We're told to never judge a book by its cover, but we've rounded up some breathtaking books that are sure to catch your eye and your heart.

Bennie is an aging former punk rocker and record executive. Sasha is the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Here Jennifer Egan brilliantly reveals their pasts, along with the inner lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs. With music pulsing on every page, A Visit from the Goon Squad is a startling, exhilarating novel of self-destruction and redemption.

Jennifer Egan, American novelist and short-story writer whose diverse works garnered great critical acclaim. Her notable novels included Look at Me; The Keep; A Visit from the Goon Squad, which won a Pulitzer Prize; Manhattan Beach; and The Candy House. Learn more about Egan’s life and career.

Discover the latest best sellers, award winners, new releases, and coming soon books at Penguin Random House.

Always under the influence, constantly up to no good! Ditching school and running scams around the hood are the GOON SQUAD's daily routines, and as far as the gang's concerned, everyone is a SUCKA! New Hope Academy--aka--No Hope, is a project group home where unwanted kids are dumped like bags of trash. In an environment that breeds bullies, gangbangers, and future Death Row Inmates, survival of the fittest is an arms race, and mentalities are always on offense, never defense. But the Little Rascals wouldn't have a damned thing to do with a dump like No Hope, and Lil Annie would get turned-out faster than she could wipe the tears off her puffy little cheeks. Six of the most ignorant knuckleheads to ever walk through No Hope clique-up to form the GOON SQUAD. Each one was born into this hard knock life with their own unique sob story to tell, and let them tell it, they all jumped out of the womb with both feet on the ground and already running. Now they're all in a mad rush to graduate from juvenile delinquents into career criminals. And they'll keep you laughing every step of the way! | Author: Goon Squad | Publisher: Independently published | Publication Date: Dec 17, 2018 | Number of Pages: 241 pages | Language: English | Binding: Paperback | ISBN-10: 1791870821 | ISBN-13: 9781791870829

Six ex-Mississippi cops – who called themselves the "Goon Squad" – were handed additional prison sentences on Wednesday following a horrific racist attack.

Did you know that Jennifer Egan was robbed by a motorcyclist in Spain at the age of twenty-two? That when she was little, she wanted to be a doctor, but then she tried to be an archeologist? That she’s written exactly one celebrity profile and it’s of Calvin Klein? And that she received a gratuitous […]

Twelve years after 'A Visit from the Goon Squad,' author Jennifer Egan employs contemporary sci-fi themes for its sequel, 'The Candy House.'

A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD review & analysis of an award-winning novel. Reviews, writing skills used, publication details plus prompts & exercises.

Which works of fiction since 2000 will stand the test of time? BBC Culture polled several dozen critics to select the greatest.

Marcel Proust and The Sopranos serve as the unlikely inspirations for this ambitious study of time and relationships, writes Sarah Churchwell

PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUADA Time Magazine Must-Read'A complex, compelling read that showcases Egan's masterful storytelling' TIME'A dazzling feat of literary construction' VOGUEFrom one of the most dazzling and iconic writers of our time comes an electrifying, deeply moving novel about the quest for authenticity, privacy, and meaning in a world where our memories are no longer our own--featuring characters from A Visit from the Goon Squad.It's 2010. Staggeringly successful and brilliant tech entrepreneur Bix Bouton is desperate for a new idea. He's forty, with four kids, and restless when he stumbles into a conversation with mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or "externalising" memory. Within a decade, Bix's new technology, Own Your Unconscious--that allows you access to every memory you've ever had, and to share every memory in exchange for access to the memories of others--has seduced multitudes. But not everyone.In spellbinding linked narratives, Egan spins out the consequences of Own Your Unconscious through the lives of multiple characters whose paths intersect over several decades. Intellectually dazzling and extraordinarily moving, The Candy House is a bold, brilliant imagining of a world that is moments away. With a focus on social media, gaming, and alternate worlds, you can almost experience moving among dimensions in a role-playing game. Egan takes her "deeply intuitive forays into the darker aspects of our technology-driven, image-saturated culture" (Vogue) to stunning new heights and delivers a fierce and exhilarating testament to the tenacity and transcendence of human longing for real connection, love, family, privacy and redemption.

These titles from the last 20 years are due to join the ranks of must-read literature.

A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD review & analysis of an award-winning novel. Reviews, writing skills used, publication details plus prompts & exercises.

A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD review & analysis of an award-winning novel. Reviews, writing skills used, publication details plus prompts & exercises.

A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD review & analysis of an award-winning novel. Reviews, writing skills used, publication details plus prompts & exercises.

I don’t know about you, but when I’m wandering between a bookstore’s shelves, browsing for a great new read, a book’s back cover summary isn’t always the first place I look — I mean, hello: spoilers. (Nobody likes spoilers, am I right?) Nope, when…

Manhattan Beach is her first novel since 2010’s A Visit from the Goon Squad.

A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD review & analysis of an award-winning novel. Reviews, writing skills used, publication details plus prompts & exercises.

At long last! Jennifer Egan is not only publishing a new novel but it’s a “sibling sequel” to her Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Critics Circle-winning A Visit from the Goon Sq…

Historical fiction authors recommend books for spring

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE of the TOP 10 BOOKS OF THE YEAR by THE NEW YORK TIMES * ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY * SLATE* THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER * Also named one of the BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR by Vanity Fair, Time, NPR, The Guardian, Oprah Daily, Self, Vogue, The New Yorker, BBC, Vulture, and many more! OLIVIA WILDE to direct A24's TV adaptation of THE CANDY HOUSE and A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD! From one of the most celebrated writers of our time comes an "inventive, effervescent" (Oprah Daily) novel about the memory and quest for authenticity and human connection. The Candy House opens with the staggeringly brilliant Bix Bouton, whose company, Mandala, is so successful that he is "one of those tech demi-gods with whom we're all on a first name basis." Bix is forty, with four kids, restless, and desperate for a new idea, when he stumbles into a conversation group, mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or "externalizing" memory. Within a decade, Bix's new technology, "Own Your Unconscious"--which allows you access to every memory you've ever had, and to share your memories in exchange for access to the memories of others--has seduced multitudes. In the world of Egan's spectacular imagination, there are "counters" who track and exploit desires and there are "eluders," those who understand the price of taking a bite of the Candy House. Egan introduces these characters in an astonishing array of narrative styles--from omniscient to first person plural to a duet of voices, an epistolary chapter, and a chapter of tweets. Intellectually dazzling, The Candy House is also a moving testament to the tenacity and transcendence of human longing for connection, family, privacy, and love. "A beautiful exploration of loss, memory, and history" (San Francisco Chronicle), "this is minimalist maximalism. It's as if Egan compressed a big 19th-century novel onto a flash drive" (The New York Times). Product DetailsISBN-13: 9781476716763 Media Type: Hardcover Publisher: Scribner Publication Date: 04-05-2022 Pages: 352 Product Dimensions: 6.10(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.30(d)About the Author Jennifer Egan is the author of six previous books of fiction: Manhattan Beach, winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction; A Visit from the Goon Squad, which won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award; The Keep; the story collection Emerald City; Look at Me, a National Book Award Finalist; and The Invisible Circus. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, Granta, McSweeney’s, and The New York Times Magazine. Her website is JenniferEgan.com.Reading Group Guide Reading Group Guide This reading group guide for THE CANDY HOUSE includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book. Introduction The Candy House follows a number of characters as they grapple with Bix Bouton’s revolutionary technology, “Own Your Unconscious”—a device that allows people to upload and share their memories. Naturally, people disagree on whether a collective consciousness is a good thing. Some of those who despise it become “eluders,” abandoning their online identities even as “counters” try to track their disappearance. In this spectacular imagination of our near future, Egan explores the advantages and perils of invasive technologies, and the deep, universal human need for connection. Topics & Questions for Discussion 1. In nearly every chapter of The Candy House, characters are in disguise or turn out to be connected to other characters in unexpected ways, or are seen from different perspectives, or are simply strangers to themselves. Talk about Jennifer Egan’s exploration of knowability: how we know ourselves and how others know us. 2. In the first chapter, Bix, disguised as a graduate student, tries to re-create the kinds of discussions he remembers having as a college and graduate student. Why are these dialogues so hard for him to have in his adult life? And how essential is his disguise to the revelation and discovery that follow? 3. The Candy House is made up of stories written in distinct narrative voices and styles. How do these different approaches affect your reading experience? Did you feel a kind of spark when you recognized where the characters’ lives intersected? 4. The Candy House is broken into four sections—“Build” (twice), “Break,” and “Drop”—mimicking the structure of Electronic Dance Music. How do the events of each section fulfill its role in this structure, and how do the sections relate to each other? Discuss why the author might have chosen to organize her book this way. 5. Seeking authenticity is a core theme of The Candy House. According to Alfred Hollander, authenticity requires “violent unmasking” (page 30), which is why he uses disruptive behavior, such as screaming in public, to produce unfiltered reactions. What do you make of Alfred’s philosophy? Does technology like social media lead to less authentic communication and experience? What are the limitations of Alfred’s solutions? 6. If the “Own Your Unconscious” technology were real, would you use it? What are its advantages and disadvantages? Are elements of Own Your Unconscious already present in the Internet? Would you externalize your memories to the Collective Consciousness or would you become an eluder . . . or something in between? 7. Miles Hollander is a mystery to himself. He is baffled by the differing outcomes in his own life and his cousin Sasha’s. Yet when he goes up in a hot air balloon and sees Sasha’s artwork from above, everything comes into perspective for Miles—both his cousin’s sculptures and his life. Talk about Miles’s discovery, and how and why distance—and art—help him to make it. What kept him from seeing things clearly before? 8. Data experts are called “counters” in the Candy House. For some, like Lincoln, being a counter is not just a job but an identity—counters are hyperanalytical people who “understood numbers before . . . language” (page 81). What perspective do we gain by breaking down the human experience into data? And where does the mystery of human experience lie—the part that data cannot describe? Is it possible to reconcile those two realties? 9. Throughout “Rhyme Scheme,” Lincoln refers to “empiricists” and “impressionists.” How does he describe these two groups? And how accurate do these categories really seem to be, both in this chapter and throughout the novel? 10. In “Bright Day,” Roxy watches a Dungeons & Dragons game each week at her drug treatment center. She marvels at how characters are created and how players become absorbed in the game. What role does D&D play in telling Roxy’s own story? How do her observations on the game apply to the other characters’ experiences in the novel? 11. “Proxies” are professionals who cover up for eluders by maintaining their abandoned identities online. Most proxies are fiction writers who impersonate multiple identities at once. Think about why someone might become a proxy. Would you? What is the significance of fiction writers taking such a job? Are all novelists proxies of a sort? 12. Across the novel, we see characters through several perspectives, including their own. We see them through the eyes of those who are close to them and those who only know them slightly. What do you make of this holistic view? What might you learn if you could see yourself in this way—and would you want to? What does this storytelling approach allow Egan to do that she might not be able to, using a more traditional structure? 13. “Lulu the Spy, 2032” and “See Below” use the two most unusual narrative styles in the novel. Why do you think Egan chose to approach these particular chapters as she did? Imagine that these stories were told in a more conventional format. What would be lost? 14. In “Eureka Gold,” we learn of the tension and conflict between Bix Bouton and his youngest child, Gregory. What is the nature of the gulf between them? And how does their father-son tension reflect the larger concerns in The Candy House? What do you make of Gregory’s final discoveries in this chapter—about his father and about himself? 15. The novel ends with the story of Ames Hollander, age eleven, hitting a home run and winning the baseball game for his team in 1991. Why do you think Egan chose to end the novel with a story set before most of the inventions and the action take place? What role does technology play in the final chapter, and how does it reflect back on the rest of the stories leading up to it? 16. Own Your Unconscious doesn’t exist in the real world—yet. Or does it? How is life with Bix’s invention different from the virtual world we already live with? And what does Egan suggest in the final chapter about the role of fiction in our experience of the collective unconscious? 17. If you have already read A Visit from the Goon Squad or you go back to it after reading The Candy House, what do you think about the way Egan moves the central protagonists from Goon Squad to the periphery in this novel, and gives minor characters (a couple of them not yet born in Goon Squad) major roles here? Enhance Your Book Club 1. Jennifer Egan’s website, Jenniferegan.com, allows you to look at text from each chapter of The Candy House in earlier forms, including her handwritten first drafts. There is also a video of Egan leading a short writing exercise. Try this exercise as a group, using handwriting to unlock your unconscious and generate unexpected material. 2. Read or reread A Visit from the Goon Squad to find the connections across the two books. Egan’s Candy House website allows you to jump between related chapters in the two novels and includes an animated version of Goon Squad’s PowerPoint chapter,

Twelve years after 'A Visit from the Goon Squad,' author Jennifer Egan employs contemporary sci-fi themes for its sequel, 'The Candy House.'

Lando teaching this 6 year old how to play cards

A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD review & analysis of an award-winning novel. Reviews, writing skills used, publication details plus prompts & exercises.

A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD review & analysis of an award-winning novel. Reviews, writing skills used, publication details plus prompts & exercises.

Six years after winning a Pulitzer with the ‘postmodern’ A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan reveals why she has now embraced the virtues of traditional storytelling

I don’t know about you, but when I’m wandering between a bookstore’s shelves, browsing for a great new read, a book’s back cover summary isn’t always the first place I look — I mean, hello: spoilers. (Nobody likes spoilers, am I right?) Nope, when…

About this product Product Information NATIONAL BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE WINNER * With music pulsing on every page, this startling, exhilarating novel of self-destruction and redemption "features characters about whom you come to care deeply as you watch them doing things they shouldn't, acting gloriously, infuriatingly human" ( The Chicago Tribune ) . One of The Atlantic 's Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years Bennie is an aging former punk rocker and record executive. Sasha is the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Here Jennifer Egan brilliantly reveals their pasts, along with the inner lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs. "Pitch perfect.... Darkly, rippingly funny.... Egan possesses a satirist's eye and a romance novelist's heart." -- The New York Times Book Review Product Identifiers Publisher Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group ISBN-10 0307477479 ISBN-13 9780307477477 eBay Product ID (ePID) 99650285 Product Key Features Book Title Visit from the Goon Squad : Pulitzer Prize Winner Author Jennifer Egan Format Trade Paperback Language English Topic Psychological, Contemporary Women, Literary, Coming of Age Publication Year 2011 Genre Fiction Number of Pages 368 Pages, 352 Pages Dimensions Item Length 8in Item Height 0.8in Item Width 5.1in Weight 11.4 Oz Item Weight 12 Oz Additional Product Features Lc Classification Number Ps3555.G292v57 2011 Publication Date 2011-03-22 Reviews "Pitch perfect. . . . Darkly, rippingly funny. . . . Egan possesses a satirist's eye and a romance novelist's heart." - The New York Times Book Review "At once intellectually stimulating and moving. . . . Like a masterful album, this one demands a replay." - The San Francisco Chronicle "A new classic of American fiction." - Time "Audacious, extraordinary." - Philadelphia Inquirer "A spiky, shape-shifting new book. . . . A display of Egan's extreme virtuosity." - The New York Times   "Wildly ambitious. . . . A tour de force. . . . Music is both subject and metaphor as Egan explores the mutability of time, destiny, and individual accountability post-technology." - O, The Oprah Magazine   "The smartest book you can get your hands on." - Los Angeles Times   "A rich and unforgettable novel about decay and endurance, about individuals in a world as it changes around them. . . . [Daum] is one of the most talented writers today." - The New York Review of Books "It ends in the same place it starts, except that everything has changes, including you, the reader." - The New Republic "Clever. Edgy. Groundbreaking. . . . Features characters about whom you come to care deeply as you watch them doing things they shouldn''t, acting gloriously, infuriatingly human." - The Chicago Tribune "Egan's bravura fifth book samples from different eras (the glory days of punk; a slick, socially networked future) and styles (sly satire, moving tragedy, even PowerPoint) to explore the interplay between music and the rough rhythms of life." - Vogue   "Told with both affection and intensity, Goon Squad stands as a brilliant, all-absorbing novel for the beach, the woods, the air-conditioned apartment or the city stoop while wearing your iPod. Stay with this one." -Alan Cheuse, NPR's All Things Considered   "Brilliant, inventive. . . . Emboldening. It cracks the world open afresh. . . . Would that Marcel Proust could receive [a copy]. It would blow his considerable mind. . . . Expect to inhale Egan's A Visit From the Goon Squad. Then expect it to lodge in your cranium and your breastbone a good long while." - Cleveland Plain Dealer   "Frequently dazzling. . . . Egan's expert flaying of human foibles has the compulsive allure of poking at a sore tooth: excruciating but exhilarating too." - Entertainment Weekly   "If Egan is our reward for living through the self-conscious gimmicks and ironic claptrap of postmodernism, then it was all worthwhile. . . . [A] triumph of technical bravado and tender sympathy. . . . Turn up the music, skip the college reunion and curl up with The Goon Squad instead." - The Washington Post   " A Visit From the Goon Squad should cement [Egan's] reputation as one of America's best, and least predictable, literary novelists." -Taylor Antrim, The Daily Beast   "Brilliantly structured. . . . We are pulled right in. . . . [Egan is] a boldly intellectual writer who is not afraid to apply her equally powerful intuitive skills to her ambitious projects." - Elle   "This is art at its best-as a bulwark against the goon, as it embodies everything at once." - Austin American Statesman   "An exhilarating, big-hearted, three-headed beast of a story. . . . We see ourselves in all of Egan's characters because their stories of heartbreak and redemption seem so real they could be our own, regardless of the soundtrack. Such is the stuff great novels are made of." - Marie-Claire   "For all its postmodern flourishes, Goon Squad is as traditional as a Dickens novel. . . . [Egan's] aim is not so much to explode traditional storytelling as to explore how it responds to the pressures and opportunities of the digital age." - Newsweek   "Egan has accomplished the tricky feat of using metafiction techniques without sacrificing old-fashioned story-telling. . . . A Visit from the Goon Squad has a circuitous structure that seems almost designed for our Internet rewired brains." - The Wall Street Journal, “Pitch perfect. . . . Darkly, rippingly funny. . . . Egan possesses a satirist’s eye and a romance novelist’s heart.” - The New York Times Book Review “At once intellectually stimulating and moving. . . . Like a masterful album, this one demands a replay.” - The San Francisco Chronicle “A new classic of American fiction.” - Time “Audacious, extraordinary.” - Philadelphia Inquirer “A spiky, shape-shifting new book. . . . A display of Egan’s extreme virtuosity.” - The New York Times “Wildly ambitious. . . . A tour de force. . . . Music is both subject and metaphor as Egan explores the mutability of time, destiny, and individual accountability post-technology.” - O, The Oprah Magazine “The smartest book you can get your hands on.” - Los Angeles Times “A rich and unforgettable novel about decay and endurance, about individuals in a world as it changes around them. . . . [Daum] is one of the most talented writers today.” - The New York Review of Books “It ends in the same place it starts, except that everything has changes, including you, the reader.” - The New Republic “Clever. Edgy. Groundbreaking. . . . Features characters about whom you come to care deeply as you watch them doing things they shouldn''t, acting gloriously, infuriatingly human.” - The Chicago Tribune “Egan’s bravura fifth book samples from different eras (the glory days of punk; a slick, socially networked future) and styles (sly satire, moving tragedy, even PowerPoint) to explore the interplay between music and the rough rhythms of life.” - Vogue “Told with both affection and intensity, Goon Squad stands as a brilliant, all-absorbing novel for the beach, the woods, the air-conditioned apartment or the city stoop while wearing your iPod. Stay with this one.” -Alan Cheuse, NPR’s All Things Considered “Brilliant, inventive. . . . Emboldening. It cracks the world open afresh. . . . Would that Marcel Proust could receive [a copy]. It would blow his considerable mind. . . . Expect to inhale Egan’s A Visit From the Goon Squad. Then expect it to lodge in your cranium and your breastbone a good long while.” - Cleveland Plain Dealer “Frequently dazzling. . . . Egan’s expert flaying of human foibles has the compulsive allure of poking at a sore tooth: excruciating but exhilarating too.” - Entertainment Weekly “If Egan is our reward for living through the self-conscious gimmicks and ironic claptrap of postmodernism, then it was all worthwhile. . . . [A] triumph of technical bravado and tender sympathy. . . . Turn up the music, skip the college reunion and curl up with The Goon Squad instead.” - The Washington Post “ A Visit From the Goon Squad should cement [Egan’s] reputation as one of America’s best, and least predictable, literary novelists.” -Taylor Antrim, The Daily Beast “Brilliantly structured. . . . We are pulled right in. . . . [Egan is] a boldly intellectual writer who is not afraid to apply her equally powerful intuitive skills to her ambitious projects.” - Elle “This is art at its best-as a bulwark against the goon, as it embodies everything at once.” - Austin American Statesman “An exhilarating, big-hearted, three-headed beast of a story. . . . We see ourselves in all of Egan’s characters because their stories of heartbreak and redemption seem so real they could be our own, regardless of the soundtrack. Such is the stuff great novels are made of.” - Marie-Claire “For all its postmodern flourishes, Goon Squad is as traditional as a Dickens novel. . . . [Egan’s] aim is not so much to explode traditional storytelling as to explore how it responds to the pressures and opportunities of the digital age.” - Newsweek “Egan has accomplished the tricky feat of using metafiction techniques without sacrificing old-fas, "Pitch perfect. . . . Darkly, rippingly funny. . . . Egan possesses a satirist's eye and a romance novelist's heart." - The New York Times Book Review "At once intellectually stimulating and moving. . . . Like a masterful album, this one demands a replay." - The San Francisco Chronicle "A new classic of American fiction." - Time "Audacious, extraordinary." - Philadelphia Inquirer "A spiky, shape-shifting new book. . . . A display of Egan's extreme virtuosity." - The New York Times "Wildly ambitious. . . . A tour de force. . . . Music is both subject and metaphor as Egan explores the mutability of time, destiny, and individual accountability post-technology." - O, The Oprah Magazine "The smartest book you can get your hands on." - Los Angel

Former Rankin County deputy Brett McAlpin was one of six law enforcement officers who admitted to racially motivated torture.

Book club time again, this month’s selection was A Visit for the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. I liked some of the book, but there were too many characters and writing styles for me to keep up…

Lando teaching this 6 year old how to play cards

A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD review & analysis of an award-winning novel. Reviews, writing skills used, publication details plus prompts & exercises.