Jennifer Egan "A Visit from the Goon Squad"
Relations between characters
Structure
Trying to figure out the chronology.
Part A
Chapter 1 - Found Objects
New York City. ~~2016 (basing on reasoning from Chapter 11 and Sasha’s age)
From perspective of Sasha who is 35 at that time. Sasha no longer works for Bennie, she worked for him 12 years. She’s on a date with Alex (a legal secretary at the time). Alex is 28 (“on his profile”, “but he seemed younger than that, maybe a lot younger”). He’s fresh in NYC.
They get to Sasha’s Lower East Side walk-up where she’d lived for 6 years.
Chapter 2 - The Gold Cure
New York City. ~2006 (assuming Bennie was born in 1962 like Rolph)
Bennie’s perspective. Bennie is 44. Sasha is Bennie’s assistant at the time. Bennie kissed Mother Superior 20+ years ago in nunnery in Westchester. Sow’s Ear Records had moved to the old Tribeca coffee factory 6 years ago. Chris (Bennie’s son) is 9. Sasha had known Chris all his life.
Chapter 3 - Ask Me If I care
San Francisco. 1979 (“1980 is almost here”, also matches with Charlie’s age)
Rhea’s perspective. Bennie, Scotty, Jocelyn, Rhea and Alice are in high school. Marty is a sophomore at SF State; Jocelyn, Rhea and Scotty are headed there next year.
Lou is around 43. Charlie is 20, Rolph is Jocelyn and Rhea’s age (aka 17). Lou has 6 children, the two littlest ones are almost babies.
Chapter 4 - Safari
Kenya. 1973 (2008 is “35 years from now”)
3rd person but mostly Charlie’s and Mindy’s perspective. Charlie is 14 (19 years old warrior is “only five years older than she is”). Rolph is 11. Lou is in his late 30s. Lou has 4 children at the time. Lou and Ramsey barely avoided Korea almost 20 years ago. Mindy is 23.
Mindy will begin academic carrier at 45. Her youngest daughter will work for Lou and inherit his business.
Rolph shots himself at 28.
Chapter 5 - You (Plural)
Los Angeles? 2005 (because Jocelyn was born in 1962)
Jocelyn’s perspective. Jocelyn is 43. Rhea is married with 3 children in Seattle. Nadine (Rhea’s oldest) is 16.
Chapter 6 - X’s and O’s
New York City. ~1997 (must be before the events from Chapter 2 because the Bennie and Scotty meeting is mentioned there)
Scotty’s perspective. Sasha still works for Bennie. Chris is 3 months old. Bennie married to Stephanie.
Part B
Chapter 7 - A to B
Crandale, New York and New York City. ~2004 (based on Chris’s age)
3rd person but mostly Stephanie’s perspective. Chris is 7. Jules (Stephanie’s older brother) already assaulted Kitty. Scooter who babysits Chris is 16.
Jules was 24 when he came to New York 3 years ago.
Bennie and Stephanie are together but there are problems.
Chapter 8 - Selling the General
New York City and ???. ~2013
Following Dolly (La Doll). Dolly’s luck ended on New Year’s Eve 2 years ago. Kitty Jackson debuted 10 years ago in Oh, Baby, Oh and was assaulted a year later by Jules Jones. Kitty is 28. Lulu is 9.
Chapter 9 - Forty-Minute Lunch: Kitty Jackson Opens Up About Love, Fame, and Nixon!
New York City. ~2004
Article by Jules Jones. Kitty is 19.
Chapter 10 - Out of Body
New York City. ~~1998 (basing on reasoning from Chapter 11)
2nd person Rob’s perspective. Drew, Rob, Sasha, Lizzie are at NYU. Bix is doing PhD. “Computer-message-sending is going to be huge - way beyond the telephone”.
Sasha is almost 21. This is after Naples. Drew calls Sasha “my older woman” sometimes.
Conduits are on top at the time. Sasha meets Bennie.
Rob drowns.
Chapter 11 - Good-bye, My Love
Naples. ~~2000 (~20 years before the slide show?)
3rd person following Ted Hollander. Ted has 3 sons: Miles, Ames, Alfred. Sasha disappeared 2 years ago, at 17 (so she’s 19).
20+ years later Sasha had gone to college and settled in New York; she’d reconnected with her college boyfriend (Drew) and married late and had 2 children (one of whom was slightly autistic).
Chapter 12 - Great Rock and Roll Pauses
New York City? May 14th & 15th 202- (as per slides)
Slide show by Alison Blake. Alison is 12, Lincoln is 13.
Chapter 13 - Pure Language
New Your City. ~2024 (basing on Lulu’s age)
3rd person following Alex. Alex and Bennie are both married and have baby daughters. This is Bennie’s second marriage.
Cara-Ann is <5.
Lulu is in her early 20s. Chris is 2 years older than Lulu.
Quotes
I can’t tell if she’s actually real, or if she’s stopped caring if she’s real or not. Or is not caring what makes a person real?
- Chapter 3 - Ask Me If I Care
“… You don’t look good anymore twenty years later, especially when you’ve had half your guts removed. Time’s a goon, right? Isn’t that the expression?”
- Chapter 7 - A to B
English was full of these empty words - “friend” and “real” and “story” and “change” - words that had been shucked of their meanings and reduced to husks. Some, like “identity”, “search,” and “cloud,” had clearly been drained of life by their Web usage. With others, the reasons were more complex; how had “American” become an ironic term? How had “democracy” come to be used in an arch, mocking way?
- Chapter 13 - Pure Language
“You can, Scotty - you have to,” Bennie said, with his usual calm, but through his thinning silver hair Alex caught a shimmer of sweat on his crow. “Time’s a goon, right? You gonna let that goon push you around?” Scotty shook his head. “The goon won.”
- Chapter 13 - Pure Language