“Secrets are lies” Holy mother of Jesus. I can’t even with this book. I’d been hearing about this book for ages, mostly praise, but I was unsure that I could handle ANOTHER book about “social media = bad” and technology is super duper dangerous. To be fair, the book did not immediately quell my fears. The first part was slow going and had me rolling my eyes slightly at the obvious parody of facegooglespacehoo. Then I burnt my bread. That’s not a euphemism. I’d put […]
Quick! Read this book before the movie comes out later this year!
“Individually, you don’t know what you’re doing collectively.” This is Mae’s ex-boyfriend’s synopsis of the new company she works for. But what does he know? She is working for the most lucrative tech company on the market and he just makes chandeliers. The Circle has made its success in streamlining internet applications by rolling them into one interface based on a user’s actual identity. “True You,” as it’s called, has ushered in a new age of internet transparency. The Circle employs young, innovative people and […]
The Headquarters of the Special Snowflakes
This book continues my trend of giving 5 stars to books I hated. Why, you might ask, would you give 5 stars to a book you swore heavily at and threw across the room upon completion? Because I hated it for all the right reasons: Eggers is a manipulative writer. He wants me to be uncomfortable, to think long and hard about the echoing ramifications of this plot. It made me feel things; they weren’t pleasant things, but the book went above and beyond […]
So Close to Awesome
The Circle by Dave Eggers, is an interesting, if slightly obvious premise. A clear play on the power of the major players in the social media and technology business (google, Facebook etc.), the Circle is a look at the terrifying possibility of a total global takeover by these companies, and how it could happen with the general consent of the people. The story focuses on Mae Holland, a recent graduate who lands a coveted entry level position working for the Circle, a major technology firm that got its […]
How ’bout we just keep this particular Circle broken?
I read The Circle back in August while on a family vacation in San Francisco/Silicon Valley. Needless to say this made Dave Egger’s exploration of life and culture in a dystopian, data-centric near-future all the more depressing. Mae Holland is thrilled when a good friend from college recruits her to come to work at The Circle. Mae starts at the bottom, as a call center customer service rep who fields calls from world-wide clients to help make sure their experience of Circle products and services […]