Book Review: Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad and Candy House
If Goon Squad is an analysis of external human interaction and observation, Candy House is its internal counterpart. I found myself eating up the obscurity and winding narratives of Goon Squad, trying desperately to get to know and understand the people this story was about. Bennie’s insatiable desire for greatness, Sasha’s agonizing desire for ease, Ted’s inner turmoil about doing the right thing, Scotty’s complex insanity (which may actually be normalcy in an insane world).
I felt like each chapter revealed to me a little bit more about each of them. Candy House, on the contrary, I saw myself inside of instantly. I am Bix, I am Alfred, I am Miles. A relatively successful millennial in the digital age grappling hopelessly with a desperate need for real experiences, a frustration at others utter lack of resilience, and an existential fear that I’m wasting my potential.
It’s interesting that these two books exist in the same universe, as I felt the message and tone were so different. Goon Squad is about reckless youth and artistic inclination: all the winding paths creatives can take. The horrid existential dystopia of an overly digital world only comes into play in the very last chapter, through the lens of Alex who we…
