A Visit from The Goon Squad

by Jennifer Egan
A Visit from The Goon Squad cover
Good Books rating 4.5
Literary Fiction
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Paperback • £9.99
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Technical
  • ID: 615
  • Added: 2025-09-18
  • Updated: 2025-09-18
  • ISBN: 9780307477477
  • Publisher: Anchor
  • Published: 2011-01-01
  • Formats: 25
  • Reviews: 4

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that weaves together the lives of Bennie Salazar, a former punk rocker turned record executive, and Sasha, his assistant, as they navigate their secrets and the ever-changing music industry. The narrative spans from the 1970s punk scene in San Francisco to a futuristic world, offering a unique blend of music, technology, and human connection. /n/n The novel is praised for its innovative structure and vivid characterizations, delving into themes of time, power, and the impact of technology on society. Egan's experimental writing style, including a chapter written entirely in PowerPoint, adds a layer of creativity that sets this book apart.

Reviews
reddit.com · Unknown · 2025-10-19
engaging 4.00

The book is praised for its unique structure and engaging characters, though some find the plot thin in parts. It's a compelling read that offers a fresh perspective on time and technology.

Readers are drawn to the innovative narrative style of 'A Visit From the Goon Squad,' which weaves together multiple storylines and time periods. The characters are vividly portrayed, and the exploration of themes like aging and technology is thought-provoking. However, some feel that the plot can be uneven, with certain sections feeling less developed than others. Overall, it's a book that challenges traditional storytelling and leaves a lasting impression. The blend of humor, tragedy, and musical references adds depth, making it a memorable read. While not every storyline resonates equally, the book's creativity and boldness are widely appreciated.

Quick quotes

    The writing is so vivid and original

    It's a book that stays with you long after you've finished it

    The characters are so well-drawn and complex

andyquan.com · Unknown · 2025-09-20
remarkable 4.50

Jennifer Egan's 'A Visit From the Goon Squad' is a remarkable and ambitious work that defies traditional narrative structures. The book's unique approach, with its interconnected stories and shifting perspectives, creates a compelling exploration of time, love, and regret.

Jennifer Egan's 'A Visit From the Goon Squad' is a groundbreaking piece of fiction that challenges conventional storytelling. The novel, or collection of linked stories, follows a diverse cast of characters over several decades, with each chapter offering a different perspective. This structure allows Egan to explore themes of time, love, and the inevitable passage of life with a sense of urgency and depth. The narrative's non-linear approach and varied styles, including a chapter in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, showcase Egan's versatility and creativity. Despite the fragmented structure, the book maintains a cohesive tone of simmering regret and the relentless march of time. Egan's ability to weave together disparate elements into a cohesive whole is a testament to her skill as a writer. The characters' interconnected lives and the exploration of their relationships make for a rich and engaging reading experience.

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.

    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.

    Is there anything Egan can’t do in this mash-up of forms? Write successfully in the second person? Check. Parody celebrity journalism and David Foster Wallace at the same time? Check. Make a moving narrative out of a PowerPoint presentation? Check. Write about a cokehead music producer who demands oral sex from his teenage girlfriend during her friends’ band’s performance? Check. Narrate another chapter from the perspective of the above girlfriend’s best friend, standing at the same performance on the other side of said producer? Check. Compose a futuristic vision of New York? Check.

goodreads.com · Unknown · 2025-09-20
brilliant 4.50

A Visit from the Goon Squad is a brilliant and innovative novel that explores the interconnected lives of characters in the music industry. The book's unique structure and varied styles make it a standout, capturing the passage of time and the human desire for redemption through art and music.

A Visit from the Goon Squad is a captivating exploration of time, music, and human connection. The novel weaves together the lives of various characters, primarily Bennie Salazar and Sasha, through a series of interconnected narratives. The book's structure is one of its most striking features, with each chapter offering a different perspective and style, from traditional prose to a PowerPoint presentation. This approach effectively captures the fragmented nature of memory and the passage of time. The characters are deeply human, each grappling with their own struggles and desires. The novel's themes of self-destruction, redemption, and the inevitability of change are universal and resonant. The inclusion of technology, such as Facebook, adds a modern twist, highlighting how it both connects and disconnects us from our pasts. Overall, the book is a masterful blend of tragedy, satire, and exhilarating storytelling, making it a standout in contemporary literature.

Quick quotes

    Spoiler alert: You will get old. You will die. Things will never be like they are right now. And yet, how things are right now will determine how they are in the future. This is so.

    A collection of narratives -- they aren't really stories -- centered around various record industry denizens -- an aging producer, his assistant, her college best friend, the producer's mentor, his wife's brother, a publicist, etc.

    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.

thebookbag.co.uk · Unknown · 2025-09-20
excellent 5.00

A Visit From the Goon Squad is a clever and entertaining collection of inter-related stories that explore time through the lens of the music industry. The book's unique structure and varied narrative styles could have been gimmicky, but Egan's engaging storytelling and memorable characters make it a terrific and enjoyable read.

A Visit From the Goon Squad is a unique and ambitious book that could have easily fallen flat due to its complex structure and varied narrative styles. However, Jennifer Egan's engaging storytelling and memorable characters make it a terrific and enjoyable read. The book is not a traditional novel but a collection of related short stories or episodes that run back and forward in time, each written in a different literary style. The stories take in many locations and time periods, from the 1970s to the near future, and each vignette is masterfully crafted to ensure the reader is engrossed in the lives of the people covered. The more you think about it, the more complex it sounds, but the reading experience is actually totally entertaining and enthralling. It's like listening to a favorite album of beautiful songs, each story an end in itself. Egan's investigation of time includes not only the inevitable aging and looking back over the plans of youth but also the rise of technology, which is seamlessly integrated into the narrative.

Quick quotes

    The shifts in style of each chapter should be irritating but, at least to me, they aren't. They seem entirely natural.

    The stories take in many locations, from San Francisco to New York, from Naples to Africa.

    Inevitably, it kind of goes with the territory with short stories though that they always leave you wanting more, but in a good way.

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