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A review by perfect_leaves
The Circle by Dave Eggers
4.0
Looking through other users' reviews, it seems a lot of people are upset by the fact that the book's argument isn't new. While I agree that the argument-- our dependence on technology will eventually be our downfall (I'm simplifying and paraphrasing a bit)-- isn't new, I don't believe that should disqualify it from anyone's reading list. Echoing sentiments and reprising ideas is how authors, philosophers, and scholars get people to listen.
I would have liked to give this book five stars, but there are a few structural things that held me back. The book was about 100 pages too long; the pacing seriously slowed down in the last fifth. There were some good plot points, but the passages tying them together were fairly empty. Dave Eggers also used the words "obfuscation/obfuscate," "ebullient," and "untenable" entirely too often. All three were words I needed to find in a dictionary the first time they were introduced, which might have made them stick out a bit more to me, but I became more aware of the words each time Eggers used them. I also took issue with the characterization of Mae. She was a shallow, static character, who I found myself growing increasingly more irritated with. Her density served to underscore the brainwashing her society had undergone, but I believe that could have been dealt with much more subtlety.
Despite the book's drawbacks, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I found myself entirely absorbed in the book, fighting to myself to put it down and go to work. The book has no definitive chapter markings, but it is divided into sections by spacing and asterisks. The only major divisions are "books" which are several hundred pages long (with the exclusion of "Book III" which is only a few pages). The content made me uncomfortable, most likely because I recognized the behavior of the characters. Egger's novel was a mirror. It reflected the ways in which my generation interacts with technology and I found myself genuinely scared. I've been working on lessening my use of Facebook and overhauling my Twitter personality, but now I think carefully about any human-computer interaction I make. Does windows need to automatically gather usage information from my laptop? Do I want Instagram to know my location? Privacy is so incredibly important, but social media is slowly breaking down the walls. I pray that the walls never disappear completely.
I would have liked to give this book five stars, but there are a few structural things that held me back. The book was about 100 pages too long; the pacing seriously slowed down in the last fifth. There were some good plot points, but the passages tying them together were fairly empty. Dave Eggers also used the words "obfuscation/obfuscate," "ebullient," and "untenable" entirely too often. All three were words I needed to find in a dictionary the first time they were introduced, which might have made them stick out a bit more to me, but I became more aware of the words each time Eggers used them. I also took issue with the characterization of Mae. She was a shallow, static character, who I found myself growing increasingly more irritated with. Her density served to underscore the brainwashing her society had undergone, but I believe that could have been dealt with much more subtlety.
Despite the book's drawbacks, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I found myself entirely absorbed in the book, fighting to myself to put it down and go to work. The book has no definitive chapter markings, but it is divided into sections by spacing and asterisks. The only major divisions are "books" which are several hundred pages long (with the exclusion of "Book III" which is only a few pages). The content made me uncomfortable, most likely because I recognized the behavior of the characters. Egger's novel was a mirror. It reflected the ways in which my generation interacts with technology and I found myself genuinely scared. I've been working on lessening my use of Facebook and overhauling my Twitter personality, but now I think carefully about any human-computer interaction I make. Does windows need to automatically gather usage information from my laptop? Do I want Instagram to know my location? Privacy is so incredibly important, but social media is slowly breaking down the walls. I pray that the walls never disappear completely.