The Candy House: A Novel
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
ONE of the TOP 10 BOOKS OF THE YEAR by THE NEW YORK TIMES * ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY * SLATE* THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER *
Also named one of the BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR by Vanity Fair, Time, NPR, The Guardian, Oprah Daily, Self, Vogue, The New Yorker, BBC, Vulture, and many more!
OLIVIA WILDE to direct A24's TV adaptation of THE CANDY HOUSE and A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD!
From one of the most celebrated writers of our time comes an “inventive, effervescent” (Oprah Daily) novel about the memory and quest for authenticity and human connection.
The Candy House opens with the staggeringly brilliant Bix Bouton, whose company, Mandala, is so successful that he is “one of those tech demi-gods with whom we’re all on a first name basis.” Bix is forty, with four kids, restless, and desperate for a new idea, when he stumbles into a conversation group, mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or “externalizing” memory. Within a decade, Bix’s new technology, “Own Your Unconscious”—which allows you access to every memory you’ve ever had, and to share your memories in exchange for access to the memories of others—has seduced multitudes.
In the world of Egan’s spectacular imagination, there are “counters” who track and exploit desires and there are “eluders,” those who understand the price of taking a bite of the Candy House. Egan introduces these characters in an astonishing array of narrative styles—from omniscient to first person plural to a duet of voices, an epistolary chapter, and a chapter of tweets. Intellectually dazzling, The Candy House is also a moving, speculative fiction testament to the tenacity and transcendence of human longing for connection, family, privacy, and love.
“A beautiful exploration of loss, memory, and history” (San Francisco Chronicle), “this is minimalist maximalism. It’s as if Egan compressed a big 19th-century novel onto a flash drive” (The New York Times).
ONE of the TOP 10 BOOKS OF THE YEAR by THE NEW YORK TIMES * ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY * SLATE* THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER *
Also named one of the BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR by Vanity Fair, Time, NPR, The Guardian, Oprah Daily, Self, Vogue, The New Yorker, BBC, Vulture, and many more!
OLIVIA WILDE to direct A24's TV adaptation of THE CANDY HOUSE and A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD!
From one of the most celebrated writers of our time comes an “inventive, effervescent” (Oprah Daily) novel about the memory and quest for authenticity and human connection.
The Candy House opens with the staggeringly brilliant Bix Bouton, whose company, Mandala, is so successful that he is “one of those tech demi-gods with whom we’re all on a first name basis.” Bix is forty, with four kids, restless, and desperate for a new idea, when he stumbles into a conversation group, mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or “externalizing” memory. Within a decade, Bix’s new technology, “Own Your Unconscious”—which allows you access to every memory you’ve ever had, and to share your memories in exchange for access to the memories of others—has seduced multitudes.
In the world of Egan’s spectacular imagination, there are “counters” who track and exploit desires and there are “eluders,” those who understand the price of taking a bite of the Candy House. Egan introduces these characters in an astonishing array of narrative styles—from omniscient to first person plural to a duet of voices, an epistolary chapter, and a chapter of tweets. Intellectually dazzling, The Candy House is also a moving, speculative fiction testament to the tenacity and transcendence of human longing for connection, family, privacy, and love.
“A beautiful exploration of loss, memory, and history” (San Francisco Chronicle), “this is minimalist maximalism. It’s as if Egan compressed a big 19th-century novel onto a flash drive” (The New York Times).
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Community Reviews
thenextgoodbook.com
What’s it about?
In this series of interwoven chapters we see the creation of a new online tool called “Own Your Unconscious”. With this computer generated tool you are able to access every memory you have ever had in exchange for granting access of these memories to all others in the system. This allows you to not only view actual events (who actually remembers anything accurately- if at all?) in your memory, but also see the events through others’ perspectives. As with all innovations- we then go on to see the good and bad of this creation through the lives of multiple characters.
What did it make me think about?
This novel made you think about the consequences of all our decisions regarding the internet (both past and those to come) and how much these decisions have enhanced and/or detracted from our lives. Think of some of our early decisions- “People were letting the Internet go inside their computers and play their music, so that they, too, could play songs they didn’t own without having to buy them. The idea made us squeamish; it was like letting a stranger rummage through your house- or your brain! Once the internet was inside your computer rifling through your music, what else might it decide to do?”
Should I read it?
So, some books you read to be entertained, some you read just to put you on the edge of your seat, and some stories are written to make you think. My first Jennifer Egan book “A Visit From the Goon Squad” was definitely a novel that made me think, her second novel “Manhattan Beach” was great storytelling, in this novel Egan goes back to the beginning and makes you put your thinking cap on. All of these interconnected stories just whirled around in my brain. Who is connected to whom, and how are they connected to the characters in her first book? I just let it all swirl and kept on reading. There is no doubt that Jennifer Egan is a HUGE talent and this book is worth reading. But be aware you may finish and think “I need to read that again”. I highly recommend this book to all the readers out there. Then find a group and talk about it…
Quote-
“Never trust a candy house! It was only a matter of time before someone made them pay for what they thought they were getting for free. Why could nobody see this?”
“Not every story needs to be told.”
What’s it about?
In this series of interwoven chapters we see the creation of a new online tool called “Own Your Unconscious”. With this computer generated tool you are able to access every memory you have ever had in exchange for granting access of these memories to all others in the system. This allows you to not only view actual events (who actually remembers anything accurately- if at all?) in your memory, but also see the events through others’ perspectives. As with all innovations- we then go on to see the good and bad of this creation through the lives of multiple characters.
What did it make me think about?
This novel made you think about the consequences of all our decisions regarding the internet (both past and those to come) and how much these decisions have enhanced and/or detracted from our lives. Think of some of our early decisions- “People were letting the Internet go inside their computers and play their music, so that they, too, could play songs they didn’t own without having to buy them. The idea made us squeamish; it was like letting a stranger rummage through your house- or your brain! Once the internet was inside your computer rifling through your music, what else might it decide to do?”
Should I read it?
So, some books you read to be entertained, some you read just to put you on the edge of your seat, and some stories are written to make you think. My first Jennifer Egan book “A Visit From the Goon Squad” was definitely a novel that made me think, her second novel “Manhattan Beach” was great storytelling, in this novel Egan goes back to the beginning and makes you put your thinking cap on. All of these interconnected stories just whirled around in my brain. Who is connected to whom, and how are they connected to the characters in her first book? I just let it all swirl and kept on reading. There is no doubt that Jennifer Egan is a HUGE talent and this book is worth reading. But be aware you may finish and think “I need to read that again”. I highly recommend this book to all the readers out there. Then find a group and talk about it…
Quote-
“Never trust a candy house! It was only a matter of time before someone made them pay for what they thought they were getting for free. Why could nobody see this?”
“Not every story needs to be told.”
Ooo this was an interesting science fiction book that read like an extended Black Mirror episode told from many points of view. Each non-linear story seemed independent of the last, yet they are all interconnected. "Own Your Own Consciousness" is a company that allows you to download your entire consciousness to a watchable cube. Social media then takes it a step further allowing you to download it to a "collective" for others to search, scavenge, and experience. Honestly, it's easy to believe that the general public would happily sign up for this egregious infringement of privacy.
I loved the thought experiment of the pros and cons to memory externalization. You could recover your forgotten memories, catch criminals through many points of view, remove bad memories, solve mysteries, preserve and revive forgotten languages, etc. The book even said there was a global rise in empathy due to the sharing of authentic personal experiences. However, we're reminded to "never trust a candy house." What would be the true cost of this mega-surveillance technology?
I loved the thought experiment of the pros and cons to memory externalization. You could recover your forgotten memories, catch criminals through many points of view, remove bad memories, solve mysteries, preserve and revive forgotten languages, etc. The book even said there was a global rise in empathy due to the sharing of authentic personal experiences. However, we're reminded to "never trust a candy house." What would be the true cost of this mega-surveillance technology?
This one was hard for me to finish. The majority of chapters were long and hard for me to keep an interest in. I also lost the connection between some chapters and the overall "story" that the author was trying to weave together. Not really what I expected based on the description of the book. Too many characters to keep track of and after finishing I just don't really see the point of the story. Just not a book for me.
This book is a wild ride. The change in perspectives is a bit disorienting for me but just still really enjoyed the overall storyline
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