In a lot of ways, this book reminded me of a John Sayles movie. (That's
high praise - he's my favourite director.) With the sprawling but
interlocking cast, and the way it moved around in time, to show us many
different characters at different moments of their lives, younger and
older (not always in that order), A Visit From The Goon Squad seemed
almost...cinematic.
And yet it unfolded, at times effortlessly,
and although I never really knew what would happen next, I was more than
happy to be along for the ride. (Maybe that's what reminds me of John
Sayles - it's the same feeling I had while watching Lone Star for the
first time.)
The theme of aging is intertwined with music, and
being young, and making whatever music you wanted, to the business of
music, and the interference of the world around you, to growing old and
maybe, finally, making the music you want (if you're lucky) or wondering
why you never got around to making that music at all (if you're not.)
What selling out means, and what being authentic means, and whether
authenticity is anything at all.
To describe the book is almost
impossible. There are a few characters we return to over and over, but
the book keeps looping out to show their teenage tribes, then back to
show their children, and often, in other stories, what happened to those
teenagers as they grew up. Who survived. Who faltered. Whether or not
that faltering was irrevocable. (In this book, it almost never was.)
For
this book, I think you need to have a high tolerance for ambiguity and a
willingness to just ride along and see what pleasures Egan has in
store. If you do, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
No comments:
Post a Comment