Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love Egan’s more straightforward novels, and even read and enjoyed The Candy House before this one, but found Goon Squad hard to follow. Too many perspective shifts and too difficult to keep the interconnections straight. Maybe I read it in too many sittings? Still, the writing itself is excellent.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There's been so many times I've wished that Goodreads allowed a half-star review. My more accurate review for this book is 4.5 stars.
All in all, this is an excellent book. It's marketed as a novel, but it really works more as a group of linked short stories, examining people who have touched the lives of the book's protagonists (Bennie and Sasha, listed in the summary blurb). Despite that, it covers a wide range of times and places, spanning from the early 1980s to the future in 2021. All of the characters are complex, engaging, and full-bodied; while there were some I liked and some I hated, all of them felt very real. What really sells this collection for me is the tightness of the interconnected short stories; tiny details would transfer from one story to the next, charged objects would appear in multiple stories, characters would drift in and out of each story, and ideas would transfer over. All of this cross-over allowed for a tightly woven piece of fiction, and made all of the ideas and objects that transferred throughout that much more meaningful and charged. Additionally, Egan experiments (successfully) with story form throughout, which was fun and interesting to read.
My .5 take-off is for the final story, which was the only one that I didn't enjoy. Set in 2021, it's a futuristic look at where the characters we've spent the book getting to know will end up. It's the only one of the stories that felt preachy, almost condescending, and the one time that I felt like Egan's overlying theme ("Time's a goon.") fell flat instead of hitting its mark. It was made almost worse by the fact that I very much enjoyed the book up until this point; a flat ending after such great work felt like a slap in the face.
Despite that, I would still highly recommend the book - even if, like me, you don't enjoy the final story, the rest is still very much worth reading.
All in all, this is an excellent book. It's marketed as a novel, but it really works more as a group of linked short stories, examining people who have touched the lives of the book's protagonists (Bennie and Sasha, listed in the summary blurb). Despite that, it covers a wide range of times and places, spanning from the early 1980s to the future in 2021. All of the characters are complex, engaging, and full-bodied; while there were some I liked and some I hated, all of them felt very real. What really sells this collection for me is the tightness of the interconnected short stories; tiny details would transfer from one story to the next, charged objects would appear in multiple stories, characters would drift in and out of each story, and ideas would transfer over. All of this cross-over allowed for a tightly woven piece of fiction, and made all of the ideas and objects that transferred throughout that much more meaningful and charged. Additionally, Egan experiments (successfully) with story form throughout, which was fun and interesting to read.
My .5 take-off is for the final story, which was the only one that I didn't enjoy. Set in 2021, it's a futuristic look at where the characters we've spent the book getting to know will end up. It's the only one of the stories that felt preachy, almost condescending, and the one time that I felt like Egan's overlying theme ("Time's a goon.") fell flat instead of hitting its mark. It was made almost worse by the fact that I very much enjoyed the book up until this point; a flat ending after such great work felt like a slap in the face.
Despite that, I would still highly recommend the book - even if, like me, you don't enjoy the final story, the rest is still very much worth reading.
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So many deeply affecting stories in this collection. Hard to imagine this having the same impact if I read it at 20 vs my early forties. Many of these characters have followed a series of choices down a line and find themselves wishing they could go back to a moment in their youth before so much was irrevocably decided. A lot of heartbreaking but hopeful stuff.
The writing is excellent, as are the intertwining lives of the characters. However, I disliked nearly every character so had trouble enjoying the book.
it’s hard for me to word my appreciation for this book. So much is said about the lives of these characters with particular, subtle stories — it all just feels so real, and it reminds me of David Mitchell’s writing (one of my favorite authors). In a stunningly introspective way, the reader feels the passing of time with the characters. This story is one that is natural, quirky, and unexpectedly heartbreaking.
adventurous
dark
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes