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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
There are some fun stories and a few interesting quotations (ie "not every story needs to be told") but overall -- the characters are mundane, uninteresting and spend a lot of time ruminating.
Anyone who has read basic info on how the brain works knows that our brains rewrite our memories each time we think about them and remember them. How does the proposed "Mondrian" system for exporting your consciousness to a cube for others to search and reference reconcile the differences of memories between people? I fear I may never know because this book is such a yawn.
Perhaps the challenge in this book is to map the plethora of characters as one reader did.
This is an entirely people-centric book -- are there cats, dogs or other animals? There's a brief mention of the Mondrian system being used to communicate with cats in one of the stories and that it was considered unethical because of consent.
Nobody seems to exercise or think about fitness or engage in hobbies or activities that are not related to dining, shopping, annoying your family and so on. Does anyone create anything in this world or is it a world doomed to drugs addiction, suicide (attempts) and navel-gazing?
Anyone who has read basic info on how the brain works knows that our brains rewrite our memories each time we think about them and remember them. How does the proposed "Mondrian" system for exporting your consciousness to a cube for others to search and reference reconcile the differences of memories between people? I fear I may never know because this book is such a yawn.
Perhaps the challenge in this book is to map the plethora of characters as one reader did.
This is an entirely people-centric book -- are there cats, dogs or other animals? There's a brief mention of the Mondrian system being used to communicate with cats in one of the stories and that it was considered unethical because of consent.
Nobody seems to exercise or think about fitness or engage in hobbies or activities that are not related to dining, shopping, annoying your family and so on. Does anyone create anything in this world or is it a world doomed to drugs addiction, suicide (attempts) and navel-gazing?
Ykw, I enjoyed this one. I don’t know that I’d have been sucked in so easily had it not been an airplane book for me, but reading most of it in one sitting helped me keep the names and storylines somewhat straight. I like the idea of world building through unique related but kind of unrelated POVs but at times it felt disorienting. Would maybe recommend to a friend but probably won’t pick up again
While others may enjoy this book, I did not. If you appreciate a collection of short stories that are intended to highlight a larger plot, then by all means, this book is for you. However, I found it lacking and, quite frankly, I grew bored while reading it. Some stories were more engaging than others, but there were times when a concept or thought was introduced and then abruptly ended, leaving me wanting more. I can honestly say that if this were not a book club pick, I would not have read it.
Full Reveiw - https://thetravelingbook1.wordpress.com/2024/11/20/the-candy-house/
Full Reveiw - https://thetravelingbook1.wordpress.com/2024/11/20/the-candy-house/
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I LOVED this. I can’t wait to read others in the Egan universe as her use of language is exquisite and unmatched. Truthfully a classic.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Well, this is a provisional rating, as I am not yet sure how I feel. I very much liked it at first--up until the section that seemed to be tweets, which I didn't follow well. I had trouble concentrating on the little snippets and so may have read over details that would have helped. We get an explanation of why this was as it was only a good bit later, at which time much fell into place, and I was happier again. I did feel that Egan was trying hard, maybe too hard, to incorporate contemporary forms of writing. But, given the book's subject, a society (not, apparently, that far into the future) in which human consciousness and memory are extractable and shareable--surprise, surprise, not necessarily with the human's knowledge or consent--it makes a lot of sense to do this. I need to reread A Visit from the Goon Squad, to which this is a sequel of sorts, I gather. Anyway, I thought it was well worth reading, and I did not share other Goodreads reviewers' confusion about how the sections and characters fit together, with the one obvious exception above.
I liked the overall message although it was a bit on the nose, and I usually love a book with interconnected stories, but this one was a little too much and too many. There were quite a few stories I loved singularly, but together it was a bit of a mish mash.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes