A Visit From the Goon Squad

Locations
Call Number: Adult Book / Fiction / General / Egan, Jennifer, Fiction / Egan, Jennifer
On Shelf At: Pittsfield Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Egan, Jennifer	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Egan, Jennifer	4-week checkout	Due 05-23-2024
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Egan, Jennifer	4-week checkout	Due 05-20-2024
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Egan, Jennifer	4-week checkout	Due 05-20-2024
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Egan, Jennifer	4-week checkout	Due 04-27-2024
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Egan, Jennifer	4-week checkout	Due 05-05-2024
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Egan, Jennifer	4-week checkout	Due 05-01-2024
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Egan, Jennifer	4-week checkout	Due 04-21-2024

Found objects -- The gold cure -- Ask me if I care -- Safari -- You (plural) -- X's and O's -- A to B -- Selling the general -- Forty-minute lunch : Kitty Jackson opens up about love, fame, and Nixon! -- Out of body -- Good-by, my love -- Great rock and roll pauses -- Pure language.
Bennie Salazar, an aging former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs, confront their pasts in this story about how rebellion ages, influence corrupts, habits turn to addictions, lifelong friendships fluctuate and turn, and how art and music have the power to redeem. -- Publisher description

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Time is a Goon submitted by eringogreen on July 3, 2011, 11:44am The thing I like about this book is the roller coaster it puts you on. Each chapter is told from a different point of view and a different time, never chronological. At the end of each chapter, you're left wanting to know more about the character that was narrating it and angry it's over, so you continue to the next chapter, disappointed realizing you're not going to get your answers here, but then you go through it all again and feel connected to THAT character.

It reminded me of LOST (the TV show) a little bit in that sense. You kind of have your flashbacks and your flashforwards and you're left with questions that you know are not going to be answered in the next episode (or chapter), but the difference is that in Goon Squad, Egan doesn't leave you feeling like a fool for following her on the journey. It does go somewhere and for the most part, your questions will be answered.

yuck submitted by unknown on August 31, 2011, 6:14pm could not get into this book

Not my thing submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on August 26, 2013, 10:21am This reads more like a series of interconnected short stories, jumping around in time, than like a novel. It feels more like an experiment in storytelling than a STORY, if you know what I mean. Kind of interesting, but I'm be glad to be done with it.

Wow! intelligent and interesting novel submitted by 21621031390949 on August 11, 2016, 9:10pm Wow. This is the most intricate, intelligent, and interesting novels I've read in a long time.

This is a book that needs to be read in print. I first listened to the recorded version of the book and knew it was really good, but found it confusing. The story follows the story lines of several different characters, some of whom cross paths; it also goes back and forth in time with only subtle indication of the time period. When listening to a recorded book, one is often multi-tasking and not paying full attention. This is a book that requires your attention. The writing requires you to think and to put 2 and 2 together; everything isn't laid out in an obvious fashion. So when I finished the recorded book, I knew I'd "read" something really good but was missing some connections.

I immediately headed to the library and checked out the printed version, which I devoured quickly, and now I can see how well-constructed it is. Plus, I discovered that a long chapter (pages 176 to 251) was actually written in a graphic style that loses much when translated to an audio-only format. Finally, the jacket cover of the hardcover version gives enough of the story format to prepare the reader for the time jumps, which is not provided in the audio version. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

I highly recommend this book as well-written, interesting, and entertaining. I also recommend that you read it rather than listen to it.

Experimental Storytelling Pays Off submitted by lcbuday on August 19, 2018, 1:53pm Reading A Visit From the Goon Squad was an experience that I have to imagine as being incredibly similar to parking a time machine in a very specific moment, removing the parking brake, and letting it slide briefly in and out of all the moments directly connected to that one. I realize that's quite a wild comparison, but then wasn't this novel like the wildest of rides, simultaneously surreal and hyper-realistic? Egan's writing evokes Roth's famous idea that real life is stranger than fiction, largely by writing fiction so strange that it seems more real than anything.

It's two in the morning, so none of this probably makes any sense. The important part is that I loved it, and that reading it made me feel like I had escaped that goon called time, if only for the hours it takes to experience a novel.

Time Goes By And . . . . submitted by kath on August 24, 2020, 11:11pm This book cleverly weaves together the stories of several characters lives over time - like many short stories. It revolves around a band and the manager as they move forward in time and age (who would imagine I would end up like this?) marry, have kids, divorce, have more kids, live their lives. There is an interesting graphic section that is unexpected.

4+ I do like her wild stories submitted by flemingj on July 24, 2021, 11:54am I can totally see that this book might not be for everyone. I’ve not yet found a book by her I didn’t like.

A perfect book for a GenX reader, but others will like it too! submitted by TeacherN on July 30, 2021, 9:07am There's not much more to say that hasn't been said already. I really enjoyed this book - the intertwining stories, the going back and forth in time, the interesting characters, and different points of view. Time's a goon!

Interesting submitted by lizgiessner on August 17, 2023, 4:24pm I thought this book was interesting and well-written. It's mostly about change, and the experimentation with style and voices was effective.