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Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
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Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
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A Visit from the Goon Squad
by
Jennifer Egan
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ISBN13:
9780307477477
ISBN10:
0307477479
Condition:
Standard
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$11.95
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Awards
2010 Powell's Staff Top 5s
4.8
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Average customer rating 4.8 (44 comments)
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S Holladay
, November 06, 2014
(view all comments by S Holladay)
Have you seriously not read this book yet? I don't read a lot of fiction, but this one sucked me in and I finished it in two days and then told everyone I know about it. The Sundance Channel is supposedly turning this book into a show; read the book before the show comes out!
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KaylaAdams
, April 16, 2013
This book is purely amazing and will keep you wanting for more.
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wolfling34
, January 30, 2013
I love how the story weaves in and out of each of the character's lives, even going so far as to utilize power point presentation in on e chapter. Jennifer Egan masterfully uses every grammar possible to make this an exciting and thought provoking read.
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tdjerram
, January 30, 2013
Best Book I Read In 2012! Read print book & ebook & listened to audiobook at the same time. Most books are much stronger in one format or another. Egan's beautiful heartbreak of a classic for today's adults & tomorrow's children is wonderful in every format. Made me laugh & cry & wish there were 100s more pages & tracks to be had when it ended.
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Elizabeth Bee
, January 26, 2013
(view all comments by Elizabeth Bee)
This novel is sneakily brilliant. It took a few chapters for me to get into this book, but when I did, I couldn't put it down. The seemingly separate stories end up painting a picture of intertwined lives, tragedies, and moments of triumph. No but really, people: there's a chapter in the form of a power-point presentation. And a wry vision of a future NYC that made me laugh and also cringe with recognition.
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Linda Whang
, January 06, 2013
my vote for a puddly award!
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Book Club Reader
, January 01, 2013
A fav in my book club this last year.
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Katsuya
, December 28, 2012
(view all comments by Katsuya)
The book jumps around in time and in point of view. A tangled mess of interconnected characters are the subjects of various chapters, one of which is written in Powerpoint. This could have been a terrible mess, or frustrating , but it was the mixed narratives kept the whole structure going. The stories are about people in various times in their lives-- during their optimistic (or not) youth, as adults struggling to make relationships and jobs work, and in a post-apocalyptic future where we are all (um) part of a machine. I didn't find it to be a cynical novel, though. People move on, move up, and keep it going. I might have had a different view of it 10 years ago, but the characters were very real. The slices of their lives that we glimpse in different chapters are the same small samples we see of our own friends. Loved it.
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johnnybgood
, September 08, 2012
(view all comments by johnnybgood)
Held out against this for a long time mainly because two friends raved about it so much, but turns out they were right, Goon Squad is one helluva trip, a real virtuoso performance. The writing is very sharp and thought-provoking, the characters highly entertaining. At times it can all get a little confusing but then everything comes together and off you go again on a whirl through time. Well worth a read.
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LDP
, August 04, 2012
(view all comments by LDP)
I was hesitant to read A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD because I wasn't crazy about Jennifer Egan's earlier novel, LOOK AT ME. I'm glad I gave Egan a second chance, though, because I thoroughly enjoyed her delving into different aspects of the music industry, while simultaneously revealing truths about time. Who we think we will be when we are young is rarely who we become. Using a narrative structure that jumps back and forth in time, Egan skillfully unveils key aspects of characters' stories, like a painter filling in a complex composition. Entertaining and satisfying.
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salliforth
, January 27, 2012
(view all comments by salliforth)
Oh . . .my . . . God! This book is incredible. What an inventive structure and what a brilliant mind to construct this story. Even a chapter summary would be a spoiler. Just read it. Enjoy it. And then wonder that there are such brilliant writers in the world.
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Annie Reader
, January 19, 2012
(view all comments by Annie Reader)
Egan drew me into a story and turned it into a tree of stories - - I enjoyed climbing every branch of the tree to follow her interesting characters and their intertwined lives.
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jbike
, January 19, 2012
Great fun watching (reading?) Jennifer Egan work her craft."Out of Body" alone is well worth the price of admission.
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mle
, January 19, 2012
(view all comments by mle)
This was, by far, the best book I read in 2011! I enjoyed the story line and the different narrators, but I especially enjoyed the changes in time and place. Jennifer Egan was able to encorporate all of these people, places and times with ease.
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Patricia Lacina
, January 19, 2012
(view all comments by Patricia Lacina)
This exremely original book generated more discussion in our reading group than anyone ever imagined possible!
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Edward Geis
, January 19, 2012
(view all comments by Edward Geis)
I have been in the same book group for over twenty years. We have read over 200 books, each chosen by one of the ten members every month. "A Visit from the Goon Squad" was my choice for December, and it generated the most interesting, provocative, challenging and lengthy (three hours forty minutes, but who's counting the goon?). Time, music, silence, success, dead fish on a corporate desk, it won the Pulitzer Prize and my respect for Jennifer Egan.
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Thomas Jackson
, January 19, 2012
(view all comments by Thomas Jackson)
Rock and Roll, great writing and a chapter written from the perspective of a twelve year old, in Powerpoint format makes this book unique and exceptional.
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Jennifer B
, January 19, 2012
This is a zany, sometimes moving, and often comic read--all told in a highly creative format that tells the story backwards and forwards through time. It takes a few chapters to figure out what's going on but stick with it. Think "Time Travelers Wife" but with a bigger, more intertwined cast of characters set against the music industry scene. Definitely one of my favorites.
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Penny Brassfield
, January 19, 2012
Entirely original, creative novel of cleverly intertwined stories of several generations of unusual characters. One chapter consists of a series of Powerpoint pages which is wildly entertaining.
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maxter
, January 16, 2012
A labyrinth of character studies, where each chapter turns a corner to (at times painfully) explore one who appeared in the previous pages to be either sufficiently summarized and dismissed or of little consequence to the journey. Yet each twist and turn and retracing of steps illuminates the minds and the lives of far more characters in far more depth and with creativity (cue PowerPoint slides!) greater than expected.
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Emily T
, January 12, 2012
(view all comments by Emily T)
This book and its engrossing and intertwined narratives had me spellbound from the first chapter. As a commentary on music, youth culture, emotional scars, and the potential future I found each story separately powerful. Combined together the characters and their relationships resonated with me in a way I haven't experienced for some time. Egan's wit and imagination are well displayed here, and the journey this book takes the reader on is riveting.
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mrscole131
, January 06, 2012
Strange yet entertaining read. I loved the future texting at the end.
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Mtn High Reading
, January 05, 2012
Intricately woven characters must face the passage of time through love, addition and emotion.
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Miina Tupala
, January 05, 2012
(view all comments by Miina Tupala)
I wasn't looking forward to reading this book because the description did not appeal to me. However, it was easily the best crafted book I've read in...probably ever! Egan did not leave a single loose thread and everything ties into something else seamlessly. Brilliant!
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nlondon36
, January 04, 2012
(view all comments by nlondon36)
How can you not adore a book that sketches a very hung-over character emerging onto the street in the morning and describing the sensation ad being bitten by sunlight? Egan's talent is so far-reaching, her characters so alive and perversely sympathetic, her writing so inventive, that reading this book twice wouldn't be sufficient.
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emoskowitz
, January 03, 2012
(view all comments by emoskowitz)
Who need a linear narrative in 2011? Jennifer Egan takes the reader time-tripping into a multitude of key moments that are shared among a varied set of characters. Readers -- voyeuristically --can watch the drama unfold with sometimes little introduction and yet partake of the central theme of the novel-- which I think is the omnipotence of time.
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Pam in Kennewick
, January 03, 2012
(view all comments by Pam in Kennewick)
This is the book I've been passing on to my friends when they ask if I've read any good books lately.
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Jerry Dale McFadden
, January 02, 2012
(view all comments by Jerry Dale McFadden)
Innovative style and a joy to read.
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Matt Dobbin
, January 01, 2012
Best book I read in 2011
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Lauren Wilson
, January 01, 2012
My book club's pick for best book of the year. Loved it.
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Heather Duncan
, January 01, 2012
My favorite book of 2011.
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Adena
, January 01, 2012
(view all comments by Adena)
Just a fantastic storyteller and a marvelous book!!
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Andi Wass
, January 01, 2012
Thoughtful, unique, a great way to understand time and change
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Cheryl O'Neil
, January 01, 2012
(view all comments by Cheryl O'Neil)
I loved the way the characters moved through time growing and changing the way real people do. The use of music and art added to the effect. This just seemed to be more than fiction because every little detail was so real.
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Jester
, January 01, 2012
(view all comments by Jester)
Jennifer Egan, with "...Goon Squad," makes fiction exciting again!
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Elizabeth Rosner
, January 01, 2012
(view all comments by Elizabeth Rosner)
Truly a brilliant work of fiction. Masterfully constructed, by turns dark and dazzling, breathtaking in scope and depth. Recommended to anyone who chooses to read for stimulation of the brain as well as expansion of the heart.
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Katherine L Miller
, September 20, 2011
(view all comments by Katherine L Miller)
The complexity of the interconnected stories in this book leads to a suprising sense that realizations are creeping up on you from behind. While Egan's plots are generally engineered with a certain kind of post modern cleverness, the metaphorical development and plot device are more integrated and less noticeable in this novel than in previous ones such as The Keep. There is a sensation present that I identify as markedly Egan-- It is one of the great things about writing--that you may be reading the surface language but absorbing entirely other ideas in other layers. I enjoyed the read and the stories are still circling in my mind a month later.
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Peter Stamelman
, September 20, 2011
(view all comments by Peter Stamelman)
Joan Didion for the naughts. In addition, Egan pulls off one of the most difficult of narrative tricks: taking seemingly disparate storylines and gradually(and devastatingly)weaving them together into an kaleidoscopic tapestry. The book deserves all the awards and accolades - and merits a second, third reading. A damned good book.
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whitesunlight
, September 01, 2011
Some say that this is, in fact, a novel, but I'm not so sure. I think it's a book of linked short stories disguised as chapters that end up having the bulk and weight of a full length novel. Those chapters are brilliant and well composed, borrowing meat from each other to do a brilliant job of building a huge arc across the entire full length piece. They absolutely "show" rather than "tell." Though it is mindboggling to keep all the characters and their connections, sidetracks, and philosophies straight, it's a pleasure to try. Jennifer Egan astounds in her ability to get inside the mannerisms and mentalities of her various subjects. She writes an entire chapter from a young girl's point of view that is all charts and graphs and details about what life means from that tween vantage. The reader has to actually flip the book lengthwise to decipher not only the message but the model. Amazing!
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El Arbol
, September 01, 2011
(view all comments by El Arbol)
Intellectua-licious.
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Elizabeth Rosner
, September 01, 2011
(view all comments by Elizabeth Rosner)
Brilliant, original, inspiring, compelling. Recommended reading for anyone who likes to be dazzled page after page.
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mjordan
, September 01, 2011
I really enjoyed this book and was glad I was reading it during the summer. I had to literally read it twice to see how all of the characters' lives melded together over time. One question I have for those of you out there: What role did the La Doll chapter visiting the Cuban dictator play in the book, other than introducing Lulu? This was the one chapter that didn't fit for me. Others?
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stealth
, August 31, 2011
(view all comments by stealth)
This book was fantastic!
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chorne
, April 27, 2011
(view all comments by chorne)
I greatly enjoyed "A Visit From the Goon Squad." The interlocking stories that form the narrative are expertly plotted, and turning the page to the next chapter always produces a surprise, as you can't predict which character will next take his or her position as the center of attention. For the most part these are tales of the cities (New York, Los Angeles), but Egan's fine eye for detail is equally good in side trips to places like Naples, Westchester, or Palm Springs. This is a book you can curl up with in order to shudder sympathetically at the unstoppable depredations of "the goon" (time). I did find the end of the book a bit disappointing in its turn toward a future dystopia in which everyone, even children, reserves eye contact for handheld electronic devices rather than other human beings. The PowerPoint "diary" chapter (ironically, it does not come out well on a Kindle) is likewise interesting but not compelling. This stuff is in no way as complicated as the human relationships in the rest of the book---and perhaps that's the point--but the power of Egan's stories seems to dissipate here. Don't let this criticism put you off the novel; it is well worth reading.
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Product Details
ISBN:
9780307477477
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
03/22/2011
Publisher:
Anchor Books
Pages:
340
Height:
8.00
Width:
5.25
Thickness:
.75
Grade Range:
General/trade
Copyright Year:
2011
Author:
Jennifer Egan
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
$11.95
List Price:
$18.00
Used Trade Paperback
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Used, Trade Paperback, $25.00
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