A Visit from the Goon Squad

Chapters 1 and 2 of A Visit from the Goon Squad establish the novel’s non-linear style of storytelling. We can deduce that the events in chapter 2, “The Gold Cure”, take place some years earlier than those in “Found Objects,” because in the first chapter, Sasha refers to Bennie as her “old boss” (5), while in the second chapter she is still working for him. There is a suggestion that her kleptomania may be affecting her work when she gives Bennie his box of gold flakes with the explanation that he dropped it earlier. The storytelling shifts between temporal perspectives, sometimes narrating the current action, sometimes narrating it in the past from the perspective of a therapy discussion or a nostalgic reminiscence, and sometimes predicting what will happen in the future. The one indication of a fixed point in history occurs in “The Gold Cure,” as Sasha tells Bennie that the last time she heard Stop/Go perform was at Windows on the World, which she says was “five years” ago (33), exactly “four days” (34) prior to an event that is never mentioned explicitly, but which we can assume from the context to be 9/11.

The novel deals with the matter of time through its non-linear form of storytelling, but it also addresses the issue of time through the concerns of its characters. Bennie Salazar literally has trouble keeping time, as he miscalculates the number of years it has been since he last heard Stop/Go play. Bennie once said of his idol, Lou Kline, “You’re finished” (37), when the older man became nostalgic about the rock and roll industry. Bennie now behaves in the same manner, complaining about the state of the business and reminiscing about his old friends, “none of whom he’d seen in decades . . . yet still half believed he’d find waiting outside the Mabuhay Gardens (now defunct)” (23). In “Found Objects,” we see that Sasha has anxiety around aging, as, despite being thirty-five years old, “her online profiles all listed her as twenty-eight” (6). In contrast to Bennie’s anxiety about being past his prime, however, we see in Sasha a hope for her future, as in the midst of her shame about her kleptomania, she still hopes for “redemption, transformation—God how she wanted those things” (18).

Another theme that emerges in these first chapters is the power of narrative to affect reality. In “Found Objects,” the immediate story is a disturbing one, as Sasha seems to be trapped in self-destructive behavior. Having just confessed and returned a stolen wallet to one woman, she is still compelled to look through Alex’s wallet. Serving as a counterpoint to this immediate narrative, however, are Sasha’s therapy sessions, in which she discusses with Coz what is going on inside her head as she acts out these unhealthy behaviors. Through the layering of narratives, we understand that there is hope for Sasha, that this is “a story whose end has already been determined: she would get well” (6). In contrast to Sasha’s success with her therapist, Bennie rejects the therapist he and Chris are meant to see. Furthermore, he is constantly fighting what the therapist describes as the “Will to Divulge” (24); Bennie’s urge to recount to his son all those memories that provoke his own sense of shame. Bennie is burdened by the ways in which his own stories play over and over in his mind, and the closest he comes to release is when Sasha finds the scribbled notations he keeps as a means of controlling his urge to tell the stories to Chris. When Sasha finds the note, he initially feels “agony, as if the words themselves might provoke catastrophe” (37), but then he feels relief to have them uttered aloud.