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A review by jsingh
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
3.75/5
This was an interesting read! I agree with a lot of the 3-star comments here. I picked up this book because it won a Pulitzer Prize. Egan can certainly write well. I wish there was a more contiguous plot, however. I left the book wondering what I was supposed to learn from it all. I loved certain stories more than others - I think my favorite was that of La Doll/Dolly. What a nickname!
Below are some of my favorite quotes:
"I made Jocelyn repeat each detail of the story until I knew everything she knew...so we could be equal again." (1:28:32)
"Marty plugs in his violin and we launch into our best song: "What the fu$k?"" (1:31:08).
"Jocelyn and I shriek and hug onto Benny, which, for me, is like touching something electrical—his actual body in my arms. I remember every hug I've given him. I learn one thing each time..." (1:38:39).
"'The world is full of sh&theads, Rhea. Don't listen to them. Listen to me.' And I know that Lou is one of those sh&theads, but I listen." (1:59:08)
"Rolf imagines sharks just under his feet, but he doesn't turn or look back. He keeps swimming toward that white sand, knowing instinctively that his struggle to stay afloat is the most exquisite torture he can concoct for his father." (2:46:45)
"Lou and Mindy dance close together...but Mindy is thinking of Albert, as she will periodically after marrying Lou and having two daughters—his fifth and sixth children—in quick succession as if sprinting against the inevitable drift of his attention." (2:52:16)
"In the Volvo, Stephanie slipped an advanced copy of Bosco's new album 'A to B' into the CD player out of some sense that in doing so, she was strengthening her alibi." (4:12:26)
"She'd thought that because she could do something very very well, namely, get the best people into one room at one time, she could do other things well too—like design. And La Doll had had a vision: broad, translucent trays of oil and water suspended beneath small, brightly colored spotlights whose heat would make the opposing liquids twist and bubble and swirl. She'd imagined people craning their necks to look up, spellbound by the shifting liquid shapes...they began to collapse...sending scalding oil onto the heads of every glamorous person in the country, and some other countries too." (4:55:19)
"Jarred once again by [Sasha's] memory, Ted felt the pressure that arose in him when he tried to talk about his work, a confusion about what could have driven him to disappoint his parents and rack up mountainous debt, so he could write a dissertation claiming (in breathless tones that embarrassed his now) that Cezane's distinctive brushstrokes were an effort to represent sound, namely, in his summer landscapes, the hypnotic chant of locusts." (7:54:48)
This was an interesting read! I agree with a lot of the 3-star comments here. I picked up this book because it won a Pulitzer Prize. Egan can certainly write well. I wish there was a more contiguous plot, however. I left the book wondering what I was supposed to learn from it all. I loved certain stories more than others - I think my favorite was that of La Doll/Dolly. What a nickname!
Below are some of my favorite quotes:
"I made Jocelyn repeat each detail of the story until I knew everything she knew...so we could be equal again." (1:28:32)
"Marty plugs in his violin and we launch into our best song: "What the fu$k?"" (1:31:08).
"Jocelyn and I shriek and hug onto Benny, which, for me, is like touching something electrical—his actual body in my arms. I remember every hug I've given him. I learn one thing each time..." (1:38:39).
"'The world is full of sh&theads, Rhea. Don't listen to them. Listen to me.' And I know that Lou is one of those sh&theads, but I listen." (1:59:08)
"Rolf imagines sharks just under his feet, but he doesn't turn or look back. He keeps swimming toward that white sand, knowing instinctively that his struggle to stay afloat is the most exquisite torture he can concoct for his father." (2:46:45)
"Lou and Mindy dance close together...but Mindy is thinking of Albert, as she will periodically after marrying Lou and having two daughters—his fifth and sixth children—in quick succession as if sprinting against the inevitable drift of his attention." (2:52:16)
"In the Volvo, Stephanie slipped an advanced copy of Bosco's new album 'A to B' into the CD player out of some sense that in doing so, she was strengthening her alibi." (4:12:26)
"She'd thought that because she could do something very very well, namely, get the best people into one room at one time, she could do other things well too—like design. And La Doll had had a vision: broad, translucent trays of oil and water suspended beneath small, brightly colored spotlights whose heat would make the opposing liquids twist and bubble and swirl. She'd imagined people craning their necks to look up, spellbound by the shifting liquid shapes...they began to collapse...sending scalding oil onto the heads of every glamorous person in the country, and some other countries too." (4:55:19)
"Jarred once again by [Sasha's] memory, Ted felt the pressure that arose in him when he tried to talk about his work, a confusion about what could have driven him to disappoint his parents and rack up mountainous debt, so he could write a dissertation claiming (in breathless tones that embarrassed his now) that Cezane's distinctive brushstrokes were an effort to represent sound, namely, in his summer landscapes, the hypnotic chant of locusts." (7:54:48)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use
Moderate: Sexual content