Reviews with content warning for Drug use - A Visit from the Goon Squad

Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

36 reviews

pirate's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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meliemelo's review against another edition

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challenging tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

It took me a while to get into it, and had I stopped a few chapters in, my overall impression would be that I didn't like it. I did however come to admire at least the form, the effort in trying different styles and ideas (one chapter towards the end comes to mind especially). Once I saw what the author was trying to do, I appreciated it much more, even though I still found it all a tad too bleak for me.

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gwendle_vs_literature's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I bought this not knowing what it was — it was one of those “blind dates with a book” where you get it wrapped on brown paper with a vague description on the outside and pay a fraction of the normal cover price. It’s the first time I’ve actually been interested enough to buy one. It was described as “Dubliners for the digital age”, and it lived up to that.

This is an excellent book. It reads more like a collection of short stories, with each chapter focused on a different character, but the way they all weave together and connect in the end is really impressive and beautiful, and by the time I’d finished it I understood why it’s billed as a novel.

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hinkleh's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.25

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A Visit from the Goon Squad seemed like a simple read - but it was a bit like an onion in that it had many layers. At first I thought it was a collection of short stories. Then I realised there were loose connections between them. Then I picked up on the record album structure (clever since our key characters are very involved in the music industry) where the sum is often greater than the parts. And then I got on board with the whole pauses in songs/power of what isn’t said analogy which added another layer of depth. I was impressed by the different voices and styles, and especially the chapter told entirely in PowerPoint - always nice to see something unique. Self-destructive characters can irk me and I was definitely irked at times here. But I was interested and invested in the overall theme of time and how it changed the characters, which allowed me to better tolerate their self-destructive phases.

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