Book Review #772 - A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

A Visit from the Goon Squad captures the moment where lives interact, and where fortunes ebb and flow. Egan depicts with elegant prose and often heart-wrenching simplicity, the sad consequences for those who couldn't fake it during their wild youth - madness suicide or prison - in this captivating, wryly, humorous story of temptation and loss.

My Rating: 4/5

I read this book for my 1001 Book Challenge and it is also the third book I have read that has won the Pullitzer Prize.

This is the most unique styled book I have ever read. It is so unconventional but it has a really engaging story and realistic characters that make it work.

When I first picked this book up I was really confused and put it down after two chapters however when I picked it up and started from the beginning the very next day I flew through it.

The nonlinear style frustrated me whilst reading it but once I finished it all kind of clicked and I completely understood that it could not have been written any other way.

There aren't any main characters in this book. There is more an ensemble of amazing characters all of whom have such distinct, unique individual voices and I found it amazing that they were all written by the same author.

Music is one of the main themes of the book (time being the other major theme) and is the conduit used to show the passing of time or reversal of time in each story.

This is the first modern book I have read from the 1001 Books list and whilst I had to struggle through it at times I definitely do not regret finishing it.

One thing that I didn't like about this book was the fact that it jumped back and forwards in time with no warning or awareness of what direction it did. I would have liked chapter headings to stipulate this. I know the author used this to surprise the reader as to the passing of time but this would have eliminated the majority of my confusion and frustration whilst reading.

Just when I thought this book could not get any more unconventional, chapter 12 was told entirely in powerpoint and also told from the future both of which I liked and found an intriguing method for an otherwise contemporary book.