This was a quick read - took me about two days (granted, one was a sick day). Some initial thoughts:

• 1984 meets Office Space


• Would pair nicely with 1984 in high school assigned reading programs

The novel does a nice job illustrating the importance of maintaining balance in information technology and asking the question of what that balance is. Where is that line between secrecy and privacy? Who owns information? What information is best kept personal and what private information is worth sharing in exchange for a better quality of life or greater efficiency? What information is better left unknown? What happens when we no longer have to wonder about things - when all questions can be answered with a simple web query - how does this affect the human brain and behavior? When does communication cease being meaningful?

While many of the characters and situations are cliches and the storyline isn't particularly original (1984, Fahrenheit 451, The Space Merchants, elements of The Semplica Girl Diaries, The Firm), Eggers has done a reasonably good job applying those themes to modern day issues. I truly think the cliches are intentional - The Circle is meant to be recognizable - Facebook, Google, ClearChannel, YouTube, Twitter, and COX all rolled up into one. And the characters are meant to be cliched representatives of their demographic - the way individuals are to marketers.

What I found a bit hard to swallow was the relationship between Mae and Kalden/Ty. She was clearly not a strong-willed or deep-thinking character, easily led and manipulated - therefore a perfect choice as a representative of The Circle and for that reason, it makes her an exceptionally poor choice for Ty as the one to help him blow the lid off things. Her character is one of someone who needs to be part of the "in-crowd" - needs constant external validation; not someone who thinks deeply about her actions or her newfound influence as a celebrity. Presumably, this would have been at least somewhat apparent to Ty - so why would he choose her; someone who sold out her own parents to remain in good standing with The Circle? I realize it was necessary for the book to be what it was, but it almost seems as though Annie would have been a better choice as his ally, since she at least showed some signs of distress about the direction in which things were headed. I think Eggers wanted to keep things on the simple side, so I can forgive this lack of logic - after all, humans don't always behave logically, right? And it was never really clear what his emotional state was, including his perception of his relationship with Mae.

Overall, I found this to be a worthwhile and interesting read. There's a lot of symbolism here and since this is a book club read, I may actually give it a second read to take notes as I anticipate an interesting discussion.