{"id":76914,"date":"2017-10-24T09:07:29","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T22:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/?p=76914"},"modified":"2017-10-24T09:07:29","modified_gmt":"2017-10-23T22:07:29","slug":"jennifer-egan-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2017\/10\/24\/jennifer-egan-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Jennifer Egan is in a class of her own."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Manhattan<\/a>Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan<\/strong>
\nReview by Ben Hunter<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Visit from the Goon Squad<\/em><\/a> is one of those novels that continually haunts those who inhabit the world of books. For years now, friends, acquaintances, colleagues and strangers alike have approached me with the inevitable “Have you read Goon Squad<\/em>? No? You must read it!” or “Yes? Isn’t it great!” And\u00a0A Visit from the Goon Squad<\/em> by Jennifer Egan is great. The prize-winning contemporary novel told in 13 stories described by some as “post-postmodern” (I know, let’s not think about it) is a truly wonderful book. But it’s nothing like Jennifer Egan’s new creation, Manhattan Beach<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Manhattan Beach<\/em> is a more traditional novel, Egan’s first foray into the realm of historical fiction. Anna Kerrigan, at twelve-years-old meets a wealthy gangster involved with some unknown business with her father. Years later, as the US is joining the Second World War, Anna fights to become one of the first women to pick up tools and go to work at New York’s naval yards when, by coincidence, she is met by the gangster once again. Entering this man’s orbit is Anna’s only chance to uncover the mystery of her father’s disappearance.<\/p>\n

This book is a welcome addition to any reader’s bedside table. The noirish narrative is enthralling and atmospheric with Anna, and every character in her world, written intimately. It also fills the mind with historical nuggets from American history – organised crime, class struggle in 20th Century New York and the transformative power of that war, particularly in the lives of women.<\/p>\n

Told with enough warmth, wit and wisdom to win over the most cynical of readers, this novel is a reminder as to why we return to the form again and again. Jennifer Egan is in a class of her own.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"About the Reviewer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ben Hunter works at Booktopia as a web merchandiser and lives in Sydney\u2019s Inner West. When he\u2019s not reading or creating collections and emails for Booktopia, you\u2019ll find him playing frisbee, eating pastries or watching Meg Ryan movies with his mum. He\u2019s an avid recycler and a poor speller. He sometimes tweets @itsbenhunter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan Review by Ben Hunter A Visit from the Goon Squad is one of those novels that continually haunts those who inhabit the world of books. For years now, friends, acquaintances, colleagues and strangers alike have approached me with the inevitable “Have you read Goon Squad? No? You must read it!” or “Yes? Isn’t it great!” And\u00a0A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan is great. The prize-winning contemporary novel told in 13 stories described by some as “post-postmodern” (I know, let’s not think about it) is a truly wonderful book. But it’s nothing like Jennifer Egan’s new creation, Manhattan Beach. Manhattan Beach is a more traditional novel, Egan’s first foray into the realm of historical fiction. Anna Kerrigan, at twelve-years-old meets a wealthy gangster involved with some unknown business with her father. Years later, as the US is joining the Second World War, Anna fights to become one of the first women to pick up tools and go to work at New York’s naval yards when, by coincidence, she is met by the gangster once again. Entering this man’s orbit is Anna’s only chance to uncover the mystery of her father’s disappearance. This book…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":76918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[40,6678],"tags":[320,1974,7161,2778,8028,4482],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/ManhattanBeachSocial.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76914"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76914"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76926,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76914\/revisions\/76926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}