needed a map

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: Is it a novel? Short stories? A series of linked vignettes? A novel in stories?  Does it matter?  Not to me.  Call it what you will, A Visit from the Goon Squad is an excellent reading experience.  The goon squad of the title is time, and the chapters collectively tell a story of how time sometimes heals all wounds and sometimes ravages.

In 13 chapters, Egan gives us 13 characters, all of whom are linked to either Sasha or Bennie.  In the first chapter, we are introduced to Sasha, the 20-something assistant to bennie, a music producer whose career may or may not be coming to an end.  Bennie gets the next chapter, but at a very different time of his life.  Rhea knew Bennie in high school, which is when she met Lou, who got Bennie started in the industry.  And it goes on from there, with characters weaving in and out of each other's lives, and the story weaving back and forth in time.

I literally needed a map to keep everyone and their assorted connections straight in my head, but it was worth it.  Give this book to fans of everything from David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas to The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides.