One of the main characters of the book and first appearing as Bennie’s assistant. Sasha Grady experiences her non-ideal childhood, teenage years involving extreme points of view and her adulthood, where she tries to create the most normal environment in response to the previous years, in the novel A Visit From the Goon Squad. Throughout the book, Sasha experiences some issues especially with addiction. She sees a therapist regularly to try to attend to her frequent stealing and drug problems. After running away from her original home setting, with her Uncle, she flees to Naples where she continues life as a hooker for the Pimp Lars. Once she is finished with Naples, she moves back to Manhattan, attends college and meets Drew, whom she marries and has two children with. Sasha is considered one of the main characters because of her ties to certain other significant characters such as Alex, Rob, and Bennie. They all were drawn to her at certain times and are extremely affected by her presence. The Sasha Grady character, as a whole, helps expand on the character spider web of connections that Egan has created.
The General
One of the most random characters, the General is a genocidal dictator that is attempting to avoid being murdered and targeted for his crimes. The CIA is constantly trying to assassinate him so he goes to Dolly to try and improve his media image, in an attempt to prevent further attacks. It is clear he is only concerned with himself by displaying very little emotion and desires to only protect himself and his position. As he desperately tries to have Dolly believe, to make the American people believe, that the genocidal acts are rumors, he serves as a role for Egan to display the importance of social media and how influential it is on the American public. Not only that, but this also help reflects the time because even a genocidal dictator knows the extent of social media coverage he needs to gain American sympathy. Kitty speaks her mind and confronts him about lying and this also helps Egan show more examples of rebellion amongst younger people. Ultimately, the General displays his power to be dangerous by capturing Kitty after she publicly humiliated him.
Jules Jones
After graduating from University of Michigan, he goes and stays with his sister, Stephanie, at NYU to pursue writing, which leads to partying. As he progresses into the seen, he gets a Job at Harper’s and from there shares an apartment with three roommates. Each is significant because they all go off to become grand things such as magazine editors and Pulitzer Prize winners. Jules doesn’t to the same success as them because he becomes involved in a hairy situation. He is charged and found guilty for the attempted rape of Kitty during an interview, and in result, is forced to attend a correctional facility for approximately five years. After serving his time and attempting to treat his issues, such as being bipolar, Jules moves into Bennie and Stephanie’s house. This is where he tries to jump back into journalism by doing pieces on Bosco, an old dying musician. Through Egan’s narrative choice, and unlocking of Jules's brain, we learn how he has hasn’t completely escaped the dark thoughts that caused him to act out in his past.
Jocelyn
Rhea’s best friend since fourth grade, and Scotty’s major crush, Jocelyn is one of the members of the original friend group in San Francisco, California. She is midway through her teenage years, sixteen, and has a beautiful half Chinese face, lots of ear piercings, and black hair that is not uniformly cut. As she finds herself crazed by Lou, an older man, she willingly is drawn into a lifestyle involving mistreatment, sex, and heavy drug use. She progresses into the punk scene with her other friends Rhea and Alice, but is drawn away by Lou and she runs away with him to Los Angeles. Lou brings out a side of Jocelyn that isn’t familiar to her friends, and this way Egan helps display elder’s influence on the easily swooned youth. The book continues and since Lou is near death, Rhea and Jocelyn come together again for his passing. By doing this, Jocelyn reflects how her decisions have caused her to end up living with her mom and pursuing a degree at UCLA. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it reflects how her past decisions caused her to push off important details and now she is completing more uniform activities to attempt at a normal lifestyle. Rhea contrasts this because she is married and lives in Seattle, and this helps serve as an example of where Jocelyn wants to end up. Jocelyn represents many stereo-typical point of views about teens becoming runaways once exposed to punk music and the faster lifestyle.
Charlie
Lou’s 14-year-old daughter, who is somewhat defiant of her father. She is resentful of Mindy and tries everything in her power to distract her father from Mindy. When she grows up, she becomes more coarse and daring, acquiring a cocaine addiction and joining a Mexican cult. She eventually detaches from this version of herself and reverts back to her birth name, Charlene.
Bennie Salazar
Bennie is a music producer, record label executive, and former seventies punk rocker in San Francisco. He lives in New York City, is Latino, has a son named Chris, was once married to a woman named Stephanie, and is Sasha’s employer. Bennie suffers from frequently remembering embarrassing memories and a decreased sex drive. He fears becoming irrelevant as he ages. These fears and ailments are representative of the theme “time is a goon.” Bennie desires to return to his youth (which time has taken from him), regrets how he has lived his life, and fears what time might take from him in the future.
Kitty Jackson
Kitty Jackson is a formerly famous starlet who, after ten years, has become irrelevant and looks a little worse for wear. Her biggest claim to fame is being sexually assaulted by reporter Jules Jones. She also has self-inflicted burns to make it appear that she was at Dolly's infamous party. Dolly enlists her to pretend to be in a relationship with The General in order to make him more appealing to the public. However, during their meeting, Kitty insults The General and is captured by his goons. She is not heard from after that but we are told that she is safe. Kitty’s life experience reflects the theme “time is a goon.” As time passes, Kitty is robbed of her fame and her looks.
Lincoln Blake
Lincoln, or “Linc,” is the son of Sasha and Drew and the older brother of Alison. He is 13 at the time when chapter 12 takes place and is somewhat autistic, being obsessed with rock songs with pauses in them. Lincoln cannot explain why he likes those songs so much, which frustrates his father and causes some tension between them. The pauses are an important symbol in the novel because they represent time passing.
Alex
Alex first appears in the first chapter of the book, going on a date with Sasha. He later appears in the last chapter of the book married, with a baby daughter, and working as a promoter for one of Bennie’s upcoming artists, Scotty Hausmann. Alex is meant to represent transformation, appearing in the first chapter a seemingly irrelevant minor character and later re-emerging with new meaning and relevance because of the relationships he has established with some of the other characters. He also shows the reader the interconnectedness of everyone in the novel.
Rolph
Bennie Salazar
Bennie is a music producer, record label executive, and former seventies punk rocker in San Francisco. He lives in New York City, is Latino, has a son named Chris, was once married to a woman named Stephanie, and is Sasha’s employer. Bennie suffers from frequently remembering embarrassing memories and a decreased sex drive. He fears becoming irrelevant as he ages. These fears and ailments are representative of the theme “time is a goon.” Bennie desires to return to his youth (which time has taken from him), regrets how he has lived his life, and fears what time might take from him in the future.
Kitty Jackson
Kitty Jackson is a formerly famous starlet who, after ten years, has become irrelevant and looks a little worse for wear. Her biggest claim to fame is being sexually assaulted by reporter Jules Jones. She also has self-inflicted burns to make it appear that she was at Dolly's infamous party. Dolly enlists her to pretend to be in a relationship with The General in order to make him more appealing to the public. However, during their meeting, Kitty insults The General and is captured by his goons. She is not heard from after that but we are told that she is safe. Kitty’s life experience reflects the theme “time is a goon.” As time passes, Kitty is robbed of her fame and her looks.
Lincoln Blake
Lincoln, or “Linc,” is the son of Sasha and Drew and the older brother of Alison. He is 13 at the time when chapter 12 takes place and is somewhat autistic, being obsessed with rock songs with pauses in them. Lincoln cannot explain why he likes those songs so much, which frustrates his father and causes some tension between them. The pauses are an important symbol in the novel because they represent time passing.
Alex
Alex first appears in the first chapter of the book, going on a date with Sasha. He later appears in the last chapter of the book married, with a baby daughter, and working as a promoter for one of Bennie’s upcoming artists, Scotty Hausmann. Alex is meant to represent transformation, appearing in the first chapter a seemingly irrelevant minor character and later re-emerging with new meaning and relevance because of the relationships he has established with some of the other characters. He also shows the reader the interconnectedness of everyone in the novel.
Rolph
Lou’s 11-year-old son, who seems to be the only person capable of soothing his father. He accepts Mindy because he has not yet learned how to distinguish his father’s desires from his own. During his teenage years, he has a romantic relationship with Jocelyn (they are the exact same age). As he grows older he becomes estranged from his father and kills himself at 28.
Bosco
Bosco is the lead guitarist of Bennie’s most successful band The Conduits, and also becomes a close family friend. At his peak of life he is described as, “scrawny… a hive of redheaded mania who made Iggy Pop look indolent onstage” (pg. 125). Although he was an energetic performer in his youth, the reader only sees Bosco years later as a washed-out and morbidly obese man with a plethora of health issues. Bosco is central to the theme of point A to B, because he constantly yearns to regain his youth to the point that he would rather die trying to obtain that illusion than just fade away. To achieve this goal he decides to embark on a suicide tour where he will perform with just as much energy as in his prime even if it will most likely kill him. Bosco also coins the phrase “time is a goon” (pg…) which relates to the book’s title, saying that time is the ultimate force of destruction that brings an end to youth and good moments in life.
Lou Kline
Seen primarily when he is in his forties and at the top of his career as a music producer, Lou is described as wealthy, handsome and charismatic man. He is introduced as Jocelyn’s sexual partner while she is still in highschool and he is an adult with six children. Throughout his storyline the reader sees that he consistently goes for younger women because he refuses to let go of his youth and as long as he is still appealing to a young girl, he himself will feel young. The reader never discovers Lou’s point A, but the story does show Lou on his deathbed as he slowly fades away from old age. The house that jocelyn once described as having endless parties is now quiet and forgotten, proving that time takes away everything in the end.
Scotty Hausman
Scotty is Bennie’s best friend when they are teenagers and a member of their band The Flaming Dildos. In his youth Scotty is attractive to all the girls even getting with (and eventually marrying) Alice who Bennie really liked, but as an adult he becomes a janitor with an unkempt and startling appearance to those who knew him. Scotty tries to convince himself through his adult life that he can experience things vicariously through other people and receive just as much pleasure as they did in an attempt to justify his lack of success in both personal and business life. It becomes clear that this is untrue when Scotty compares his life to Bennie’s and starts to contemplate how they both started with the same point A but wound up in such different circumstances.Scotty does eventually find musical success, even if he didn’t seek it, many years in the future with the help of Bennie who feels guilty for having been so much more successful and is trying to give Scotty a taste of what he had when he was at his peak.
Ted Hollander
Appears in chapter 11 which is from his perspectiveTed is Sasha's uncle who goes to search for her in Naples during her destructive late-teen years. He is an art history teacher and spends most of his time in italy avoiding searching for Sasha by touring art museums. He doesn’t avoid her out of lack of love but the quite the opposite, because ted does not want to see what has possibly become of the fragile little girl he adored as a child.His chapter is important because it sheds light on Sasha’s point A that she personally avoided discussing in other chapters. From an outside perspective, the reader gets to see how broken she was in this time and how her kleptomaniac tendencies really began.
Dolly/La Doll
Dolly used to be head of the publicity agency where Stephanie works, but is now just a poor single mother. Her fall from grace is due to a disastrous party that she hosted in which burning oil was poured all over her celebrity guests. Dolly is now working for The General to improve his public image. She doesn't approve of the things her client has done in the past but still takes the job because she needs the money. Dolly's transition is representative of the motif of Point A to Point B. She undergoes a major event in her life that transforms her from a famous publicist to a nobody.
Lulu Peale
Dolly’s daughter resulting from Dolly becoming pregnant by a musician. Despite the unfortunate nature of her creation, Lulu is intelligent and popular at the prestigious private school she attends. She is embarrassed by what her mother has become and does her best to hide her from her friends. Lulu grows up to attend Barnard and work as Bennie's assistant. Lulu embodies the theme of personal development and passage of time in the novel. Seeing her first as a young girl and then as a young woman, the reader gets a sense of the effects of time on the characters.
Alice
Alice is a member of the San Francisco punk group back in the 70s. Bennie is in love with her but she has a crush on Scotty. Scotty and Alice eventually get together (and later get married and divorced) but only because Scotty's main crush, Jocelyn, isn't available. Alice comes from a rich, upper-class family and has two younger sister. She feels inhibited by her background because, as long as she leads a privileged life, she can never be a real punk. Alice went to private school until 9th grade and still has all her old uniforms in her closet. These uniforms symbolize her wealth and privilege.
Alison Blake
Alison is the 12-year-old daughter of Sasha and Drew and the younger sister of Lincoln. Chapter 12 is an excerpt from Alison's powerpoint presentation that serves as her diary. Alison gets along well with her father even though her isn't home much but purposefully goes out of her way to annoy her mom. She also gets along well with her brother, Lincoln, supporting his interest in pauses in rock music. Alison gives a unique perspective on Sasha's life after marriage and how she has changed.
Alfred
Bosco
Bosco is the lead guitarist of Bennie’s most successful band The Conduits, and also becomes a close family friend. At his peak of life he is described as, “scrawny… a hive of redheaded mania who made Iggy Pop look indolent onstage” (pg. 125). Although he was an energetic performer in his youth, the reader only sees Bosco years later as a washed-out and morbidly obese man with a plethora of health issues. Bosco is central to the theme of point A to B, because he constantly yearns to regain his youth to the point that he would rather die trying to obtain that illusion than just fade away. To achieve this goal he decides to embark on a suicide tour where he will perform with just as much energy as in his prime even if it will most likely kill him. Bosco also coins the phrase “time is a goon” (pg…) which relates to the book’s title, saying that time is the ultimate force of destruction that brings an end to youth and good moments in life.
Lou Kline
Seen primarily when he is in his forties and at the top of his career as a music producer, Lou is described as wealthy, handsome and charismatic man. He is introduced as Jocelyn’s sexual partner while she is still in highschool and he is an adult with six children. Throughout his storyline the reader sees that he consistently goes for younger women because he refuses to let go of his youth and as long as he is still appealing to a young girl, he himself will feel young. The reader never discovers Lou’s point A, but the story does show Lou on his deathbed as he slowly fades away from old age. The house that jocelyn once described as having endless parties is now quiet and forgotten, proving that time takes away everything in the end.
Scotty Hausman
Scotty is Bennie’s best friend when they are teenagers and a member of their band The Flaming Dildos. In his youth Scotty is attractive to all the girls even getting with (and eventually marrying) Alice who Bennie really liked, but as an adult he becomes a janitor with an unkempt and startling appearance to those who knew him. Scotty tries to convince himself through his adult life that he can experience things vicariously through other people and receive just as much pleasure as they did in an attempt to justify his lack of success in both personal and business life. It becomes clear that this is untrue when Scotty compares his life to Bennie’s and starts to contemplate how they both started with the same point A but wound up in such different circumstances.Scotty does eventually find musical success, even if he didn’t seek it, many years in the future with the help of Bennie who feels guilty for having been so much more successful and is trying to give Scotty a taste of what he had when he was at his peak.
Ted Hollander
Appears in chapter 11 which is from his perspectiveTed is Sasha's uncle who goes to search for her in Naples during her destructive late-teen years. He is an art history teacher and spends most of his time in italy avoiding searching for Sasha by touring art museums. He doesn’t avoid her out of lack of love but the quite the opposite, because ted does not want to see what has possibly become of the fragile little girl he adored as a child.His chapter is important because it sheds light on Sasha’s point A that she personally avoided discussing in other chapters. From an outside perspective, the reader gets to see how broken she was in this time and how her kleptomaniac tendencies really began.
Dolly used to be head of the publicity agency where Stephanie works, but is now just a poor single mother. Her fall from grace is due to a disastrous party that she hosted in which burning oil was poured all over her celebrity guests. Dolly is now working for The General to improve his public image. She doesn't approve of the things her client has done in the past but still takes the job because she needs the money. Dolly's transition is representative of the motif of Point A to Point B. She undergoes a major event in her life that transforms her from a famous publicist to a nobody.
Lulu Peale
Dolly’s daughter resulting from Dolly becoming pregnant by a musician. Despite the unfortunate nature of her creation, Lulu is intelligent and popular at the prestigious private school she attends. She is embarrassed by what her mother has become and does her best to hide her from her friends. Lulu grows up to attend Barnard and work as Bennie's assistant. Lulu embodies the theme of personal development and passage of time in the novel. Seeing her first as a young girl and then as a young woman, the reader gets a sense of the effects of time on the characters.
Alice
Alice is a member of the San Francisco punk group back in the 70s. Bennie is in love with her but she has a crush on Scotty. Scotty and Alice eventually get together (and later get married and divorced) but only because Scotty's main crush, Jocelyn, isn't available. Alice comes from a rich, upper-class family and has two younger sister. She feels inhibited by her background because, as long as she leads a privileged life, she can never be a real punk. Alice went to private school until 9th grade and still has all her old uniforms in her closet. These uniforms symbolize her wealth and privilege.
Alison Blake
Alison is the 12-year-old daughter of Sasha and Drew and the younger sister of Lincoln. Chapter 12 is an excerpt from Alison's powerpoint presentation that serves as her diary. Alison gets along well with her father even though her isn't home much but purposefully goes out of her way to annoy her mom. She also gets along well with her brother, Lincoln, supporting his interest in pauses in rock music. Alison gives a unique perspective on Sasha's life after marriage and how she has changed.
Alfred
Alfred is Ted’s moody, unpredictable son who, like his brothers, plays nearly every sport, spreading his time thin. Though he appears only briefly in the novel for a conversation with his father in chapter 11, Alfred’s line “There’s no time... Time is running out” is one of the stronger allusions to the central theme of time in the novel and its transforming and sometimes adversarial nature.
Drew Blake
Drew Blake first appears in chapter 10, as a friend of Rob and the boyfriend of Sasha in their college years. He is described as ambitions, planning on attending law school post graduation. He was present when Rob drowned in the Hudson river, which eventually motivated him to change career paths and become a doctor, saving lives to make up for his failure to save Rob. This fits into the novel’s theme of A to B, showing how one event completely changed the course of Drew’s life. He later appears in chapter 12, written from his daughter Alison’s point of view. By this time he is married to Sasha with two children, Alison and Lincoln. He is described as a “good man” by friends and is mostly depicted as a kind father, although he has a hard time connecting to his youngest son, Lincoln. This is both disheartening and uplifting to readers. Portrayed as possibly the most put together of all of Jennifer Egan’s characters, it is disappointing to see that even he has significant problems. This can also be reassuring, proving that even the most seemingly stable people deal with character flaws.
Rob Freeman
The only chapter Rob narrated is chapter 10, although he was also mentioned in chapter twelve. He was best friends with Sasha throughout college and developed a friendship with Drew as well. He struggled with his interest in both of these characters, admitting that he was in love with Sasha and hinting at his attraction to Drew, although it was never completely clear whether this was jealousy or attraction. He struggled with depression through his college years, climaxing at his attempted suicide. His timeline ended abruptly when he drowned in the Hudson River and Drew failed to save him, adding to the naturalistic sense that this book provides as well and illustrating the lack of control that people have over their own lives.
Rhea
Chapter three depicts Rhea in high school where she was a member of the Flaming Dildos and was friends with Bennie, Scotty, Alice, and Jocelyn, although she shared a much stronger bond with Jocelyn. She struggled with her identity, never feeling like a “true punk” which she blamed on her freckles. Throughout high school she experienced unrequited love for Bennie Salazar but eventually ended up married with three children which is described in chapter five, when she and Jocelyn visit Lou Kline. Rhea perfectly captures the self conscious teenager, hating aspects of her body and personality, and perfectly depicting the identity crisis that many young adults experience. However she grows up to be the most stable of her band mates proving that the way people grow and change is entirely unpredictable.
Stephanie
Stephanie was the wife of Bennie Salazar and the employee of La Doll. She narrates chapter seven, and is mentioned as Bennie’s ex-wife in chapter two. Chapter seven describes her and Bennie’s life in Crandale, a conservative suburb in New York. Despite her and Bennie’s alternative lifestyle a a music promoter and producer, respectively, she finds herself desperately wanting to fit into Crandale’s orthodox lifestyle. While Rhea describes the identity crisis of a punk teenager, Stephanie illustrates these issues manifested in a seemingly content and confident adult.
Joe
Drew Blake first appears in chapter 10, as a friend of Rob and the boyfriend of Sasha in their college years. He is described as ambitions, planning on attending law school post graduation. He was present when Rob drowned in the Hudson river, which eventually motivated him to change career paths and become a doctor, saving lives to make up for his failure to save Rob. This fits into the novel’s theme of A to B, showing how one event completely changed the course of Drew’s life. He later appears in chapter 12, written from his daughter Alison’s point of view. By this time he is married to Sasha with two children, Alison and Lincoln. He is described as a “good man” by friends and is mostly depicted as a kind father, although he has a hard time connecting to his youngest son, Lincoln. This is both disheartening and uplifting to readers. Portrayed as possibly the most put together of all of Jennifer Egan’s characters, it is disappointing to see that even he has significant problems. This can also be reassuring, proving that even the most seemingly stable people deal with character flaws.
Rob Freeman
The only chapter Rob narrated is chapter 10, although he was also mentioned in chapter twelve. He was best friends with Sasha throughout college and developed a friendship with Drew as well. He struggled with his interest in both of these characters, admitting that he was in love with Sasha and hinting at his attraction to Drew, although it was never completely clear whether this was jealousy or attraction. He struggled with depression through his college years, climaxing at his attempted suicide. His timeline ended abruptly when he drowned in the Hudson River and Drew failed to save him, adding to the naturalistic sense that this book provides as well and illustrating the lack of control that people have over their own lives.
Rhea
Chapter three depicts Rhea in high school where she was a member of the Flaming Dildos and was friends with Bennie, Scotty, Alice, and Jocelyn, although she shared a much stronger bond with Jocelyn. She struggled with her identity, never feeling like a “true punk” which she blamed on her freckles. Throughout high school she experienced unrequited love for Bennie Salazar but eventually ended up married with three children which is described in chapter five, when she and Jocelyn visit Lou Kline. Rhea perfectly captures the self conscious teenager, hating aspects of her body and personality, and perfectly depicting the identity crisis that many young adults experience. However she grows up to be the most stable of her band mates proving that the way people grow and change is entirely unpredictable.
Stephanie
Stephanie was the wife of Bennie Salazar and the employee of La Doll. She narrates chapter seven, and is mentioned as Bennie’s ex-wife in chapter two. Chapter seven describes her and Bennie’s life in Crandale, a conservative suburb in New York. Despite her and Bennie’s alternative lifestyle a a music promoter and producer, respectively, she finds herself desperately wanting to fit into Crandale’s orthodox lifestyle. While Rhea describes the identity crisis of a punk teenager, Stephanie illustrates these issues manifested in a seemingly content and confident adult.
Joe
The grandchild of an African warrior Charlie meets. He will inherit the warrior’s hunting dagger, go to college at Columbia to study engineering, and become an expert in robotic technology that detects irregular movement. He will marry Lulu and live in a loft in Tribeca. Though he makes only a brief appearance in the novel, the character conveys a strong message in how time yields change and ultimately progress, a technological genius, would be close offspring to a primitive tribal warrior.
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