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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
good read! Has me questioning why I share so much of my private stuff on facebook?!?
This book unnerved me in a big way yet I couldn't put it down. This was a rare time of me reading a book without knowing anything about it and the whole time I had no clue where it was going. I'm already slightly anti-tech and though not a paranoid person by nature I totally contemplated removing all tech from my life. The social commentary was frightening in that I could see this becoming an issue. In which case I will find an island and go off grid.
I would have given four stars except I found that eggers could have been more concise.
I enjoyed this, although I found it a bit protracted in parts.
The pace did pick up towards the end.
Quite scary because it is possible that this could happen
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The pace did pick up towards the end.
Quite scary because it is possible that this could happen
flagcomment · see review
Well, that was terrifying. It's a world that's an introvert's nightmare, but also scary in the sense that at the beginning especially, it doesn't feel that far off from our current world. So much of what is described could be possible with current technology.
I'd agree that Eggers isn't really adding anything new to the conversation about our obsession and reliance on technology, but I still felt compelled to finish this book, which is saying something, I suppose. I agree with many others that Mae is an unrealistic cardboard cutout of a protagonist--she supposedly is a college grad yet has absolutely no critical thinking skills or ability to reflect on herself. Once she drinks the Kool-Aid a third of the way into the novel she apparently stops thinking altogether.
I have a feeling that Eggers is either preaching to the choir or making his story so parodic that no reader be forced to question their own relationship to technology. ("Yes, I have my cellphone on the table whenever I have dinner with friends, but at least I don't have 9 screens on my desk at work and zing 9,000 people at day!") So, in that way, I was disappointed.
Lastly, I wish Mae had been celibate.
I have a feeling that Eggers is either preaching to the choir or making his story so parodic that no reader be forced to question their own relationship to technology. ("Yes, I have my cellphone on the table whenever I have dinner with friends, but at least I don't have 9 screens on my desk at work and zing 9,000 people at day!") So, in that way, I was disappointed.
Lastly, I wish Mae had been celibate.
A really good read but a bit spooky and big brother-y.
Is this supposed to be 21st century literature? I thought it was drivel. The world Eggers creates is too close to our own to avoid judgement, so I found myself yelling back at the audiobook and telling Mae to grow a brainstem, preferably attached to a spine. Why, oh why, can non one think for themselves in this novel? Does Eggers have such a low opinion of humanity that he paints us as one-dimensional and solely "progress" driven? I can't believe this book would receive much acclaim if written by a lesser known author.
Nope, nope, nope.
The first few chapters were promising, but as the story unravels there's a small problem: there's no story.
I'm sure at some point shit will hit the fan, cause you can definitely get, from the style of the narrative, how there are really bad things undergoing the main plot of our protagonist, Mae, joining the company know as The Circle. But that point seems to never come, and almost halfway into the book I am extremely disappointed in the pacing, the character build up and how I don't give a shit about Mae or anyone around her and how the way the world is constructed doesn't seem to hold.
Especially when there's internet jargon and potential disaster, which usually interests me, but in this particular occasion it's just not working.
The first few chapters were promising, but as the story unravels there's a small problem: there's no story.
I'm sure at some point shit will hit the fan, cause you can definitely get, from the style of the narrative, how there are really bad things undergoing the main plot of our protagonist, Mae, joining the company know as The Circle. But that point seems to never come, and almost halfway into the book I am extremely disappointed in the pacing, the character build up and how I don't give a shit about Mae or anyone around her and how the way the world is constructed doesn't seem to hold.
Especially when there's internet jargon and potential disaster, which usually interests me, but in this particular occasion it's just not working.