Last year I had on heavy rotation, the latest album from alt-rock icon and the epitome of effortless cool, Kim Gordon. Digging into the conception of the album I learned that it was heavily inspired by Jennifer Eagan's book 'The Candy House'. Tumbling further down this rabbit hole I then discovered that said book is a sequel to the title I want to talk about today.
‘A Visit from the Goon Squad’.
Curious name right? We’ll come back to that in a little bit.
I mention my reverse engineered path of enlightenment because the beating heart of ‘Goon Squad’ is connectivity. Human contact and emotional involvement, both direct and collateral.
Each chapter is written from the perspective of a different character from a different period in time. But each fragmented piece is connected in one way or another to at least one fellow character.
We start with Sasha. A kleptomaniac in the middle of a therapy session. We then move swiftly onto Bennie Salazar, her boss. A record company executive adjusting to shared custody, whilst trying to reboot his libido by adding gold flakes to his coffee. From here we spend time with members of Bennie’s high school band. Sasha’s uncle. A broken down rock star. A disgraced PR guru. And a twelve year old girl living in the California desert and so on.
The latter tells her side of the story exclusively through infographics and text based diagrams, which is a first for me.
‘Goon Squad’ is a really unique reading experience, one that works because Egan is able to write convincingly with multiple different voices. Each character, either through perspective, language, tone, or style feels completely individual. Even repeat visits to core characters differed because their perspectives had changed through circumstance and time.
Which leads us nicely back the title. The ‘Goon’ in question, is time itself.
The two core themes of Egan's book are Ruin and redemption. Whether the former is literal or a perceived sense of destruction formed by the continuous march of time, the book asks in a number of ways, the same question once posed by the great American philosopher David Byrne. “How Did I Get Here?” But it also examines a far more important question. “Where do I go from here?”
Goon Squad is a delightful, absurd and blackly comedic, but it is also a poignant and evocative look at both internal and relational changes. It’s a fantastic micro inspection of the macro reality that we are not wholly individual. Whether it’s a parental bond, a best friend from university swept away by the tides of circumstance, or a pleasant five minute conversation with a complete stranger, we are all an ever growing tapestry of experiences and interactions. And in the end, yeah, time can indeed be a goon, but it can also be a godsend.