'Goon Squad" is a great novel - and stretches traditional storytelling techniques
Sunday, January 30, 2011 at 12:55 AM I read mostly non-fiction but try to get through at least one novel per quarter. My most recent conquest is "A Visit from the Goon Squad"
"Goon Squad" popped up on many "best of 2010" lists, and deservedly so. It's a book full of richly developed characters and oddly disparate but interwoven chapters presented in a variety of tenses and story forms (including PowerPoint and clipped speech, ala SMS shortcuts).
The “powerpoint” chapter is especially riveting. It’s hard work to wade through each slide and the presentation style gives the reader many different paths for interpretating four troubled lives, one of whom is a child fixated on pauses in rock songs. But like most of "Goon Squad," the extra effort makes for an exhilirating ride.
