If social media owned the world
Book Review: The Circle by Dave Eggers
The Circle by Dave Eggers
Published: October 8, 2013 by Knopf
Buy this book at: Bookshop.org
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Synopsis:
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.
Rating:
Review:
This book is a bit of an older title than I seem to be reading lately and I had never heard of it until recently. I was visiting my local Little Free Library and grabbed a book that sounded interest, The Every. Which isa sequel to this book. I didn’t want to start in the midst of a story so I picked this audiobook up to give it a listen.
In the end I would call this book…aggressively fine. It wanted to be a new version of 1984 but didn’t quite live up to the mark. Mae is a fine character but she’s very bland and boring. She doesn’t actually do anything. She gets a job at The Circle and her job is to respond to customer queries. But, as she soon discovers it’s not just a job. The job demands that every bit of your time and attention. And you best use it the correct way or someone will punish you for it.
The biggest problem I had with this book is that some scenes were just not necessary. For example, Mae gets in trouble for not being “social” enough within the Circle and her boss has a chat with her about it. Then we get to have the same conversation with HR. Then another conversation about it with the general public. The same conversation but three different ways. It was exhausting. Maybe that was the point because Mae slowly gets worn down by this constant demand for her to conform until she finally transforms herself into The Circle’s perfect example. She was well suited to that journey since she had very little personality of her own.
Between the repetitive nature and Mae being as interesting as cardboard the book mostly felt like a vehicle for the author’s soapbox point. It was okay and I will still read The Every, since I already have it and all. It was okay but 1984 made the sane point with a better book.