Bibliophile [A Visit from the Goon Squad]

My only complaint is that I wish it went further.

A Visit from the Goon Squad (Jennifer Egan)

Super short blurb for this baby:

 

Bennie is an aging former punk rocker and record executive. Sasha is the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Here Jennifer Egan brilliantly reveals their pasts, along with the inner lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs. With music pulsing on every page, A Visit from the Goon Squad is a startling, exhilarating novel of self-destruction and redemption.

I LOVE me a novel that has interconnected but separate story lines. Most chapters are going to be focused on different characters, but the focus of the last chapter may be playing a supporting role in someone else's story- make for interesting and intelligent reading. I read that her writing style is "unorthodox", whatever that means...I enjoyed her time-hopping, seemingly-random story telling, personally. I tend to get anxiety when reading, and I hate not knowing what will happen to the characters; often I'll jump ahead a few pages to read the post-climax, just so I can relax and really digest the pages leading up to it. Her non-chronological story telling worked for me, because if I already know character X is singing her kid a lullaby in 2015 (the novel does go a bit into the future), I won't freak out when she's practically killing herself in 2008.

Like I said earlier, I wish it did more, went further, dug deeper, and any other metaphor I can think of for just adding more pages and prose. It's a pretty cohesive novel (if you give it time to tighten the many wandering strings) and a quick read too.

It's my anniversary with D today, which we will be spending...not together. Womp. We have some great celebratory ideas, however, that I'll share with you tomorrow. Happy Monday!