Book Review: A Visit From The Goon Squad

A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan is an interesting book. From the dust jacket:

"Jennifer Egan's spellbinding interlocking narratives circle the lives of Bennie Salazar, an aging former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Although Bennie and Sasha never discover each other's pasts, the reader does, in intimate detail, among with the secret lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs, over many years, in locals as varied as New York, San Francisco, Naples, and Africa."

I really liked this book, although I'll admit, at times it was hard to keep track of all the different characters & time jumps. But again, it's an interesting book. It's honestly probably one of the few books that is going to be better as a movie. I really liked the two main characters: Bennie and Sasha, and enjoyed watching their stories and pasts unfold and intersect.

The book ends in a very bizarre, but cool way. Egan writes the second to the last chapter in a series of graphs and charts.... It sounds crazy and I thought it was crazy when I got to it, but it totally works. The next chapter, the last, was, in my opinion, the best part of the book. She not only wraps it all up, she introduces this futuristic world view where she goes into great detail describing how teens speak and look and how technology has reached babies, who, as it turns out, become the biggest marketing demographic. It's insane, but it's awesome, and it really makes you think about where we're all headed with this huge trend in gadgets, blogs, and social networking.

This book isn't for everyone, but it's a good read and I recommend it if you're the least bit intrigued by what I've said. I own it & I'll happily loan it out.