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A review by mcloonejack
The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
5.0
What an absolutely stunning work.
In lesser hands, having a new point of view every chapter—including distinct writing styles, in both syntax and style—but Egan absolutely blows it out of the park. The little “trick” of having all the characters overlap never wore thin, either. In fact, I was always excited to see how the stories would tie together, which they do in increasingly intricate ways.
The other trick that Egan pulls off that a lesser writer couldn’t is writing a book about the larger dangers of increasingly invasive social media that doesn’t feel preachy. There are no soap boxes about the dangers of putting your entire memory online, but they’re made clear; and at the same time, the benefits that entice others are there, too. Egan also teases out so many more interesting trickle down changes that would come from a large portion of the population putting the entirety of their memories online and making them accessible.
All of this is about the craft, but the story itself is also full of heart and tension and engaging characters. In the short times you spend in their POV, you come to really care for, or at least understand, them all, and then seeing them from others’ points of view further serves to flesh it out.
Note: I did not read A Visit From The Goon Squad prior to reading this, but did not feel as though I was missing anything.
In lesser hands, having a new point of view every chapter—including distinct writing styles, in both syntax and style—but Egan absolutely blows it out of the park. The little “trick” of having all the characters overlap never wore thin, either. In fact, I was always excited to see how the stories would tie together, which they do in increasingly intricate ways.
The other trick that Egan pulls off that a lesser writer couldn’t is writing a book about the larger dangers of increasingly invasive social media that doesn’t feel preachy. There are no soap boxes about the dangers of putting your entire memory online, but they’re made clear; and at the same time, the benefits that entice others are there, too. Egan also teases out so many more interesting trickle down changes that would come from a large portion of the population putting the entirety of their memories online and making them accessible.
All of this is about the craft, but the story itself is also full of heart and tension and engaging characters. In the short times you spend in their POV, you come to really care for, or at least understand, them all, and then seeing them from others’ points of view further serves to flesh it out.
Note: I did not read A Visit From The Goon Squad prior to reading this, but did not feel as though I was missing anything.