Pam Parker, Circulation Manager, recommends The Candy House by Jennifer Egan.
The Candy House (2022): Highly recommended for those that like to wax philosophic and unravel complex plots as they read. Be prepared for a dose of gritty reality.
Jennifer Egan’s newest work of fiction, The Candy House, is unusual.
Published as a novel, it reads more like a series of related short stories. A number of the characters appear in several stories but at different periods of their lives. Egan also revisits some favorites characters from her Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit From the Goon Squad, which makes this technically a sequel though it can be read as a stand-alone.
The net effect is a fascinating exploration of the near future where a technology akin to the internet increasingly impacts people’s lives. A candy house is a drug house in urban lingo. But the premise of this novel involves a mind-tapping cube that downloads memories. Hence, Egan seems to be asking us, ‘Has technology become our drug of choice?’...
Read Pam's entire Book Review here.
Find more staff book recommendations here.
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