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A review by wilycheese
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
lighthearted
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It's a meandering compilation of sad stories. Some of them are more interesting than others. They're all connected to Bennie and Sasha, but none of them really develop the characters they're about because you get singular access to one moment in their lives. I assume this is to reflect how life works sometimes, but it leaves me wondering what the author was hoping to accomplish with this book. Beauitful storytelling is a perfectly valid standalone goal, but I don't think most of these stories accomplished that.
I obviously finished the book but it felt very Catcher in the Rye, like the purpose of every character was to give the reader someone to pity and drive home a (generally obvious) lesson that people have whole lives by leering at snapshots of their troubled pasts. All of this I'm willing to chalk up to a particular work just not being my genre, but...
My biggest issue is with how hasty and sloppy the last chapter feels. It feels like it's supposed to tie everything together but there's also some pretty specific allusions to great recent historical events that make it feel like the editor made the author cut six chapters where some of that shit was explained. Like... a whole ass war that *has to take place* during the lives of every character in the book, plus some major attack in NYC specifically while most of the characters live there, is just kinda winked at in the last chapter and it comes up in NO ONE'S life in the preceeding 260 pages.
I obviously finished the book but it felt very Catcher in the Rye, like the purpose of every character was to give the reader someone to pity and drive home a (generally obvious) lesson that people have whole lives by leering at snapshots of their troubled pasts. All of this I'm willing to chalk up to a particular work just not being my genre, but...
My biggest issue is with how hasty and sloppy the last chapter feels. It feels like it's supposed to tie everything together but there's also some pretty specific allusions to great recent historical events that make it feel like the editor made the author cut six chapters where some of that shit was explained. Like... a whole ass war that *has to take place* during the lives of every character in the book, plus some major attack in NYC specifically while most of the characters live there, is just kinda winked at in the last chapter and it comes up in NO ONE'S life in the preceeding 260 pages.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Drug use