storytelling. The characters and their interconnected lives are brought together by a tone of simmering regret arising from love's wreckage and time's relentless devouring. Egan's versatility is evident in her use of various forms, including second-person narration, PowerPoint presentations, and futuristic visions. The reviewer is impressed by the book's ability to capture the essence of its characters and the changing artistic world.
Quick quotes
The book starts with Sasha, a kleptomaniac, who works for Bennie, a record executive, who is a protégé of Lou who seduced Jocelyn who was loved by Scotty who played guitar for the Flaming Dildos, a San Francisco punk band for which Bennie once played bass guitar (none too well), before marrying Stephanie who is charged with trying to resurrect the career of the bloated rock legend Bosco who grants the sole rights for covering his farewell “suicide tour” to Stephanie’s brother, Jules Jones, a celebrity journalist who attempted to rape the starlet Kitty Jackson, who one day will be forced to take a job from Stephanie’s publicity mentor, La Doll, who is trying to soften the image of a genocidal tyrant because her career collapsed in spectacular fashion around the same time that Sasha in the years before going to work for Bennie was perhaps working as a prostitute in Naples where she was discovered by her Uncle Ted who was on holiday from a bad marriage, and while not much more will be heard from him, Sasha will come to New York and attend N.Y.U. and work for Bennie before disappearing into the desert to sculpture and raise a family with her college boyfriend, Drew, while Bennie, assisted by Alex, a former date of Sasha’s from whom she lifted a wallet, soldiers on in New York, producing musicians (including the rediscovered guitarist Scotty) as the artistic world changes around him with the vertiginous speed of Moore’s Law.
There is a madness to her method. She hands off the narrative from one protagonist to another in a wild relay race that will end with the same characters with which it begins while dispensing with them for years at a time.
All of the above takes place in 13 chapters covering 40 years or so, ranging backward and forward across time, each composed from a different point of view, which means 13 different centers, 13 different peripheries. And yet everything hangs together, connected by a tone of simmering regret arising from love’s wreckage and time’s relentless devouring.