A Visit from the Goon Squad

Jennifer Egan, 2010

Date Read: 5/14/2026

This was an unusual "novel". I put it in quotes because it isn't exactly a novel; it's more like Winesburg, Ohio or The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter in that it is a collection of loosely connected vignettes. Each chapter is written by a different person and in a different POV. Some are first-person, some are second-person, some are third-person, and one is a PowerPoint presentation.

The vignettes are connected by people who kind of know each other. There are characters who appear in most stories and those who appear only once. Each chapter is at a different time and place, so it can be difficult to follow when you are. One chapter has a character in their middle age, while two chapters later they're a 12-year-old. The final chapter is set 20 years after 9/11, which would be in 2021, but it is not a 2021 I am familiar with. That is more of a futuristic sci-fi future than what actually occurred (which, in reality, was the last year of Covid lockdowns).

It isn't a bad novel, and parts of it are very interesting. However, there is no overarching story. Some people are mentioned, and then you know nothing further about them. Others have their lives told in great detail for no apparent purpose. In this way, it also reminded me Catch-22, which I hated lol