3.25k reviews for:

A casa de doces

Jennifer Egan

3.72 AVERAGE

challenging reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: N/A
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A
adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring medium-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: Complicated

Loved it until the end. I feel like everything was tied a little too nicely with everyone realizing they were connected through someone, but a beautiful book about interconnectedness. 
medium-paced

I’ll start by saying I never read A Visit from the Goon Squad but I adding to my TBR list. Apparently, some of the minor characters from that book are the main characters in The Candy House. I had no clue, and it didn’t take away from my reading experience.

And don’t let the science fiction label scare you…it revolves around imagined technology and takes place in the late 90’s to the late 2020’s.

The Candy House revolves are Bix Bouton (think Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos) who has built a technology firm and is so famous everyone knows him by his first name. At 40 and feeling like he needs a new challenge, he attends a discussion group of mostly Columbia University professors where he is inspired by one of the professors.

Using the concepts behind the professor’s research, he creates a new technology called “Own Your Unconscious” where people can opt-in to have access to every memory you have ever had. People can also share their unconscious with others in a kind of memory database that is searchable and viewable.

The story revolves around multiple characters whose perspectives are told in a variety of writing methods. I read the book several months ago and wish I had written this review immediately upon completion. It is a good discussion about privacy and whether people should have access to so much information about each other. It takes the Instagram/Twitter, social media culture another level entirely.

I found the book fascinating and it would make a great discussion.
adventurous challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Enjoyed the speculative fiction aspect but largely bored by the character studies. Clearly an amazing feat of imagination but I didn't find the added complexity of dozens of viewpoints to be worth the added reading effort

Not for me. Or maybe not for me at this time. Too many people to keep track off, too many writing styles.

I read this book over two weeks and suspect I might have enjoyed it more if I had read it faster. Anytime I picked up the book again I had a really hard time remembering who was who and connected with whom - which is quite important for the story.

As it was, the story felt a little pointless.

Very GenX-y. Very intertwined. I enjoyed the ride. 

Slightly better than the Goon Squad, but more of the same things that I didn’t really like about the first in this book. I just…don’t see what the rave reviews are about. Some of these stories are absolute slogs to get through. I had fun with a few of them, but not enough to make this stand out or sit with me much. I’m writing this review two weeks after I finished the book and I can’t remember any of the stories. The central aspect of the whole collective conscious etc was slightly interesting but not enough to sustain much thought about it once I turned the last page on this book. Meh. I guess I’m just not into this type of fiction.