Monday, July 11, 2011

Book Review: A Visit From The Goon Squad

A Visit From The Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
7.7.11 - 7.11.11

"He looks so tired--like someone walked on his skin and left footprints" --57

After reading nothing last month, finishing this book so fast was much more reassuring than it probably should've been. Also, though, this book was amazing and intense. Throughout the entirety of Part 1 I was swept away, and at the end of every chapter I had to pause to catch my breath.

K & I talked about character types a while ago, specifically regarding Hunger games. She talked about how well-designed the characters were--perfectly written/created, in a way that (without it being negative criticism) made them unrealistic. "Because who wants to read about real people? They were perfect and super and more interesting than normal people" was how K logicked it.

That's how these characters were written--so perfectly complex and interesting. But not even a little bit contrived. So for every ounce of raw intensity that Part 1 was, Part 2 was the painful, necessary and sometimes unpleasant healing process that stitched together all the elements introduced previously.

God it was just so good. My first Jennifer Egan book was The Invisible Circus, which always felt like my gateway into "interesting" books. The non-conventional ones that you don't always hear about (at least, for me, at that point, for my twelve-year-old self). This one surpassed it brilliantly.

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