Reviews - A Visit from the Goon Squad

6.4k reviews for:

A Visit from the Goon Squad

Jennifer Egan

3.71 AVERAGE

katmichie's review against another edition

4.0

This was great. I love the way it all weaves together. I took too long to read this and I'm thinking about immediately rereading it to remember how all the characters tie together.

mochageek's review against another edition

4.0

Maybe even a 3.5.
The book went on for way longer than it should and if I'm honest, I was way too invested in Sasha to really care about the other characters. She was too center stage in a book that was supposed to be focusing on so many characters

nallsop's review against another edition

2.0

Ugh, really? I started reading this book expecting something that had an INTERESTING and cohesive story. I was really disappointed. All of the chapters are disjointed and you are still getting introductions to new characters more than halfway through the book, really? Now - if you look at this as a collection of short stories, that is different. But anyway, even though some of the subject matter is intriguing, I was never really interested or invested in any of the characters. They were all flat. I'm hard pressed to understand why this book has so many accolades. If people are so hyped about it because one of the chapters is told using only PowerPoint slides (while that may be a new idea) that does not make up for the rest of the book!

billieqvam's review against another edition

4.25

reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

ehoefler's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed the experimental nature of the structure, and I didn't find it to be experimentation merely for the sake of experimentation. It's more like a collection of short stories, each with a different focus and approach, but each commenting on and developing characters and themes in the others. The writing is strong--some of the sections are beautiful, poignant, and insightful. And even though I didn't get to know the characters as well as I would like--partly due to the limited time spent on each, partly due to the added difficulty the form added to the hard task of letting a character grow in your mind--they still felt like they had lives of their own, of which I was offered a glimpse. There was humor in here, also, though overall the theme is a heavy one to carry through all of those sections: the hopeless--and hopelessly nostalgic--longing for what could have been and suffering over the ravages of time. Still, I applaud the language and the experimentation.

priyasusannah's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional funny 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

I loved exploring these characters and their complicated web of lives so much. Everything about this book is beautiful and exciting. Energetic and devastating all at once.

jen1011's review against another edition

1.0

This book was OK. It was told from the viewpoints of many different characters, and the style of writing varied from character to character (including one very odd chapter of Powerpoint slides). It was an interesting way to tell a story, but I found it disjointing and a bit jarring. I did not particularly care about most of the characters. There were a few who were interesting, but mostly just meh.