Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

The Every by Dave Eggers

1 review

nenaveenstra's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

The Every has basically the same, if not more, bleak outlook on the evolution of technology and the human race as its predecessor, The Circle. It follows Delaney, a thirty-something who is determined to destroy The Every: a technology and e-commerce monopoly that is almost like a commune/cult in the way that it houses and feeds its employees in a way that completely cuts them off from the rest of society. 

And the employees - Everypeople, or Everyone in the singular form - love it. They love not having to think for themselves, letting AI judge them, the words they use, the people they meet, the purchases they make. And every time a new radical thing gets invented, something that will rob Everypeople from the last bit of individuality they had in them, they adopt it willingly. 

The Every devours other companies and invades people’s privacy and freedom, all under the guise of saving the planet. All the adjustments the Every makes combat climate change somehow, which makes it that much easier to sell - but in the end, it’s still a capitalist monopoly that only cares for its own ability to make money. 

I think that Dave Eggers is trying to warn us for multiple things with this book, including, but not limited to: (1) the failure of (Western) governments to properly tackle the climate crisis might lead to other powerful forces to take the lead, (2) buying technological products without thinking critically of what they’re capable of, and if their manufacturer is truly honest about its uses, (3) the rapid development of all things technology, and (4) cancel culture. 

The latter is a bit of a cheap shot, in my opinion, and caused me to sigh and think ‘ok boomer’ multiple times, but of course there is something to be said about the rest of these points. I think people should always try to think critically about things, especially regarding the narrative powerful forces (government or otherwise) try to sell you - and you should not always buy what you’re being sold. And yes, I am frustrated with the way governments are handling the climate crisis and that makes The Every sound - sometimes - like a Walhalla. Not eating specific types of fruit when they’re not in season? Count me in. Being more mindful of the kinds of clothes you buy? Already doing that. But the positives do not outweigh the negatives, given that tons of Everypeople end their lives - a society where that happens, is broken. 

I don’t think it’s fair to judge a book by its ideologies; as long as it’s written well, it doesn’t matter if I agree or not. Was it well-written though? Well, Dave Eggers certainly knows how to write in an accessible way, and he is even funny at times. However, he also tends to obviously think he is funny when he’s actually just talking about penises. On top of that, he has opted for female main characters in both The Circle and The Every, even though it’s so blatantly obvious that he doesn’t know how to write women (case in point: the constant wandering of Delaney’s eyes to men’s crotches and making remarks about phallic shapes - no woman is that obsessed with dicks). Instead, his characters are more plot-devices than actual human beings, churning out ideas to make The Every even worse and being made susceptible to its ideologies. Not to mention the insanely long paragraphs and endless enumerations that basically hammered home the same ideas over and over again. 

I often found the character’s actions in this book quite unbelievable - not only those of Delaney, but of the Everypeople in general. It might be that I’m just not willing to believe that people would be so willing to give all their freedoms away, though - forgive me for being subjective - but I felt like this book was unnecessarily pessimistic about humans as a whole. 

The COVID-19 pandemic was obviously a big source of inspiration for this book - being published in 2021 - and Eggers even invented a second pandemic for funsies. The people in this book were more accustomed to staying inside in order to prevent illness, and even agoraphobic, because of these pandemics. In other words: people were okay with staying inside, because they had been quarantining for so long anyways. To me, that sounds absolutely insane. When I look at the people around me, most felt like a caged animal during the quarantaines, and I don’t think anyone wants to go back to that again. It felt so weird to read about this alternate future where people actually did. 

Before I sign off, I want to give a (dis)honourable mention to the way the book referenced itself and The Circle. For example, at some point it is said that the ideal length for a book over 500 pages is 577 pages, which is exactly the amount of pages in this book. And there is talk of a movie being made about The Circle, which didn’t do very well in the box office - just like the movie adaptation of The Circle, the book. It was all so apt that I didn’t know whether I loved it or hated it, but I’m thinking the latter. 

In conclusion - this has been a very long review, I’m sorry - I’m glad I read this book, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody, unless they’re looking for a book that will frustrate them to no end. Terrible characters, a questionable plot (oh my god I didn’t even talk about the plot), interesting but bleak ideas: that’s The Every summed up. 
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