A bestselling dystopian novel that tackles surveillance, privacy and the frightening intrusions of technology in our lives—a “compulsively readable parable for the 21st century” (Vanity Fair).
When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency.
As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO.
Mae can’t believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world—even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public.
What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.
Full review on my blog: www.thepunktheory.wordpress.com
David Eggers wrote a fascinating and dark novel that hits the spot. He brings up so many ideas and even if some of them may sound a bit weird or ridiculous at first, I am convinced that the world he pictures isn't far away. What he mentions feels very credible which is exactly why this very Orwellian story is so scary.
While is ideas are highly intriguing, his characters are not. Especially Mae, the main character, seems to be incapable of forming a single (critical) thought of her own. She annoyed me just so much, I wanted to smack her and shake her. I understand that the only way for the story to work like this is a characters like hers, but still - Eggers had me rolling my eyes at her several times. Let's be honest, not everything makes sense to 100% but it's still a very good book.
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7 June, 2018:
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7 June, 2018:
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