Little Eyes: A Novel

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR
"Her most unsettling work yet — and her most realistic." --New York Times
Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, NPR, Vulture, Bustle, Refinery29, and Thrillist
A visionary novel about our interconnected present, about the collision of horror and humanity, from a master of the spine-tingling tale.
They've infiltrated homes in Hong Kong, shops in Vancouver, the streets of in Sierra Leone, town squares in Oaxaca, schools in Tel Aviv, bedrooms in Indiana. They're everywhere. They're here. They're us. They're not pets, or ghosts, or robots. They're real people, but how can a person living in Berlin walk freely through the living room of someone in Sydney? How can someone in Bangkok have breakfast with your children in Buenos Aires, without your knowing? Especially when these people are completely anonymous, unknown, unfindable.
The characters in Samanta Schweblin's brilliant new novel, Little Eyes, reveal the beauty of connection between far-flung souls—but yet they also expose the ugly side of our increasingly linked world. Trusting strangers can lead to unexpected love, playful encounters, and marvelous adventure, but what happens when it can also pave the way for unimaginable terror? This is a story that is already happening; it's familiar and unsettling because it's our present and we're living it, we just don't know it yet. In this prophecy of a story, Schweblin creates a dark and complex world that's somehow so sensible, so recognizable, that once it's entered, no one can ever leave.
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Community Reviews
Although Samanta Schweblin's Little Eyes pulls off an intriguing "Black Mirror" vibe, I'll admit it was a disappointment after her Fever Dream, which did such an excellent job of spinning an eerie, anxiety-ridden eco-horror yarn that felt so urgent I couldn't put it down. Little Eyes, in contrast, is a novel written in parts, with disconnected stories that are too short for really building the burning dread Shweblin successfully worked into Fever Dream.
Each story tells about a different human interaction with a "kentuki," a kind of Furby-like pet that is controlled by an anonymous "dweller" who operates the toy from their tablet. The dweller is able to view the life of its owner through the kentuki's camera eyes, without being able to communicate with the owner in any way other than the toy's movement. With a premise like this, naturally things are going to go terribly wrong. The novel showcases the worst side of humanity, amplified by gadgetry that can be used in a sinister way. Like "Black Mirror" it successfully relays caution about how we use technology.
Some of the stories work better than others, and it took me a few chapters to decide I cared what happened next -- there was the tiniest just a taste of that foreboding Schweblin executed so much more proficiently in Fever Dream. She's a skilled horror writer, and I particularly appreciate horror that works with modern social themes in an enlightened way. I'll continue to read her work, but I hope she'll ditch the short story format because she's able to really kill it when she gives the story more space to work its terror.
Each story tells about a different human interaction with a "kentuki," a kind of Furby-like pet that is controlled by an anonymous "dweller" who operates the toy from their tablet. The dweller is able to view the life of its owner through the kentuki's camera eyes, without being able to communicate with the owner in any way other than the toy's movement. With a premise like this, naturally things are going to go terribly wrong. The novel showcases the worst side of humanity, amplified by gadgetry that can be used in a sinister way. Like "Black Mirror" it successfully relays caution about how we use technology.
Some of the stories work better than others, and it took me a few chapters to decide I cared what happened next -- there was the tiniest just a taste of that foreboding Schweblin executed so much more proficiently in Fever Dream. She's a skilled horror writer, and I particularly appreciate horror that works with modern social themes in an enlightened way. I'll continue to read her work, but I hope she'll ditch the short story format because she's able to really kill it when she gives the story more space to work its terror.
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