A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Pause. 1.07 seconds.

It's the pauses that make up our lives, even if we're rocking hard.
The kid knows. All the rockers know. It's the breath that propels us onward. :)


So, yeah, I read this book and I kept thinking to myself that I've read better musician-central books that keep on circling back through a life, (or two, in this case,) to really give us an in-depth feel for all the little things. I kept thinking that, but each scene kept building up a more complete picture and I began to fall in love with these people and after a certain point, especially during the pauses, I started feeling something more.

I started rocking.

I mean, it's not like either of their lives were anything close to perfection and most of the time it was just life, good and bad, but the shape of it altogether, including those pauses, twisted up my insides and spilled me into the narrative.

I still don't know if this is my favorite book on musicians, or at least those involved with them, with the lifestyle, but I do know that I came out of reading this with a spring in my step and an abundance of energy. The book definitely gave something TO us.

So, yeah, I dug it. :)



View all my reviews