A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (2010)

The world of the music business and nearby planets explored through looking deep into the lives and multiple times of the people who inhabit them.

Book Review:  A Visit from the Goon Squad  by Jennifer Egan is creatively written, but not so radical that it's not an enjoyable read. With its bouncing timeline, the Pulitzer winner explores the past, present, and future (literally) with humor and a wide cast of characters, and addresses how we live in all at the same time. Some characters are better realized than others and there are occasional (perhaps inevitable) meanders, but in the end A Visit from the Goon Squad hangs together sufficiently that it works as a deliciously satisfying reading experience. Jennifer Egan has melded a series of short stories and more or less related characters into a single mosaic whole. I enjoyed the roller coaster ride and the mental challenges she threw at us -- a welcome change to have an author who doesn't assume her readers need to be spoon fed. And to address the elephant in the pages: while I don't embrace novelistic experimentation simply for the sake of experimentation, I did enjoy the PowerPoint section -- because it worked! A Visit from the Goon Squad is a worthwhile, entertaining, and rewarding book. {Pulitzer Prize Winner 2011}[4 Stars]