Years ago I started and never finished A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. I can’t remember the details but I do remember that I just wasn’t that into the way the perspective changed so much - I guess I never felt fully invested. What a surprise to have loved The Candy House SO MUCH! You don’t need to have read Goon Squad to read The Candy House, though the same characters reappear. Thanks to @scribnerbooks for the ARC.

Every chapter of this book is about a different character and could be at a different point in the timeline. The stories are somewhat interconnected but each chapter is compelling on its own. The book mostly takes place in the near future, when technology has evolved to allow people to upload their consciousness to the cloud, known as the collective. Egan explores how we got to this point, and the moral dilemmas that accompany these new achievements.

I mostly listened to the audiobook of this one but sometimes switched to the print. I think the first chapter was the weakest - after listening to it, I was kind of like meh, I’m obviously not going to be into it (assuming my last experience with Egan was not a fluke). But then - I kept getting more and more invested. I loved tracing the connections between different characters through the years. Some of the narrators of the audiobooks were such standouts that I’ve since tried to see what else they have worked on, and want to listen to books just because of them. I particularly loved the chapters of this book that were more speculative and I’m hoping for more speculative fiction from Egan in the future.

I was truly so sad when this book ended! I’m definitely going to go back and read Goon Squad now, and probably everything else that Egan has written. I’m really glad that I gave her work another shot. This was a favorite for me of 2022, and I highly, highly recommend it.