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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There are books I read for the characters and books I read for the writing. I am still undecided about this one. The shifting storyteller was a nice touch, so were the intertwined stories and the fact that most of them we saw through. It was a bit difficult to follow everything and care about most of the people floating about.
The first book I've read in a long time that I would recommend without reservation. I loved it!
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The kind of book I want to write, if I can even dream of that.
loved the web of characters and reading about their failures (and successes). free the women in this book #LoveLoses
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Jennifer Egan’s experimental and brilliant book, A Visit From the Goon Squad came out in 2010. I hesitate to call it a novel – although it was marketed as one – because it seems to lie half way between a novel and a collection of short stories. I would probably call it a collection of interconnected short stories – but I suppose if Egan had called it that, perhaps less people would have bought it. And I’m not going to complain about anything that made more people read this book, because it’s strangely and thoroughly brilliant.
In the first story of the book, we meet Sasha, PA to the CEO of a record company, with an obsessive addiction to stealing. In the second we meet Bennie, Sasha’s boss. In the third we meet Rhea, a friend of Bennie’s from his days of teenager punk rock. In the fourth we meet Charlie, daughter of Lou, who is the boyfriend of an old friend of Rhea’s. And so on and so on. Each story is linked in some way to a character we’ve met or heard of before, often in the previous story. Sasha and Bennie crop up more than the rest, and threads of families and connections weave through these stories in the most incredibly exciting way.
Full review here: http://justbooksandthings.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/books-visit-from-good-squad.html
In the first story of the book, we meet Sasha, PA to the CEO of a record company, with an obsessive addiction to stealing. In the second we meet Bennie, Sasha’s boss. In the third we meet Rhea, a friend of Bennie’s from his days of teenager punk rock. In the fourth we meet Charlie, daughter of Lou, who is the boyfriend of an old friend of Rhea’s. And so on and so on. Each story is linked in some way to a character we’ve met or heard of before, often in the previous story. Sasha and Bennie crop up more than the rest, and threads of families and connections weave through these stories in the most incredibly exciting way.
Full review here: http://justbooksandthings.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/books-visit-from-good-squad.html
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“Like all failed experiments, that one taught me something I didn’t expect: one key ingredient of so-called experience is the delusional faith that it is unique and special, that those included in it are privileged and those excluded from it are missing out.”
Really kind of just a drag of a book for me. What, am I supposed to be astounded by the fact that everything is connected? The lack of character indicators at the beginning of chapters plus the sheer time it took me to finish this left me despondent since everything served to make this a hazy, unsatisfying read. I’m not really sure what the point was — that we all get old and die? Sure, I guess. This just feels like the most odd, roundabout way of saying so. Many other novels achieve this message without being as annoying or convoluted.
I don’t know, maybe I would have enjoyed this if I found any of the characters likable whatsoever, which I didn’t. A surprisingly small amount of character variation given the large cast in this novel; Egan just can’t seem to imagine more than three archetypes max. And wow, the whole “handset” and “T” thing at the end was incredibly cringe and so clearly an older person’s attempt at ridiculing a younger audience which they don’t understand or care to even try to understand. Why do so when the metaphor works better for your work anyway? At least I thrifted this book and didn’t pay full price.
Really kind of just a drag of a book for me. What, am I supposed to be astounded by the fact that everything is connected? The lack of character indicators at the beginning of chapters plus the sheer time it took me to finish this left me despondent since everything served to make this a hazy, unsatisfying read. I’m not really sure what the point was — that we all get old and die? Sure, I guess. This just feels like the most odd, roundabout way of saying so. Many other novels achieve this message without being as annoying or convoluted.
I don’t know, maybe I would have enjoyed this if I found any of the characters likable whatsoever, which I didn’t. A surprisingly small amount of character variation given the large cast in this novel; Egan just can’t seem to imagine more than three archetypes max. And wow, the whole “handset” and “T” thing at the end was incredibly cringe and so clearly an older person’s attempt at ridiculing a younger audience which they don’t understand or care to even try to understand. Why do so when the metaphor works better for your work anyway? At least I thrifted this book and didn’t pay full price.