Elizabeth Banks

Reading is just so terrific. Especially when the book is good and read with friends who then want to eat and drink and talk about it. Hence, Carolyn, my book club buddy - that's us in a crappy pre-digital picture to the right - has re-capped our Book Club's discussion of Jennifer Egan's A Visit From the Goon Squad. As you will see, the photo is a perfect illustration of her essay since we obviously don't feel a day older than when that photo was taken (my guess: 2000). Enjoy her words and tell us in the comments if you've read this, plan to or already had a similar discussion. - EB

Hi there.  So, as promised, I’m back to report on this past Saturday’s Book Club, and to share a little of our discussion of Jennifer Egan’s A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD. 

First off, you should know that it’s very rare (read: it’s never happened) that everyone in Book Club agrees on whether we like what we’ve read.  So when I say that we were unanimous in our love (LOVE!) of this book, it’s actually saying something.  And it’s not just that we all thought it was a good read (although we definitely did) or that we thought the writing itself was exceptional (although it definitely is), but rather it’s Goon Squad’s freakish degree of relatability that kind of knocked us on our collective asses. 

And, lucky us, we got to talk about it while enjoying lots of goodies including fresh-from-the-oven (and crazy tasty) banana bread, ginger tea brewed in a French press, and ice water with sprigs of rosemary in the pitcher.  The whole spread was at once aesthetically awesome and unbelievably delicious/refreshing.   Not a total surprise given our hostess makes things/people/events jaw-droppingly gorgeous for a living.  But it is BOOK Club, so…back to the book.

The “goon squad” in question is time.  Or I guess it’s more the unstoppable, un-slow-down-able passage of time.  The way the years just keep plowing on, when we’re not looking, when we’re busy morphing from who we were into who we are into who we’re yet to become.  And, geez louise, did we Book Club-ers have heaps to say about all of that.  

As the only member of Book Club without children, I expressed to the group how often I feel like I’m playing dress-up as an adult.  I mean, by my age (thirty-five), my mother was unquestionably an honest-to-god grown-up, with the youngest of her kids already a kindergartener.  But not me.  I still feel, in so many ways, like the college kid I was (yesterday), constantly trying to navigate my tiny sliver of the world, flailing about from time to time, sometimes excited to get to, and sometimes just hoping to get through, whatever’s coming next.  What I didn’t expect, and what I found by far the most fascinating about the day’s discussion, was that, to a person (and these are OUTSTANDING women/moms/forces-of-nature), every single member of Book Club agreed to still feeling sort of twenty-two-ish, and decidedly not-adult.  And perhaps even more telling was that one member’s sixty-something mom had recently told her that she felt the same way (and she’s a grandmother!).

If I had to distill it down, I guess the main thing I took away from Book Club on Saturday was that adulthood doesn’t just show up one day and announce its arrival to anyone (I honestly kind of thought it had for everyone else but me).  Turns out, as humans, our metamorphoses are a tad more subtle than that.  From our discussion, it’s clear A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD made each of us reflect on the role time plays in each of our lives.  It’s like that John Lennon quote: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”  Yep.  Sure does.  True story.

Next up for us is THE MEMORY OF RUNNING, by Ron McLarty.  We’re set to meet on March 31^st, and shortly thereafter, I’ll check in to let you know how it went.  In the meantime, if you read (or if you’ve already read) A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD, I’d be super curious to hear what, if any, reaction(s) you guys might have.  Happy March! 

-Carolyn Ingber