Terry Reviews: A Visit from the Goon Squad

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This month I am recommending A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. This book won all sorts of critical praise and book awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and in my opinion it deserves them all. A really different and compelling novel, it is constructed of parts that do not proceed in a linear fashion or even follow any single narrator or narrative line. The story jumps around all over the place with different characters who are connected in one way or another and appear at different times and places throughout the novel. It is about how lives change suddenly and unexpectedly over time and nothing stays the same. I found it a fascinating read, but you have to work at it. You have to be patient and you have to understand that the payoff comes with the story told in each chapter, often unexpected, always entertaining. Even now, I am struggling to explain it and to understand parts of it. But if you like that sort of thing – and I do – this book will haunt you. View all my reviews