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A review by marshamudpuddle
Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin
4.5
This took me by surprise. Very readable and engaging, but also thought-provoking and morally serious. It is about a world in which a new technology craze has taken hold globally: kentukis, which are essentially remote-controlled cuddly toys with webcams in them, allowing people to spy on, or be spied on, by strangers. The whole thing is brilliantly, vividly imagined: sometimes I genuinely had to remind myself that the kentukis aren't real! What really struck me though was how effective they were as a way of exploring ideas about technology, globalisation, interconnectivity, moral responsibility, privacy, commercialism, law and regulations, ensoulment, death, and much else besides. There is a lot to chew on here. It is that rare thing: an easy-to-read book that cuts deep.
The book is also formally interesting: somewhere between a novel and a book of short stories. There are essentially five main stories we follow, which remain separate in terms of plot, but are connected by the presence of the kentukis. Then scattered throughout (including the very opening chapter) are one-off stories as well, that further build out this imagined world. I genuinely loved all five stories, and never minded switching between them.
I would recommend this to anyone, with the only caveat being that there are some pretty unpleasant things that happen and things do get very dark towards the end.
Side-note: my copy has the tagline "Trusting strangers can lead to unexpected love..." which is a terrible tagline that makes this brilliant book sound like a crappy romance novel, and more to the point, isn't what the book is about at all. So whoever wrote that should be fired!
Second side-note: This was the second novel I've read this year translated by Megan McDowell (following The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, by Mariana Enríquez) and once again, the translation was impeccable, totally disappearing as a great translation should.
The book is also formally interesting: somewhere between a novel and a book of short stories. There are essentially five main stories we follow, which remain separate in terms of plot, but are connected by the presence of the kentukis. Then scattered throughout (including the very opening chapter) are one-off stories as well, that further build out this imagined world. I genuinely loved all five stories, and never minded switching between them.
I would recommend this to anyone, with the only caveat being that there are some pretty unpleasant things that happen and things do get very dark towards the end.
Side-note: my copy has the tagline "Trusting strangers can lead to unexpected love..." which is a terrible tagline that makes this brilliant book sound like a crappy romance novel, and more to the point, isn't what the book is about at all. So whoever wrote that should be fired!
Second side-note: This was the second novel I've read this year translated by Megan McDowell (following The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, by Mariana Enríquez) and once again, the translation was impeccable, totally disappearing as a great translation should.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Kidnapping