Bettina Deninger: EinFach Deutsch Unterrichtsmodelle : Dave Eggers : Der Circle (Paperback, 2018, Westermann Schulbuch)
Paperback
Published Dec. 1, 2018 by Westermann Schulbuch.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, even if it's getting on a bit, and some of the characters are a touch heavy handed. What starts out as vaguely sensible, turns rapidly into a dystopian nightmare fever dream. I'd recommend it.
De discussie over de mogelijke gevolgen (en gevaren) van tech/data monopolies is niet bepaald nieuw en zelfs een behoorlijke open deur. Het boek is dan wel 10 jaar oud, alhoewel deze discussie volgens mij toen ook al gevoerd werd. De discussie over privacy en democratie en de rol van techbedrijven hierin is vandaag de dag zeker niet minder relevant, en gezien de recente waarschuwingen voor AI lijkt het me nog steeds van belang om kritisch naar deze positie te kijken.
Het boek had me stevig in zijn greep. Het geeft een accuraat beeld van de gevaren van monopolies in tech als ook de redenen waarom we bewust moeten zijn van de informatie die wij delen en toevertrouwen. Het is een meeslepend, dystopisch verhaal dat laat zien hoe makkelijk men zich door mooie beloftes kan laten inpakken.
De naïviteit van Mae en de gebruikers van de Cirkel is overdreven en er …
De discussie over de mogelijke gevolgen (en gevaren) van tech/data monopolies is niet bepaald nieuw en zelfs een behoorlijke open deur. Het boek is dan wel 10 jaar oud, alhoewel deze discussie volgens mij toen ook al gevoerd werd. De discussie over privacy en democratie en de rol van techbedrijven hierin is vandaag de dag zeker niet minder relevant, en gezien de recente waarschuwingen voor AI lijkt het me nog steeds van belang om kritisch naar deze positie te kijken.
Het boek had me stevig in zijn greep. Het geeft een accuraat beeld van de gevaren van monopolies in tech als ook de redenen waarom we bewust moeten zijn van de informatie die wij delen en toevertrouwen. Het is een meeslepend, dystopisch verhaal dat laat zien hoe makkelijk men zich door mooie beloftes kan laten inpakken.
De naïviteit van Mae en de gebruikers van de Cirkel is overdreven en er had wat mij betreft wat meer weerstand mogen zijn.
Hierom 4,5 ster.
DNF at 30%. Started reading this to fulfill a prompt for a reading challenge. Granted, I was reading it 10 years after it was published, but it’s too slow, too boring, and the characters are one-dimensional. The protagonist is unlikeable, and not in an interesting way.
It's the first book I DNF'd because it was just so bad. The main protagonist has just no agency, stuff simply happens to her. The writing feels so self-aware too, as if the author felt so incredible smart about themself because they could see the writing on the wall that social media companies are evil.
Pros: Idea interesting, and relevant.
Cons: Main character either not likeable, or just too stupid to like.
I highly recommend reading this. Utopia and dystopia are some of my favourite genres, but reading this book, which is both fascinating and at the same time creepy, does not feel like reading about a dystopia, because we already have most of the technology necessary to build the "totalitarian nightmare" (as one of the characters calls it) installed by The Circle. We also already can see in our reality some aspects criticized by the book, the "fake friendships" via social network, the culture of oversharing every moment of our life to obsessively seek approval via likes and comments. And all of this is just the surface of the book, I will not write more detail about the plot and topics in order non to spoil stuff.
Regarding the pace, the first half of the book is quite slow-paced, but I encourage everyone to be patient and go through it; after …
I highly recommend reading this. Utopia and dystopia are some of my favourite genres, but reading this book, which is both fascinating and at the same time creepy, does not feel like reading about a dystopia, because we already have most of the technology necessary to build the "totalitarian nightmare" (as one of the characters calls it) installed by The Circle. We also already can see in our reality some aspects criticized by the book, the "fake friendships" via social network, the culture of oversharing every moment of our life to obsessively seek approval via likes and comments. And all of this is just the surface of the book, I will not write more detail about the plot and topics in order non to spoil stuff.
Regarding the pace, the first half of the book is quite slow-paced, but I encourage everyone to be patient and go through it; after the first half things start to become very interesting and scary.
This book fits nicely into the 1984, Brave New World genre, albeit nowhere near as 'ground-breaking'. I enjoyed the narrative style and the story line although it was very predictable. No real profund truths were uneathed. I would place the story solidly in what my son calls the 'eye candy' genre- an entertaining read, without too much thought and introspection required.
Et hovedløst klicheorgie.
The Circle har et ret åbenbart tema og bestemt et alvorligt et af slagsen. Det netværkstotale samfund som vi bevæger os imod med usvigelig sikkerhed og det som Eggert vil advare os imod. Men hold kæft hvor er han ikke særligt god til det.
Historien er blottet for bare nogenlunde realistisk persontegning. Der er absolut intet genkendeligt i hverken den ene eller den anden person, og ikke nok med det, der er absolut ingen i bogen som er bare det mindste interessante at høre om. Alle personer har et intellekt på niveau med en svensk fyldningsdør og lader sig snøre som var de lallende imbeciler. Det kan man selvfølgelig se bort fra, men det efterlader bare læseren med et indtryk af, at forfatteren ikke mener vi er kloge nok til at forstå pointerne og derfor bliver de smurt så tykt på at de totalt mister deres vægt. …
Et hovedløst klicheorgie.
The Circle har et ret åbenbart tema og bestemt et alvorligt et af slagsen. Det netværkstotale samfund som vi bevæger os imod med usvigelig sikkerhed og det som Eggert vil advare os imod. Men hold kæft hvor er han ikke særligt god til det.
Historien er blottet for bare nogenlunde realistisk persontegning. Der er absolut intet genkendeligt i hverken den ene eller den anden person, og ikke nok med det, der er absolut ingen i bogen som er bare det mindste interessante at høre om. Alle personer har et intellekt på niveau med en svensk fyldningsdør og lader sig snøre som var de lallende imbeciler. Det kan man selvfølgelig se bort fra, men det efterlader bare læseren med et indtryk af, at forfatteren ikke mener vi er kloge nok til at forstå pointerne og derfor bliver de smurt så tykt på at de totalt mister deres vægt. Selv bogens eneste metafor bliver så udkogt, at man undrer sig over om han overhovedet nogensinde har set en levende fisk.
Alt er beskrevet som om forfatteren aldrig har set det i virkeligheden. Unge mennesker, voksne mennesker, folk på landet, selvstændigt erhvervsdrivende, programmører, grafikere, supportmedarbejdere, mellemledere, topchefer. Alle bliver de beskrevet så karrikeret, så man må undre sig over hvilken sten han har boet under hele sit liv. Eller... han kan have forsøgt sig med pastichens svære kunst og kuldsejlet 100%.
Det må bliver sidste års absolut ringeste bog uden nogen som helst sammenligning. Temaet er uhyre alvorligt og fortjener simpelthen en ordentlig behandling.
Pretty good
I think it was pretty good. I really like it when books aren't afraid of making the main character seem like a terrible person. I hated Mae throughout the book.
There was also a lot of weird wording in it, and sometimes I'd have to reread stuff multiple times and I still wouldn't get it. For example, Annie told Mae something like, "I did so much better than you, suck it!" but it was written as "I did so much better than you suck it." Not a big deal, just felt really weird reading it.
Wow! Totally recommendable! A stunning book, couldn't put it down. It begins really slowly but then it's getting more and more and scary. The end is a big boom - made the story (and the message behind it) even stronger.
I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the upcoming movie. I found its critique of the tension between transparency and privacy, particularly on the Internet, to be valuable. That said, in many ways this book suffered because it sometimes lacked subtlety in the way it presented this tension to the reader.
Awesome concept, poor execution - a Black Mirror episode has the same (and a better) effect.
There's a solid amount of imagination in The Circle, but it never manages to offer more than a well-developed premise. That's not bad in itself- - it's something I enjoy in comics and films - - but it seems like such a wasted opportunity given the medium and the relative ease with which this novel could have escaped its sophomoric quality . Right now it's just not literature, despite its clever plot and decent but dry style (I refer to the many other negative reviews on this site for a discussion about that).
This is the kind of work that could get people into reading, though, so I'd heartily recommend it as such. If you're looking for something with depth, food for thought or impressive style, you'd better go elsewhere.
Edit: I find myself in perfect agreement with Brad's review, so I will be lazy and just link you there: …
There's a solid amount of imagination in The Circle, but it never manages to offer more than a well-developed premise. That's not bad in itself- - it's something I enjoy in comics and films - - but it seems like such a wasted opportunity given the medium and the relative ease with which this novel could have escaped its sophomoric quality . Right now it's just not literature, despite its clever plot and decent but dry style (I refer to the many other negative reviews on this site for a discussion about that).
This is the kind of work that could get people into reading, though, so I'd heartily recommend it as such. If you're looking for something with depth, food for thought or impressive style, you'd better go elsewhere.
Edit: I find myself in perfect agreement with Brad's review, so I will be lazy and just link you there:
Here is the review by Brad: www.goodreads.com/review/show/752010315
Done
I'm rating this book four stars in the same way I'd probably give Atlas Shrugged four stars. It's not great writing. The characters lack depth and development. And Eggers clearly has an agenda, using fictional characters to wave a red flag about the totalitarian state we're creating with Big Data.
And yet... Despite its numerous flaws, I raced through it. Every time I put the book down, something in the real world would rear its head to remind me that we're not that far away from the vision Eggers painted. And that, in turn, would make me pick it back up. Maybe it should've been named "A Vicious Circle," because that's what my reading of it was like.
