Rather than focusing on Anna’s attraction to a married man nearly thirty years her senior, the story could have expanded on Anna’s diving experiences or her run-ins with gangsters. It seems to have been included simply for the story to have an ending. The structure is as choppy as the time period the novel situates itself in.įor instance, there is the romantic relationship that, frankly, no one wanted. Certain plot elements seem unnecessary and boring. At times, though, the novel seems too busy and forced. Her skillful language invokes a magical quality, keeping her readers engaged. There is a lot going on in this novel, and few authors would be able to tie all these elements together as neatly as Egan does. Family dynamics, especially between father and daughter, are at the core of this novel.

We are given glimpses into Styles’ life as well, and his own interdependent relationship with his daughter. Throughout the novel, we are shown viewpoints from Anna’s father, including flashbacks giving clues about his disappearance.

Meanwhile, she finds her life becoming intertwined with that of Dexter Styles, a nightclub owner and the gangster who may be responsible for her father’s disappearance. Anna develops a dream of becoming a diver and ambitiously does so. Anna’s father has disappeared, and she works for the Navy Yard to support her mother and disabled sister. This cryptic scene goes on to ground the rest of the novel and everything ties back to this moment.Įgan takes us ahead to the height of the war. He tells her to be good, that he is relying on her, but gives her little else to go off of.

The novel begins a few years before the war, with young Anna Kerrigan accompanying her father to a mysterious man’s house. “Manhattan Beach” has something for everyone: World War II, gangsters, New York’s first female diver, a charming younger sister with tragic disabilities, father-daughter relationships, romance and more. It follows a familiar plot structure, without any extreme genre play, but weaves together a vast array of subjects. “Manhattan Beach,” however, is not quite as experimental as Egan’s other works, at least not in form and structure. “Manhattan Beach” is Egan’s first novel since her success with “A Visit From the Goon Squad.” Readers and critics eagerly awaited the novel’s release in 2017, expecting another unique tour de force from the acclaimed author. Renowned for her creative experimentation with genre and form, Egan won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for “A Visit From the Goon Squad,” a book which is almost a novel, almost a short-story collection. Jennifer Egan can always be expected to impress her readers with her dazzling prose.

Jennifer egan manhattan beach summary