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What Members Thought

WHOA. This book was enthralling, chilling, just so so interesting. The time is a place not too far in the future. The main character, Mae, feels like a normal girl who's trying to find herself. The path this story takes is compelling--once you've read it, it seems so obvious. But, the reason it feels like that is because Eggers makes it so. His writing is standout, the nuanced plot pulls you right along. This book challenged me to think about technology, simplicity, ease in a different way and I
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I almost didn't finish this. It isn't really a novel; it reads like notes from one of my father's sociology lectures crossed with alarmist Wired articles. The characters were cardboard, propped up to lecture about all the evils of totalitarian monopolies. It had about as much subtlety and finesse as a HuffPo listicle. The two stars I'm giving it are for raising important questions about privacy and social interaction, but this is a slog and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
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Interesting riff on 1984 looking at current social media trends. My only complaint was that the main character's arc is not as complex as the protagonist of 1984. Mae holland is a bit of a cipher and becomes more so as the narrative progresses - which I suppose is illustrates Eggers' point about how social media can promote disconnection, substituting shallow interaction for real relationships. Overall, intriguing story that proves a page turner.
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Sep 18, 2013
Shannon
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Oct 04, 2013
Jill
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Oct 29, 2013
Heather
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Dec 28, 2013
Anne
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Feb 13, 2014
Mary
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May 09, 2014
Adam Maid
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Jul 12, 2014
Julie
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Aug 20, 2014
Heather
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Apr 09, 2015
elise
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Dec 18, 2015
Ms. McGregor
marked it as to-read