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A review by open_ears_now
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
4.0
It took me a while to finish this book. This book isn't difficult to read or anything like that.
It's written like a collection of stories, each chapter lightly connected to the others. One chapter has a character, another has a character's wife, another has the character's wife's boss, etc.
What took me a while was trying to find connections between the chapters. This was a mistake.
People can be connected in the smallest of ways. We don't spend our time investigating each thread. Why do the same for a book?
Besides, you'll recognize names. You can always figure it out later.
Writing and narration was magnificent. The threads between chapters made me feel omniscient. I was on the outside of the world, looking in on my creations and how they're doing.
Some slight spoiler opinions on chapters:
I loved any chapter involving Sasha. The first chapter was perfect. The slideshow chapter with her daughter was absolutely adorable. I never imagined I would learn so much about a family through a presentation.
I disliked parts of the last chapter. Namely the texting slang with all the handsets. It felt like a Gen-X 2000s take on texting. If someone types "brb" it doesn't mean they're going to type "wyf" or "nw jb b hppy 4 me $$$". It really detracted from the story. If you want more examples, literally watch any procedural crime show with episodes from 2007ish.
It's written like a collection of stories, each chapter lightly connected to the others. One chapter has a character, another has a character's wife, another has the character's wife's boss, etc.
What took me a while was trying to find connections between the chapters. This was a mistake.
People can be connected in the smallest of ways. We don't spend our time investigating each thread. Why do the same for a book?
Besides, you'll recognize names. You can always figure it out later.
Writing and narration was magnificent. The threads between chapters made me feel omniscient. I was on the outside of the world, looking in on my creations and how they're doing.
Some slight spoiler opinions on chapters:
I loved
I disliked