jennifer egan a visit from the goon squad review

The 'goon' in the title of this book is time. And yet, how things are right now will determine how they are in the future. Things will never be like they are right now. and less, like mkg m3 gs thngs wr gng.Spoiler alert: You will get old. I wanted this book to do more of just Saying. All we've got are metaphors, and they're never exactly right. I found this ironic when, near the end of the book, one character says this:

But the telling of the story interfered with the story itself. There were many, many paragraphs and insights that work. In fact, there may have been no difference at all.” 'I felt no shame in these activities, because I understood what almost no one else seemed to grasp: that there was only an infinitesimal difference, a difference so small that it barely existed except as a figment of the human imagination, between working in a tall green glass building on Park Avenue and collecting litter in a park. Ha! Yes, I think future generations will scorn the tattoos of their parents in the same way beehive hairstyles went out of vogue (for a while!).Īt one point a character is talking about his life as a janitor and comparing his situation to that of his friend who works in an executive office: And who could blame them, Alex thought, after watching three generations of flaccid tattoos droop like moth-eaten upholstery over poorly stuffed biceps and saggy asses?' “She was clean: no piercings, tattoos, or scarifications. I have been on the receiving end of those calls!

“Everybody sounds stoned, because they're e-mailing people the whole time they're talking to you.'ĭefinitely. However, since I've never written a prize-winning novel or prize-winning anything, I should at least point out the redeeming parts.įirst, the characters make some funny social commentary: Clever and, for a powerpoint, the slides look pretty good. “th blu nyt th stRs u can't c th hum tht nevr gOs awy”Īt one point a 12-year-old girl weighs in on her family situation via a powerpoint presentation. In another part of the novel two characters communicate via text and so the reader is subjected to this kind of dialog/punctuation: The writing was good, sometimes great, but the structure was ridiculously convoluted, the characters were largely unsympathetic, and many of the literary devices felt forced.Ĭoming off of last week's fantastic read, this book was a chore.įor instance, one character like goes like this and then like the other character is like no way, like really? The cover brags about the dozen awards and those judging panels couldn't be wrong, right? After all, this book won the Pulitzer Prize in 2010. I picked up A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan with high hopes.

Jennifer egan a visit from the goon squad review