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The Circle (The Circle, #1)

Dave Eggers

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Dec 25, 2013 Erin rated it it was amazing

Like many people I have a love/hate relationship with social media. I like that I can keep up with some distant friends and family this way, but it's mostly just noise, at best meaningless, at worst it makes me dissatisfied and/or angry (I know that during the Charleston area's recent and continuing water crisis Facebook began as a great place to exchange information, but has now gotten to the point that my husband begs me not to look at it). I also resent all the time I waste reading about thin Like many people I have a love/hate relationship with social media. I like that I can keep up with some distant friends and family this way, but it's mostly just noise, at best meaningless, at worst it makes me dissatisfied and/or angry (I know that during the Charleston area's recent and continuing water crisis Facebook began as a great place to exchange information, but has now gotten to the point that my husband begs me not to look at it). I also resent all the time I waste reading about things I don't really care about and there is so much pressure to keep up. Anyway, a perfect topic for a writer like Eggers to take on and while I know a lot of people were underwhelmed by the book, but I thoroughly enjoyed it - a solid 4.5 stars, even though it made me want to immediately go off the grid and pay only cash for items.

Mae is over-educated and under-employed. Her college roommate, Annie manages to get her a job with her company, The Circle similar to Facebook only much bigger and encompassing more of everyday life (though the campus seems to have been modeled on Microsoft's) - "the company had so much going on, so much humanity and good feeling, and was pioneering on all fronts, that she knew she was being improved just by being in the Circlers' proximity. It was like a well-curated organic grocery store: you knew, by shopping there, that you were healthier; you couldn't make a bad choice, because everything had been vetted already." (105)

Mae becomes more and more enmeshed in life at (and in) the Circle, to the point in ruins most relationships she had prior to her new job. Her father is suffering from MS (one of the most successful parts of the books, I thought) and Mae's new job is, initially, a boon, but then becomes something darker for her family and old friends. In a conversation with her old boyfriend he notes, "'listen, twenty years ago, it wasn't so cool to have a calculator watch, right? And spending all day inside playing with your calculator watch sent a clear message that you weren't doing so well socially. And judgments like 'like' and 'dislike' and 'smiles' and 'frowns' were limited to junior high. Someone would write a note and it would say, 'Do you like unicorns and stickers?' and you'd say, 'Yeah, I like unicorns and stickers! Smile!' That kind of thing. But now it's not just junior high kids who do it, it's everyone, and it seems to me sometimes I've entered some inverted zone, some mirror world where the dorkiest shit in the world is completely dominant. The world has dorkified itself.'". (133) Separate from the larger social issues Eggers does a good job showing how annoying it can all become (the issues with Alistair and the pushiness of total strangers rang very true). Though the last third of the book relied a bit heavily on 1984 and the aquarium section was a bit overwhelming, the end was both inevitable and incredibly interesting.

Most readers will have no doubt about the big secret or be very surprised about the progression of the action, but even though much of what occurred was expected Eggers uses his gift for dialogue and creation of real characters (who of us hasn't been incredibly envious of friends, annoyed with parents or dated a person he/she didn't really care about?) to overcome the lack of suspense and did a great job showing how insidiously easy it can be to head down the slope. I couldn't wait to see how Eggers "completed the circle" of the novel. ...more

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Dec 02, 2013 Ellen rated it liked it

Shelves: audio-book

Dystopian fiction? Cautionary tale? Whatever category you prefer, Eggers has imagined a world totally connected and what might happen if everyone were required to be visible and accessible to everyone at all times (except 3 minute bathroom breaks and after 10 p.m.). At birth children could be implanted with chips which could monitor their health and location for the rest of their lives. Small cameras could be planted everywhere in the world, so everywhere could be seen by anyone with a computer. ...more

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Jul 04, 2014 Heron rated it liked it

What an interesting book. I don't mean that the book itself is very interesting- it's not. The plot is Brave New World-lite meets near-dystopian Google/Apple. Detail-driven narrative fills in a barely-there plot.

I mean that the book in its context and my reactions to it are interesting. Eggers is a good writer. His detail, while completely unnecessary in this context, is complete, intricate, and engrossing. So many varied descriptions of people: skin like burnished mahogany, hair rising like sm ...more

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Jul 01, 2014 Whitney rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, book-club, 2014

Lots of hope for this book through the first 100 pages or so, and then the pace slowed and the characters flattened and I was less interested.

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Oct 21, 2014 Laurie rated it liked it

Shelves: 2014

A strange combination of compelling and predictable.

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May 15, 2014 Bryan457 rated it did not like it

Shelves: utopian-ideas, dystopia, did-not-finish, x-rated

I listened to a little over half of it, and I just can't make myself finish.
I think it should be named "The Boring Life of a Dumb Happy Cubicle Slave." ...more

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