I used to manage a theatrical rehearsal space, and we saw lots of people come in and out of the place every day. I will say this about the theatre community; it is well read. I say this because of the amount of books left in the Lost and Found box. Sadly, the majority of the lost books were never recovered, and after a month, if still not claimed, it was open for the staff to take them. That is how a paperback copy of A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan entered my life. It was in my possession at least for seven years before I decided to read it over the Christmas holiday.
Goon Squad won the Pulitzer and the National Book Critics Circle Award back in 2011, and I had heard good things about it for awhile. I went into it knowing nothing of the plot, characters, structure or anything. I did know who Jennifer Egan was, and I liked her writing, so I was looking forward to reading it.
The book is structured in an “A” and “B” side, like a vinyl album, which is fitting as the novel is about people in, on the periphery of the music business, as well as the people who know the people in and on the periphery of the music business. As such, each chapter of the book is like a song on the album, so the chapters are not telling a linear story, but behave more like songs on a concept album – held together by a theme. What Goon Squad reminded me of was Rachel Cusk’s Outline Trilogy and her novel Second Place, in that both authors are looking for new ways to approach the novel form, especially with the emphasis on theme over conventional plot to keep the narrative moving forward. That right there made me enjoy Goon Squad.
Yet, I did find the two issues stuck in my craw with this book.
First was the character of Bennie, who along with the other character Sasha, are the closest the novel comes to having main protagonists. For lack of a better description, Bennie is a middle aged record executive, and former puck musician, who is not handling being middle aged very well. I am still amazed at how often in contemporary/modern literature, that the middle aged, sad male character is used. It’s such a stock character, and hasn’t changed since his debut back in the late 50’s or early 60’s. I was hoping that Egan was going to challenge the cliche, such as turning this Updike/Cheever type character on its head. Unfortunately, Bennie gets mired in the stereotype of being divorced, having a distant and disgruntled child that he can’t figure out how to connect with, and his penis stopped working like it used to, and that takes up a lot of his energy. Luckily, Bennie doesn’t dominate the book.
My second issue was the final chapter, “Pure Language.” Set a few years in the future from the rest of the stories, it is the only one that doesn’t land. I think it’s due to trying to get this final story, or song on this concept album, to wrap up the whole theme of the book. Bennie is in this story, but it revolves around a character named Alex, who was featured in the first chapter, along with the other main protagonist Sasha. There is a lot happening in this story, which feels at odds with all the other stories which are more focused and concise on what they are trying to say. And due to this, the book lands with a sloppy thump, thus denying us the ending that the theme of the book deserved. Sticking the landing is hard.
Believe it or not, I did enjoy this book. It doesn’t sound like it, but I did. It is well written, and very funny. And I liked that Egan did play with form and structure, using the world of the record business to address how we all get older, things change, and sometimes we start to become people we no longer recognize. This was best exemplified by the character of Sasha, who I wanted to hear more from in the best way possible. Her journey was the most honest of all the characters. A conventional author would have written a book just about her, but Egan chose to just give us glimpses of Sasha’s thoughts, and then gave us a hard look on how her actions affected the lives around her.
I enjoyed reading A Visit from the Goon Squad, and Jennifer Egan is a writer that keeps pushing for new ways to tell stories, which is something that I deeply respect. The novel form cannot stay stagnat, and it has to evolve as soceity and culture evolves as well. I u
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