Jeff L. reviewed on 9/19/2012

Jennifer Egan's book is, in very few words, a trip. This is not a novel that follows traditional plot progression--you should know this before you pick it up or else you'll be lost within the first 100 pages. The book is ostensibly about Bennie, a former punk rocker now managing a label, and his assistant Sasha, a troubled kleptomaniac.

Still interested? Good.

While Bennie and Sasha are doubtless the central characters of the novel, the story flows out of order and from the perspectives of a diverse ensemble cast that interacts with them, sometimes in significant ways, other times in tangential ways. The story takes you from modern day New York to the African wilderness to the punk rock era in San Francisco to a war-torn country ruled by a dictator conscious of his public image to a post-war future speculating on the next step of today's social media and technology. Very few other books will take you on as crazed and diverse a ride as this.

Jennifer Egan is a excellent author herself as well, and while the breadth of her story is wide, she keeps things moving forward with excellent prose and wonderful characterization, making everyone in the book feel unique and alive.

Highly recommended.

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