A Visit from the Goon Squad (2010)

Because of Book Riot, this book has been on my radar for a little while. Not wishlist radar, but in my awareness and so when it came up for $5 on audible.com, I decided to go for it. Luckily some good soul warned us listeners that the penultimate chapter was quite visual; a diary in PowerPoint (with audio of all things) and I read that chapter on my PC. Listened to it, too. The opinion of David Bowie’s pause doesn’t sit right with me.

Anyway, I’ve read a few books that are made up of interconnected stories to form a whole narrative, but they’re pretty hit or miss for me. Some of the interconnections are so loose that they might as well be separate short stories. Sometimes the voices of the narrators are too similar to provide distinction or believability. Egan avoids both of those pitfalls. Sure, sometimes it took me a little while to place the new main character into context from what came before, but when it slipped into place, I connected the threads just fine. And there were gleaming chunks of closure along the way that kept me satisfied with the story despite its disconnected delivery.

Not everyone is likable, but almost everyone was mysterious and most are memorable. Sasha and Rob are disturbed and manifest anti-social symptoms, but only one survives. The whole deal with The General. Jules Jones’s story I found quite tedious, but it had flashes of amusement amongst the reach to justify his actions. Scottie and Bosco were good examples of how life can chew a person up. Kitty, too for that matter; what made her so reckless and erratic? Lulu gave me the creeps.

In execution and content, it’s a bit trendy. I can see how a lot of the music references and especially the club and scene references would go over a lot of heads. Some went over mine, for sure, but enough were direct hits that I got a tiny bit nostalgic. I guess I got a visit from the titular goon, after all. ( )

I was probably not in the right mood, did not have my gead entirely with the book while I was reading it, or a combination of these reasons, because I did not really like the book. During the first few chapters it was okay, I was thinking I just needed to get the hang of it (the story, the style of writing), but when I read on, I didn't find that 'hang'.
As a result, I have no idea what I've read, why these stories were told and what I can say about it.
For me a rather pointless read. But... another one off the list :-) ( )

This subtly woven together novel comprised of short stories has two characters at its core -- aging punk rocker and music mogul, Bennie, and his kleptomaniac assistant, Sasha, as well as an assortment of interconnected characters. The stories range in style and tone, with one surprising story told entirely as a PowerPoint presentation. Somehow, despite the vast differences in each of the stories, it still feels novel-ish, especially since each story maintains the thematic arc with a look at time's effects, the way life continues as constant change.

I had mixed feelings about this book after I finished it. I enjoyed the writing for the most part and a part of me liked it, but I didn't connect with it on an emotional level. I didn't necessarily like or relate to any of the characters. Also, since I knew the stories were connected, it sometimes took me a while to figure out who the character is and how they are connected to previous characters, so that pulled me out of the story a bit at first.

A friend pointed to a podcast that explores the book (this link also includes a video of Egan discussing her PowerPoint chapter/story), which helped me gain a greater appreciation for how all the stories connected together. There are so many more connections that I thought there were on the first read through. Egan's writing is rather subtle and the interconnections of characters, time, and place were far greater than I expected. The book as a whole is rather intelligently put together, though for me it still lacks that emotional connection I hope for in a book. However, I'd be interested in reading this again, if only to see if I can catch more of the subtle interconnections within the story. ( )

A group of linked stories, many of which are about a woman named Sasha. They're all entertaining, some more than others. There are themes of being authentic and true to yourself in a lot of them, but that just didn't speak to me - either I'm already living authentically or I'm a phony, I guess. Anyway, I didn't love it. It started out fine but became a chore to finish. I think part of it was that the trajectory of her life seemed disappointing to me (marriage and kids, and the Powerpoint diary of one of them was just tiresome and gimmicky.) Maybe the bigger problem was that a big issue of hers introduced in the first story (her stealing) never really got explained, unless I missed something, which is certainly possible.

Edited a few days later to add: Okay, I listened to this podcast of people discussing it and it reminded me of many of the book's subtler points, including maybe an explanation of her stealing, and it made me realize there were a lot of things I like about it. So, it gets another star. It really is a book that works best if you read it in one go, instead of a little every day, as I did. http://fuzzytypewriter.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/ft-podcast-fuzzy-typewriter-book... ( )

This relatively breezy read took more effort to get through than I ever would have expected. I can't fault it for structural cleverness (interconnected stories with a temporal sweep of approximately 50 years), literary craft (Egan seems to go out of her way to display multiple points of view and storytelling styles), or theme (we were all once young and gave almost no thought to those older than us, and we all become old and are bewildered by those younger than us). The literary world got very excited by the book and bestowed upon it the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In circumstances like this, I am always confused by why the magic failed to work on me, and thus my review of the book tends to feel more like a series of excuses than a proper critique.

Still, no reader is here to agree with the majority opinion, and I am not rejecting the book outright and claiming it lacks many of the qualities others might marshal in defense of its greatness. Perhaps I expected too much, as I never really considered reading the book until after it had done gathering in its accolades, so I was primed for a Really Great Read. What I got was, in my opinion, a Sometimes-Good Read that had untapped potential to be more the kind of book I might wholeheartedly endorse.

Perhaps the key to my dissatisfaction comes in the way the book has been presented. It is no secret that this is a book of short stories, not a novel. As such, it has no chance of immersing readers in the transcendental manner of a novel. No sooner is a character introduced and lightly explored than he or she is shuttled aside and we start again. True, the connections are all there, and one can play the spot-the-linkage game throughout the book, but that comes to feel more like a pastime once it becomes clear that we will never once circle back for greater continuity on any of these stories. Here is Sasha when she's relatively young, and there she is in a supporting role of Benny's story, and here she is in college, and there she goes in her precollege days that we heard a bit about, and then she's spotted in the oft-referenced story told in Powerpoint, and finally she's hovering as a figment of recollection in the final tale. Yet for all that, she becomes only slightly more of a fully realized character than she was in the one story in which she is the main character. Some of her traits and tendencies are explained, and we're given some clue about her future, but all I know about this character after all that is she has some sadness in her and is hard to know.

It does not surprise me to discover that HBO is developing the book as a series, because the elements of television are all there. The stories have a variety of interesting settings and numerous characters that will probably benefit more from being embodied than they were in being described. There are anecdotes and flashbacks set within the plot structure of the stories too, so the screenwriters and directors can have fun with that. But more to the point, what I found is that there is a superficiality to the characters and their plights that have more in common with TV than with books. The sentimentality of many of the stories might resonate with viewing audiences. The lingering images that stand in for understanding or revelation will convince those that see them that something important and moving has been communicated.

Most of my criticisms apply to the collection as a whole or to a select few stories that felt overperformed (the Powerpoint story is animated by nothing more than rock critic obsession and Hallmarkian family sweetness). Some of them worked well on their own terms, and I would have welcomed additional stories that stuck with these characters and drew me into their world more fully. I have considered and reconsidered the reductive rating I'd give this book, but finally arrived at one that is lower than I expected it to be. It's a rating informed by my experience of the book, not by a more objective reckoning. If this book were being graded for its themes and experimentation, it would definitely earn higher marks. But quite honestly, this book irritated me as much as--perhaps more than--it entertained and informed me, and therefore I can't say that I liked it. I will remember it, and I might even reconsider it at a future date, but right now I'm just glad it's over. ( )