A Visit From the Goon Squad

Time's a goon, right? Isn't that the expression?

A Visit From the Goon Squad is a bestselling 2010 novel by Jennifer Egan, about an aging former punk-rock star named Bennie and his kleptomaniac assistant, Sasha. Each chapter is told from a different viewpoint, revealing the past and future of Bennie and Sasha as well as the various people in their lives, nearly all of whom work in the music industry.

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Tropes used in A Visit From the Goon Squad include:

• Anachronic Order: The narrative of the novel is completely scattered, and the chapters jump around in time.
• Ate His Gun: Rolf.
• Bungled Suicide: Bosco wants to kill himself on his Suicide Tour, but ends up surviving and running a dairy farm.
• Hello, Nurse!: Nearly every male character lusts after Sasha at some point.
• I Was Quite a Looker: Almost everybody, in the later chapters.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Bennie.
• Painting the Medium: One chapter is presented as a Power Point, another as a footnote-ridden article in a magazine.
• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Sasha.
• Sticky Fingers: Sasha is a kleptomaniac.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Rolf, and the girl who narrates the Power Point chapter.