lambders 's review for:

The Circle by Dave Eggers

3.0

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Here, Eggers creates a not-too-far-off dystopia (basically "Google takes over the world"). He tries to makes some points about data privacy and social media, nut I do not see this book withstanding the tests of time. The Circle and all its terminology ("frowns", "smiles", etc.) were really thinly-disguised analogs for today's social media outlets. As a result, I found most of Eggers' commentary trite and kind of gimmicky. The plot itself was also pretty basic -- are we really supposed to believe that no one (or at least a significant portion of the population) would stand opposed/ be suspicious of the Circle's motives? Or be opposed to the gross breaches in data privacy (by a private company!)? All of this was glossed over in the book. So that also kind of bothered me. 

Overall, I don't think Eggers really adds anything new to the conversation around "The Information Age" with The Circle, but the book was sufficiently entertaining for me to finish.