A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD by Jennifer Egan

If you haven't noticed from my reviews on here, I'm not a huge fan of popular authors or books. I like books published by independent presses. I like authors who publish sporadically and don't churn out books on a regular basis for a check. I also tend to avoid books that gain in popularity. Between reviews and overhearing others talk about them, I usually can get the gist and when there are a bajillion other books out there to read, I'm not going to feel badly about not reading it.

The winner of last year's Pulitzer Prize, A Visit from the Goon Squad, is one of those rare books where I knew a lot of people who had read it before I did, I had read a lot about it, and I still wanted to read it. Most of the people I talked to did not like this book but for most of those folk, the reason was because they didn't like the layout of the chapters. Each chapter takes place in a different point of time and involves different characters. There's really a lack of fluidity in that regard. It's almost like a collection of short stories. However, they all tie into one another and although it really takes until the end of the novel to tie them all together, I found it satisfying and actually enjoyed the style. To me it was a bit of a puzzle to figure out how what I was reading would tie in to what I had already read.

The book is primarily about people involved in the music industry. The focus is definitely on the people with music being the bond that ties them together. It's an interesting look at how people change, what the passing of time does to us, and the power of coincidence and luck in our lives. That final aspect, luck, could be really abused by the author since she tries to tie all the loose endings together. It would have been very easy to end this book in a very sappy way. To Egan's credit, she doesn't, which I found to be much more satisfying.

I liked this book a lot but I don't expect to find it on my top ten of the year when all is said and done. I didn't think it was that great of a story. The character development is the focus and Egan is really good in that regard. The style is different although I am finding more and more books with the multiple character/time frame point of reference. I certainly recommend giving it a shot for that reason alone.

--Jon