“Time’s a goon, right? You gonna let that
goon push you around?” So says Bennie Salazar to his old mate Scotty in the
final chapter of the book, finally unlocking the mystifying title. By then both
have them have been pushed around quite a lot, as have another dozen or so
characters, who pop in and out of each other’s lives as snippets of their
stories emerge in no chronological order.
Meeting them at various stages of their life
from wild youth to staid middle age (though some don’t make it that far)
illustrates how people change, adapt, or in some cases stay just the same in
the face of events, circumstances or experience. Egan even has a dip into the
near future with some astute projections that are already recognisable in 2018
some eight years since publication.
Each chapter’s narrative style reflects its
main protagonist; quite a feat given their variety in age, gender and
personality. And each provides an entertaining, well written piece for the
reader to try to slot into the jigsaw that is the havoc wreaked by the Goon
Squad.
An entertaining, invigorating and memorable
read.
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