Jennifer Egan - A Visit From The Goon Squad

Just as good as its victory in this year's Tournament of Books would lead you to expect. It's about time, and turning points, and what it is to be human and alive; the sentences are wonderful, the characters affecting and real. Reading it, one feels happy, sad, reminded of how deep life runs, the piercing everyday specificity of all the moments and choices and actions that make up a life. Despite the formal playfulness of the 'linked short pieces' structure, there's something unassuming about Goon Squad; for all that, it's a quiet marvel.