Staff Picks Blog
Structurally, this reminded me of the wonderful old French movie, La Ronde. Its a series of stories, each picking a character from the previous story (sometimes a very minor character) and telling their story. While La Ronde was about infidelity, Goon Squads deals with the breakup of a San Francisco punk band.
Discovered by A & R exec Lou, the Flaming Dildos experience some success that leads Bennie into a life in the music industry, Jocelyn into rehab, and Scotty into mental illness. Beautiful kleptomancac Sasha works for Benny and intersects with many of these lives.
Jennifer Egan shows amazing range in these stories, writing about the past, present and future, using first-, second-, and third person, and setting her stories on three continents. It’s a pretty dazzling display of virtuosity. It doesn’t necessarily add up to a novel, but the parts are sure appealing.
