A review by mstewa02
The Candy House by Jennifer Egan

4.5

I adored this book. The experimental writing style aligns poetically with the experimental technology discussed in the book. The only negative I have for it is that there are probably 20-30 characters, and each one has a connection to at least one other. When I read this again, I’ll probably keep a character list in order to better connect the story lines because it was hard to remember all of the connections. I really liked having each chapter from a different perspective and time period though. I don’t know the proper writing style term (please comment if you do) but it’s as if the plot was told passively, and the character development was told actively. If that makes sense? Kind of reminded me of how “Her Body and Other Parties” delivered the plot of each short story. I dunno, I just really enjoyed this.

P.S. should you choose to read this (you should) I really recommend reading it when you have time to knock out at least one, if not a couple, chapters at a time. Because the connection of each character is so loose, but the concepts are so intricate, it’s not one to easily read a few pages here and there and still be able to keep up with. At least it wasn’t for me!)