Dave Eggers, Dave Eggers: The Circle (2014)
631 pages
English language
Published July 10, 2014
When Mae Holland is hired to work for the world's most powerful internet company, she can't believe her luck. The Circle, run out of a hip, sprawling California campus, links users' online data with their universal operating system, creating a new age of civility and transparency. But the story of one woman's ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, and democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.
Die Struktur ist etwas gewöhnungsbedürftig, so ganz ohne Kapitel, nur Absätze.
Im Prinzip sind wir ja an diesem Szenario schon nahe dran, es ist nur ein wenig weitergesponnen und überspitzt. Ich finde nur, es hätte gerne noch mehr Katastrophen geben können, und das durchaus schon etwas früher.
Content warning discussion of the Circle's technology re: sexual assault (spoilers?)
P.S. This is my first time reading a dystopian novel. As such, I have no comparisons to draw, but it ought to be possible to do it much better.
Am I supposed to believe no one saw this small, inexpensive SeeChange camera and did not immediately think of the great value this would bring to voyeurs? How is anyone supposed to feel safe in bathrooms or locker rooms? It was advertised as a tool that would make life easier, communities safer, but apparently every character is so near-sighted as to not even deem this issue worthy of a single sentence. I find it extremely hard to believe that nobody in the whole research + development + marketing process would have thought of this. The naivety of almost all characters in this novel regarding privacy is utterly infuriating and unrealistic. Why do the characters still stand behind The Circle after so many violations of their privacy which they are described to be disgusted by? Why do they take "I'm sorry, but we cannot help you with this." as an answer?
Apart from the problem I've already talked about, the scenes in which Mae has sex as well as the ones in which she thinks about her lovers seem to me like the very definition of "written by a man", it's just that uncomfortable.
If this weren't required reading for my class I would probably have given up after half of it. It tries to be more than it is.
Just save your time, skip this one, it's baaaad.
The protagonist is so extremely naive, the plot points are only surprising in the way that they always go down the route that's so stupid you wouldn't believe the author actually goes there.
The only redeeming quality is the topic. There is so much potential for a fantastic story, but it's just mind boggling how you could screw it up this bad. The personalities of the characters are bland, the technologies are often outright impossible just to allow certain things to be possible, the story is unbelievable as where the plot points go, the dialogs are weird, the way he portrays women is very weird to say the least (especially the toilet scene with "him") ... I could go on for hours with that, but just don't read it. Maybe watch the movie, but don't waste your time with the book. …
Just save your time, skip this one, it's baaaad.
The protagonist is so extremely naive, the plot points are only surprising in the way that they always go down the route that's so stupid you wouldn't believe the author actually goes there.
The only redeeming quality is the topic. There is so much potential for a fantastic story, but it's just mind boggling how you could screw it up this bad. The personalities of the characters are bland, the technologies are often outright impossible just to allow certain things to be possible, the story is unbelievable as where the plot points go, the dialogs are weird, the way he portrays women is very weird to say the least (especially the toilet scene with "him") ... I could go on for hours with that, but just don't read it. Maybe watch the movie, but don't waste your time with the book.
I mostly feel bad for the story itself. There are so many good authors out there, that would be able to turn this into a work of art. Just the premise alone is strong, it just needs good characters and a believable story. It's sad that they made a movie about this book. They made it because of the premise I'd think, not because of the actual story.
I don't recommend this book, no, I even advise you to not waste your time with this pile of garbage. You are welcome.
This book changed the way I looked at the internet, specifically social media. It was really the first time I became aware of the dark side, and themes from this book have cemented themselves as constants in my mind
整点新鲜的我不知道的成吗？读你不如去读新闻专访。
一本2013年的书居然还在那里扯‘天哪天哪the big tech firms are gonna eat all of us alive they are the Wolfs in Sheep’s Clothing’
整篇光描述问题不给解决方案解决思路，也不整点别人没讲过的发展预测
浪费时间。
对tech这些没那么了解的人可能看这个被唬住，也许我不是它的目标人群吧。
A little heavy handed, but the ending helped dramatically in my opinion of the book.
A little heavy handed, but the ending helped dramatically in my opinion of the book.
The book just ends. There's no satisfying conclusion, and while the journey was interesting, it went nowhere.
Better review to come, but in the meantime I feel like throwing my phone into the Charles and disappearing from the internet forever.
A blunt and occasionally funny satire about the blackest imaginings of a technologically-controlled world. Egger's writing is often stale and predictable, but the ideas (albeit technically far-fetched) save an often entertaining book. It says nothing profound, but, like Black Mirror positions itself as an anthology of the worst possible outcomes of technological advancement. Some fantastic passages about quantification and freedom make the book worthwhile.
However necessary it might be to the plot, it's so frustrating to read novels in which the main character acts less than is acted upon. Come on, Mae, instigate something!
Also, Dave Eggers has an Ayn Rand problem. He seems to be immune to her philosophy, at least, but the style is pure ham-fisted Fountainhead.
The topic is a good one. I guess I'm adding a star in recognition of a worthy study.
It works - as a satire.
It works - as a satire.
Meine Rezension: amerdale.wordpress.com/2015/08/11/gelesen-dave-eggers-der-circle/
I almost didn't finish this. It isn't really a novel; it reads like notes from one of my father's sociology lectures crossed with alarmist Wired articles. The characters were cardboard, propped up to lecture about all the evils of totalitarian monopolies. It had about as much subtlety and finesse as a HuffPo listicle. The two stars I'm giving it are for raising important questions about privacy and social interaction, but this is a slog and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
