Step right up and you can take one giant leap into the future right now by mastering the past. Not only your past, but the past and memories of everyone else invested in our community.
In "The Candy House" Jennifer Egan introduces technology to rock the world. "Own Your Unconscious" is tech giant Mandala's new program to revisit and share memories, granting access to the recorded thoughts and memories of anyone participating in this souped-up digital share. Circle back to the highlights of your life. Clear up any hazy recollections. Explore what others were really thinking during crucial life turning points. As Mandala points out, crimes are being solved, missing persons found, and the repercussions of both Alzheimer's and dementia are tempered. This is progress delivering a win-win for everyone.
This win does come with a cost. Gone are the carefree days when you only worried about online digital footprints. Whole organizations emerge to resist this threat to privacy. "Eluders" do whatever they can to remain off the grid. Paranoia is rampant in a world determined to monitor your every movement and thought.
Jennifer Egan populates this book with a sometimes dizzying montage of individuals, some reappearing from her previous novel "A Visit from the Goon Squad". It is a challenge to see who is guiding us through each chapter as the narrators switch. I confess I took notes early on to keep track of the players and their relations to others. Perhaps my memory could use an upgrade.
"The Candy House" is a brilliantly constructed voyage into a future of mixed blessings. Once again Jennifer Egan delivers a funny, engaging and thought provoking performance. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
"Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things."
Marcus Tullius Cicero
"When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it happened or not."
Mark Twain
In "The Candy House" Jennifer Egan introduces technology to rock the world. "Own Your Unconscious" is tech giant Mandala's new program to revisit and share memories, granting access to the recorded thoughts and memories of anyone participating in this souped-up digital share. Circle back to the highlights of your life. Clear up any hazy recollections. Explore what others were really thinking during crucial life turning points. As Mandala points out, crimes are being solved, missing persons found, and the repercussions of both Alzheimer's and dementia are tempered. This is progress delivering a win-win for everyone.
This win does come with a cost. Gone are the carefree days when you only worried about online digital footprints. Whole organizations emerge to resist this threat to privacy. "Eluders" do whatever they can to remain off the grid. Paranoia is rampant in a world determined to monitor your every movement and thought.
Jennifer Egan populates this book with a sometimes dizzying montage of individuals, some reappearing from her previous novel "A Visit from the Goon Squad". It is a challenge to see who is guiding us through each chapter as the narrators switch. I confess I took notes early on to keep track of the players and their relations to others. Perhaps my memory could use an upgrade.
"The Candy House" is a brilliantly constructed voyage into a future of mixed blessings. Once again Jennifer Egan delivers a funny, engaging and thought provoking performance. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
"Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things."
Marcus Tullius Cicero
"When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it happened or not."
Mark Twain
