A Visit from the Goon Squad: Pulitzer Prize Winner

The first three chapters of this novel were short stories published in the New Yorker. Rather than excerpts from a novel-in-progress, it seems they are previously written stories inserted into a new novel. By the time we're at Chapter 3 on an African safari we're miles and decades away from the protagonist, Sasha, in the first story/chapter, and she doesn't return for the next 100 pages. This is one of the problems with "A Visit from the Goon Squad".The novel's point of view is not impressionistic so much as all over the place: authorial, first person, many third persons, second person, in and out, kaleidoscopic. This style could be viewed as edgy... or poorly constructed. Since a novel is shaped differently than a short story, inserting stories into the longer prose narrative doesn't work. It reads like a cascade of characters and odd behaviors. The lack of continuity is tiresome and all Egan's brilliant cynicism and social satire and emotional damage are sometimes simply painful. A central theme in the book is lack of impulse control, from which many of the characters suffer, some with ruinous results. But why or how is never developed. Sudden redemptions seem contrived and sentimental. The result is an absence---of deepening feeling for any character, and an absence of a protagonist or story arc whose development might move us. Even so the book is sometimes compelling because of the unique characters and their oddities and Egan's savvy, digital-age perspective on behavior and culture. And there are encapsulated moments of story which draw one in. But as a novel, it doesn't build or hold up as a whole experience. Too fragmented.For the first 175 pages, that is---it reads like a failed novel. Then it bursts into a new form that is exciting. The encapsulated moments of story are told in Power Point form, complete with bullets and arrows and shaded text boxes. It works! And is surprisingly affecting. This new format captures the changing, chaotic feelings of the four characters in this section in the way that the linear cascade of characters in the preceding prose did not. It's significant, though, that this Power Point part of the story is told from one character's point of view which solidifies and builds the emotional content. Finally the novel becomes a linear story with an arc; that is, the content is finally told from a consistent point of view and builds in a traditional novelistic fashion, even though the text on the page has visually become digital-age scattershot. It feels affecting and brilliant. Also this last third of the book takes place in the future which gives added weight to the Power Point style, making it seem more probable than gimmicky in a "the medium is the message" way. Where it fails is in descriptive passages; the text box approach totally lacks the lyricism necessary for affecting natural description. Actual photos would have been more appropriate to complete the Power Point style and to deepen the content. If the whole novel had been told in Power Point without photos it might have read like one of those teenage cell phone novels. Perhaps all the preceding chapters of "old-fashioned" prose created a foundation for the Power Point section to work as well as it did.The biggest problem with the book is the insertion of Chapters 2 and 3, Egan's formerly published short stories, which seem to serve only the purpose of padding the length. Chapter 3 was totally irrelevant to the story.Also, there is an irony in the old-fashioned elements in Egan's experimentation. A 1960s Marshall McCluhan concept is central to Egan's 2010 style in the Power Point section. And overall, this is a "novel of ideas", a 19th century type of book, complete with an underlying morality and a tidying of loose ends. And it is sometimes dry and contrived as such novels are.On the positive side, however, Egan may be a visionary and Power Point and Cell Phone novels will be the future of the form. Just as it's impossibly boring to read Flaubert's three-page description of a ball gown in "A Sentimental Education" now that TV has made the image familiar in a nanosecond to all social classes; reading a 20th century novel may be impossibly boring to the internet-bred generations growing up now. Egan addresses this with skill and imagination in her last futuristic chapters. Despite and because of its problems, Egan's experiment is an exceptional read.

It’s hard to review this book without considering that it won the Pulitzer prize. In some ways, the Pulitzer is a double-edged sword. It’s prestigious and it boosts sales. But it also creates in readers certain expectations. And when these expectations are not met, readers lash out, as indicated by some of the negative comments in the most critical reviews on this site.Egan is a great writer and I give this book 4 stars, mainly for the excellent prose. Although this is not the first novel of interrelated short stories, it’s certainly innovative, has some interesting characters and stories, and is thought-provoking to a certain extent. That said, I too had issues that would have been less remarkable had the novel not won the Pulitzer.My favorite chapter involves a down on his luck musician paying a visit to a successful music producer. Years ago, the two were in a punk band together.“And behind Bennie’s smile the fear was still there: that I’d tracked him down to snatch away these gifts life had shoveled upon him, wipe them out in a few emphatic seconds. This made me want to scream with laughter: Hey “buddy,” don’t you get it? There’s nothing you have that I don’t have!.... But two thoughts distracted me as I stood there, smelling Bennie’s fear: (1) I didn’t have what Bennie had. (2) He was right.”And there are impressive descriptive passages throughout the novel:“Ted began to walk, still dazed, until he found himself among a skein of backstreets so narrow they felt dark. He passed churches blistered with grime, moldering palazzi whose squalid interiors leaked sounds of wailing cats and children.”“I’ve never seen San Francisco from so high up: it’s a soft blue-black, with colored lights and fog like gray smoke. Long piers reach out into the flat dark bay.”The writing is beyond reproach. As for my “issues,” in one chapter, an actress is hired by a PR consultant to help with the image of a genocidal dictator who resembles Idi Amin. It’s a little quirky, but I’m ok with it. Until the actress travels to the country in question and actually confronts the genocidal dictator by asking: “is this where you bury the bodies?.....or do you burn them first?” Not realistic and doesn’t work as satire either. I found it plain weird.Then there is the man who reflects on a date with a woman 15 years in the past and cannot recall whether or not they had sexual relations. What?! Men tend to remember details like that.In another chapter, a man travels to Africa with his daughter and girlfriend who are about the same age. It’s a strong chapter with many interesting characters and interpersonal/family dynamics. We are told early on that the man “is a record producer whose personal life is of general interest, those near enough to hear are listening closely.” Really? Last I checked, music producers are not celebrities. (Even when the Beatles were at the height of their fame, how many people would recognize George Martin walking down the street, let alone care about his personal life?)Now these are admittedly minor flaws in a complex and ambitious novel, but for me they stuck out. A bigger issue is the phrase “time’s a goon.” It comes up more than once in the book. And is uttered by different characters. If it had only been said once and by one character, the reader could interpret it as the author’s clever/literary way of letting the reader know that the character saying it is a nut job. But since the phrase is repeated and referenced in the title, this strongly suggests that the author was going for something bigger.I’m going to be blunt and say what I suspect many other readers privately thought but were too polite to say: “Tme’s a goon” is dumb. (It even sounds dumb.) Moreover, when subject to serious analysis, it doesn’t hold up. Someone can be beaten up by a goon (or even a goon squad) and make a full recovery. However, we do not recover from the ravages of time.There may very well be many readers, critics, and members of the Pulitzer committee who disagree and thought “Time’s a goon” is brilliant, the greatest line in literature since “time is the fire in which we burn.” But somehow I don’t think so.The Delmore Schwartz line above was used effectively in the movie “Star Trek Generations.” A deranged scientist named Tolian Soran (portrayed by Malcolm McDowell) says to Captain Picard (portrayed by Patrick Stewart) early in the film, “they say time is the fire in which we burn.” Imagine how Soran would have reacted if Picard had replied: “You’re wrong, doctor. Time is a goon.” I suspect Soran’s reaction would have been an expression of bewilderment mixed with anger followed by rage and then physical violence.When the novel came out, there was some speculation that the title was a reference to the Elvis Costello song “Goon Squad,” featured on the 1979 album Armed Forces. My understanding is this was pure coincidence. But it got me thinking. What is a better contribution to art? Jennifer Egan’s Pulitzer-prize-winning work of literary fiction A Visit From the Goon Squad or Elvis Costello’s rock album Armed Forces, which in addition to “Goon Squad” contains other gems such as “Accidents Will Happen,” “Oliver’s Army,” and “Green Shirt.”If we consider creative use of the English language for purposes of storytelling, I’ll give it to Egan. On the other hand, if we consider originality, wit, passion, combined with the ability to create something memorable that moves people, it’s Elvis Costello hands down. And I have a tough time wrapping my head around that. It raises an interesting question: is fine art overrated?If this book had not won the Pulitzer, I wouldn’t be so critical of what I consider its shortcomings. I would simply say: This is a good book. Not without flaws to be sure, but innovative, interesting, challenging, ambitious, thought-provoking, and extremely well written.

One of the best books I have ever read. Story. Style. Beat. Amazing.

Complexo, deliciosamente bem escrito. Te leva para situações tão especificas que ao mesmo tendo se desdobram em realidades mundanas. Amei. Definitivamente foi reler

Loooved it! Insights on pop culture and Life are priceless. One of my all time favourite books.

This is one of the best books I have read. It is a masterpiece. She doesn't get the credit she deserves. Her writing is magical, tough, characters are brilliantly drawn and she captures the craziness of life. All in one.

Para mi mujer. Yo no lo he leído. Pero le he preguntado por el libro y me ha dicho que está genial y no me ha querido contar nada porque quiere que yo también lo lea.Así que fue todo un acierto. Por algo tiene varios premios