Jennifer Egan:A Visit From The Goon Squad

9.6/10 dropps

To be as concise as possible: Jennifer Egan’s latest novel consists of thirteen loosely related short stories. Besides each voice being incredibly distinct and unique, the actual format within Egan’s wonderful novel is consistently experimented with. One chapter is told entirely in the form of a PowerPoint presentation. The thread connecting each story is the central character’s connection to one Bennie Salazar or to his kleptomaniac assistant Sasha. Bennie is a middle-aged, successful record producer looking for the spark that purveyed his career while it was truly taking off. Sasha is his alluring assistant, who struggles with the belief that others perceive her to be more than she appears.

Bennie and Sasha are the novel’s most frequently occurring characters, though each chapter could function as its own self-contained short story. The perspective shifts with each chapter go beyond mere character transitions as well: chapters are narrated from the first, second and third person perspectives. One chapter is told from the point of view of a journalist, with the prose formatted to mimic the style of a newspaper article. It is a great moment for readers when they slowly realize the article’s existence outside of the reporter’s head is debatable. The aforementioned PowerPoint chapter is unlike anything you’ve read in a novel.

Though many of the characters are musicians or are connected to the music industry in some way, the novel is hardly about music. Rock enthusiasts may appreciate references of everything from The Dead Kennedys to Pearl Jam to The Who, music plays a small role in the novel. More important are the people who inhabit the industry and pursue the elusive American dream from within the music business. Though we often have less than twenty pages to do so with any given character, Egan imbues each player with so many lifelike qualities the reader finds him or herself identifying with many of them. Egan’s talent for driving forth-simple narratives provides her with plenty of leeway to experiment with perspective and formatting, in addition to her marvelous character portraits. There is some semblance of a loose plot structure, but the narrative jumps to various points in time between the sixties and the near future and one eventually becomes too engrossed in this excellent piece of literature to really indulge critical trails of thought through this novel.

The novel isn’t directly about music, and it is not necessary to be familiar with rock and roll to find the novel engaging, but it certainly helps. An individual’s musical tastes are in many ways the most revealing and personal components of one’s personality. It is fitting then, that Egan strives to reveal the personalities of characters who work to produce said music. Brilliant and brief, Jennifer Egan’s latest is well worth your time.

-John Jamieson