A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan

A Visit from the Goon Squad

By Jennifer Egan

  • Release Date: 2010-06-08
  • Genre: Literary Fiction
Score: 4
4
From 1,636 Ratings

Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE WINNER With music pulsing on every page, this startling, exhilarating novel of self-destruction and redemption “features characters about whom you come to care deeply as you watch them doing things they shouldn't, acting gloriously, infuriatingly human” (The Chicago Tribune).

One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years • A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of the Century • A Los Angeles Times Best Fiction Book of the Last 30 Years

Bennie is an aging former punk rocker and record executive. Sasha is the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Here Jennifer Egan brilliantly reveals their pasts, along with the inner lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs.

“Pitch perfect . . . Darkly, rippingly funny . . . Egan possesses a satirist’s eye and a romance novelist’s heart.”—The New York Times Book Review

Reviews

  • Did Not Finish

    2
    By BigAppleGreg
    As a middle aged person who is going through a mid life crisis (not sure on those counts, but bought a Range Rover and am unemployed), I found this too much of a downer. The generational layer story may have been fresh in 2010, but the Manhattan (not Brooklyn) entertainment executive who moves to the suburbs, with a coke habit, infidelity, Porsche, etc., is a tired trope in 2025. The recent book by the ‘Fleishman’s in Trouble’ read just like this - bizarre tragedies scattered amuck. Seems Brooklyn authors have it out for Manhattanites no matter the decade, though I did move from Greenwich Village to Connecticut and need a new housekeeper and landscaper - woe is me, but especially to the characters in this book.
  • Loved it

    5
    By benjii666
    Best book ever
  • An excellent read

    5
    By tcanread
    This book was fantastic. The stories fit together in such a clever way, the character development is notable and the entire book was very enjoyable. Highly recommend.
  • What a Great Introduction to Egan’s Writing

    5
    By Mpohara
    This poignant, beautifully written novel took me back to my youth and then thrust me back to the present because, after all, I grew up.
  • Great

    5
    By cpowell99998
    Very good
  • Amazing writing and characters

    4
    By Auggie's Man
    Loved this book. As I typically read at bedtime it took a lot to put it aside and actually get sleep!
  • Terrible from beginning to end

    1
    By jess hays
    Possibly the most terrible book I’ve ever forced myself to finish
  • A visit from the goon squad

    5
    By Eva Palomares
    Remarkable! Intense! Full of surprises.
  • A worthy read.

    5
    By Hitchens76
    A rewarding read. Accessible, thoughtful, cleverly constructed and heartfelt.
  • One of my favorites

    5
    By brunaalice
    Read this a few years back, and I still think of this book fondly. I loved how the story was told through different characters who were all somehow interconnected.