For an enthralling, rock-n-roll read, one can soak up the summer sun in Jennifer Egan’s novel A Visit from the Goon Squad. The Goon Squad thrives on the electric energy of a high school band. Moreover, it is the interplay of music, memory, and time that makes the novel a fascinating read.

The Goon Squad centers around a group of high school friends aspiring to be rock gods in the universe. As the novel peels away at their adolescence, the reader witnesses the spectacular flaws and failures of adult life.

In Bennie Salazar, we recognize a self-made man from his rock-n-roll years to his prodigious rise in the music industry. His successful career contrasts to the malaise of a divorced, middle aged man struggling to connect with his son. Thus, Bennie ponders the days of his youth, old friends, and his quest to ignite passion from music.

Similarly, Bennie’s band mates revel in the glory of their youth. Scotty is a born entertainer playing his lap steel guitar. But his natural bravado and talent drifts in the shadow of a man surviving on a meager income. Sasha and Rhea are fixtures in the band and have been inseparable since grade school. While Rhea avoids the seductive world of rock and settles into a life of marriage, Jocelyn spirals heavily into drugs and a relationship with a music mogul. Finally, Sasha rounds out the group of misfits. Raised in an abusive home, Sasha is woven into a complex world of love, travel, and theft. The Goon Squad is a cast of characters with stories that are harrowing, colorful, and endearing.

Egan’s novel channels music and rhythm through her construction of prose. The novel is divided into sections A & B resembling tracks on a music album. Egan crafts an asymmetrical narrative juxtaposing various points of view and voice. In one chapter, she utilizes PowerPoint to narrate the relationship between music and family. Thus, a myriad of voices and style renders an eclectic piece.

A Visit from the Goon Squad is a quilt of memorable characters retracing footsteps of their former selves. In her preface, Egan frames the novel on the writings of Marcel Proust. Proust was fascinated by the concept of time and memory. Could one return to their past and recapture their former self? Egan’s novel answers this with an abundance of optimism and strength.