A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD: JENNIFER EGAN

This Pulizter Prize winning novel reminded me of Tom Rachmann's THE IMPERFECTIONIST, at least in style, not content.  Like THE IMPERFECTIONIST, A VISIT FROM THE GOOD SQUAD at first seems like a series of short stories but you quickly catch on, realizing that in some way, all of the characters are connected, by friends or by relationships.  The two major characters are Bennie Salazar, a failed musician, now a successful record producer, and his assistant Sasha, who we meet on an off through the novel, going back and forth in time, realizing what leads to her position with Bennie, what happens to her after she leaves his employment.  As the novel opens, she has a brief hook up with a young man called Alex.  It lasts the night, we move on, and it's not till the last chapter that we see Alex again, in his 40's, married, with a child, helping Bennie Salazar remake his career as a talent sleuth.  At times, I could not put it down, at others, I did not pick it up for a day or two, whether I was busy or just not that interested, I am not sure.  

It's set mostly in New York, about people whose lives slide by so fast that by the time  they awaken, it seems almost over.  Thus, it's about time, how we waste it, how fast our lives and dreams vanish, the people that influence it, the influence we have on others, both bad and good.  Like Rachmann's novel, I liked almost all of the characters, though they did not have the connection of working for a newspaper, as the characters did in THE IMPERFECTIONIST.  One of the most interesting though annoying chapters appeared toward the end. Written by Sasha's ten year old daughter, Allison, it's all written in Power Point, about her understanding of her Mom, Dad, and her brother who is obsessed, to his father's dismay, with pauses in musical pieces, mostly rock songs.  Finally, the father graphs the pauses for his son, a sign of acceptance, and by the end of the power point, I was really into them.  I liked the text, but was not crazy about it.  Perhaps I should read it again because I did lose track of many of the characters, having to go back and figure out how they fit into the novel, like Alex, who appears only in the first and last chapters.