My Thoughts on the Novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad, 2/7/2026…

What a fantastic book! This is one of the very few books I give a 5-star rating to.

It’s clear why it won the Pulitzer Prize and other prestigious awards.

AVFTGS is a splendidly crafted mosaic novel, (mostly) set in New York City. It jumps back and forth between decades, its chapters include several different narrative styles, and its one major theme, “Time is a Goon,” permeates throughout, leaving characters blessed and cursed, but undeniably changed

One spectacular chapter is written not in sentences, nor in theatrical dialogue, nor in lines that usually appear in prose or poetry, but in…Yeah, no. I’m not going to spill. Just read it.

To say that I will read this book again sometime in the future would be putting it mildly. Like all great works of literature—and this definitely qualifies as one—one gets more meaning and deeper interpretations from each read.

Everybody should read this book!