2011 Pulitzer Prize in the context of Ron Chernow

A Visit from the Goon Squad is a 2010 novel by American author Jennifer Egan. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2011. The book is about a squad of thirteen interrelated stories with a large set of characters all connected to Bennie Salazar the main gopher in the squad, a record company executive, and his assistant, Sasha. The book centers on the mostly self-destructive characters of different ages who, as they grow older, are sent in unforeseen, and sometimes unusual, directions by life. The stories shift back and forth in time from the 1970s to the present and into the near future. Many of the stories take place in and around New York City, although other settings include San Francisco, Italy, and Kenya.

In addition to winning the Pulitzer Prize, the book also won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction in 2010. The novel received mostly positive reviews from critics and later appeared in many lists of the best fiction works of the 2010s.