When social media and texting and PowerPoint are added in line with time passing, Egan just about manages to hold it all together. I knew why the author was doing it, and it did work, but sometimes it was too much. I was uncomfortable with the manipulation of viewpoint. Egan slices her way through the book, her wounding words exposing characters, exposing readers, exposing the fragile social structures of both. I loved how real these people and their weaknesses were. You enter the lives of Bennie and Sasha and Kitty and Dolly and Lulu and so many others, and you are captivated by their mundane crises. However, it is jarring, and I think the book would have been stronger with half the characters and locations used.Įgan’s strength lies in conveying her vivid characters’ emotions. Geography, time and viewpoint are jumbled together well enough. It takes a while for readers to commit when they aren’t sure whose story it is they are following. Vignettes of lives mostly threaded together by music. A Visit from the Goon Squad is like reading a gritty version of the film Love Actually. Sometimes you read a book and you wonder.
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