The Circle

I haven’t read it and I know the title is probably deliberately misleading, but the fact that he’d published a book called A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius ensured that I never paid any attention to anything by Dave Eggers. I thought it was Gen X navel-gazing and my TBR pile was already one foot high. But then my book club picked The Circle, so I dutifully – if not too hopefully - bought a copy and started to read.

I loved it! I read all 500 pages in under four days, swept along by the story and the power of the writing. I often complain about books being so long these days, but here the length fits the story because without it, there wouldn’t be time to submerge yourself in the wealth of data, surveys, online contacts and observation and screen time that slowly but inexorably takes over the life of lead character Mae in her quest to become the absolute darling of the Google/Facebook/Microsoft/Amazon mega-corporation: The Circle.

And I love the fact that all the data, surveys, online contacts and observation and screen time don’t seem to be devoted to anything more than keeping us all online and selling us stuff! Mae never learns anything. She exchanges no knowledge. Her life isn’t enriched in any way. She willingly sacrifices her privacy for millions of Likes that last for about the time than it takes a scrap of paper to vanish in a blast furnace.

For me, The Circle’s right up there with Brave New World and 1984. And a perfect companion piece to Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death.

And I’ll probably now have a go at A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.