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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
funny
medium-paced
I think I liked Goon Squad more than Candy House, but Egan's characters are still amazing in this one — their development is just slightly more overshadowed by the light sci-fi world building
I really wanted to like this book! Based on the premise, I was looking forward to a great story. Unfortunately, the book didn't feel connected to me. I wasn't sure how most of the chapters went together or how the many characters were connected, which made it a difficult read for me. Even having said that, there were a few chapters that I did enjoy and I did have some thoughts about the ideas the book tackles. Surveillance, social media, and authenticity, among others are all concepts worth thinking about!
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As I was reading The Candy House, I started jotting notes about characters and their relationships. The notes covered all the blank pages in the back of my advanced readers copy. Usually, I don’t have a problem keeping track of characters in a book that shifts across time.
I noted references to Ulysses, fairy tales, D&D. And there is the title, The Candy House, and the warnings “nothing is free,” and “never trust a candy house,” for as Hansel and Gretel learned, “it was only a matter of time before someone made them pay for what they thought they were getting for free.” And, then there was the reference to “retracing their steps though the forest without breadcrumbs to guide them.”
This was my first Egan read. I missed all the connections to her earlier novel A Visit From the Good Squad. The book had to stand on its own.
The technology that is the ‘candy lure’ is over the top, the ability to upload personal memories for preservation and sharing. Strangers can do a ‘gray grab’ of someone else’s consciousness the way we turn on the television to relax with a sit com. People choose to participate with the Collective Consciousness, ending all privacy.
Sure, that’s what we are essentially doing today with social media. I am perfectly aware that by blogging and sharing my reviews I have given up my privacy. In The Candy House world, some people elect to not participate; they are the outliers. Sometimes, people create a proxy to stand in for them as they go underground. Technology is implanted into the human body that enables agencies to use spies in new ways. It is all very disturbing.
And, frankly, I have been flummoxed about what to write. Am I not intellectual enough? I read James Joyce’s Ulysses forty plus years ago, and although I got an A in the course it was based on my attendance my fifty-page paper, not classroom discussion input. Because I was frankly in over my head. And that’s how I feel with this novel.
Usually, I have an emotional response to novels. I didn’t connect to the characters or their experiences. It was more of a ‘head trip.’
I have met my match. I read brilliant reviews by other early readers. I myself have little to add.
I received a free ARC from @bookclubfavorites at @Simon$Schuster. My review is fair and unbiased.
I noted references to Ulysses, fairy tales, D&D. And there is the title, The Candy House, and the warnings “nothing is free,” and “never trust a candy house,” for as Hansel and Gretel learned, “it was only a matter of time before someone made them pay for what they thought they were getting for free.” And, then there was the reference to “retracing their steps though the forest without breadcrumbs to guide them.”
This was my first Egan read. I missed all the connections to her earlier novel A Visit From the Good Squad. The book had to stand on its own.
The technology that is the ‘candy lure’ is over the top, the ability to upload personal memories for preservation and sharing. Strangers can do a ‘gray grab’ of someone else’s consciousness the way we turn on the television to relax with a sit com. People choose to participate with the Collective Consciousness, ending all privacy.
Sure, that’s what we are essentially doing today with social media. I am perfectly aware that by blogging and sharing my reviews I have given up my privacy. In The Candy House world, some people elect to not participate; they are the outliers. Sometimes, people create a proxy to stand in for them as they go underground. Technology is implanted into the human body that enables agencies to use spies in new ways. It is all very disturbing.
And, frankly, I have been flummoxed about what to write. Am I not intellectual enough? I read James Joyce’s Ulysses forty plus years ago, and although I got an A in the course it was based on my attendance my fifty-page paper, not classroom discussion input. Because I was frankly in over my head. And that’s how I feel with this novel.
Usually, I have an emotional response to novels. I didn’t connect to the characters or their experiences. It was more of a ‘head trip.’
I have met my match. I read brilliant reviews by other early readers. I myself have little to add.
I received a free ARC from @bookclubfavorites at @Simon$Schuster. My review is fair and unbiased.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fabulous lil dystopian world-building anthology. I didn’t read A visit from the Good Squad but I’m def going to be incorporating more Egan into my rotation.
I loved how the characterizations were so distinct; the voices so different; even the story formats were unique to the particular aspect being shared. Def worth the read!
I loved how the characterizations were so distinct; the voices so different; even the story formats were unique to the particular aspect being shared. Def worth the read!
I guess I just didn’t really like any of these people…. It is creative though.
I feel terrible giving this book such a low rating. It was well written and I did like the thematic elements. But I had a difficult time staying with it. I tried reading this book during a time of extreme stress and I probably would not have been able to focus on anything I read. This one was like a bunch of short stories that had overlapping characters but it also jumped around in time and I found all of it too much for my overtaxed brain to handle. I may give it another chance at another point, but for now this is my rating.
great book if you want to get anxious about stuff you didn’t even know you should be anxious about
