The Candy House: Jennifer Egan Paperback – 7 Mar. 2023

A thrillingly original read -but look at the one star reviews to check if you can cope with a engrossingly fractured narrative. Terrific follow up/companion volume/twin to “Goon squad” – many of the same characters and their children -minor players brought centre stage others de focused with major players become bit parts. Tech is the new element with Bix becoming an iconic developer of a tech that allows people to share memories. Again a series of – how to define it ? -mini stories, interlinked vignettes, an unfolding (very high class) soap opera. It allows her to zoom in and out of narratives, giving a dizzying perspective as she speeds forwards and backwards in time and experiment with different styles -epistolary ( e mail exchanges) even a rather odd spy story told in (a character names it) ‘2nd person aphoristic.’ Many touching moments -Lulu as a very self possessed little girl brilliant – the idea of world deracinated by over usage as ‘empty casings” spot on. I did question whether the cut up chronology is more than a puzzle providing gimmick – of course it is essential - but would a straighter narrative de-bone the book completely ? I think so.(sorry one starers) Looking forward to re reading both and her earlier stuff.

I really wasn't sure whether I was going to like this book. At first sight it looked like it might be the type of stylistically showy, clever-clever novel that might be technically proficient - and often impressive - but at the same time can be somewhat thin on plot, relatable characters or just a decent story. Either that or it has a "message" that it rams home with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Basically, a bit smug (or "all fur coat and no knickers" as one rather colourful l British expression would have it).However, I was pleasantly surprised to find a novel that, though it takes some creative risks, doesn't forget to tell a good story with relatable characters. Ostensibly the story is about a tech entrepreneur called Bix Bouton who invents a way for people to download their memories. It therefore raises and explores issues such as privacy in the digital age and our growing reliance on technology, and the ethics around those things. However it does not do this in a heavy-handed way, but rather through a series of interlocking stories peopled by recurring characters including Bix himself. It is also no polemic - issues are raised but you aren't told what to think about them; rather you are left to make up your own mind.This interlocking narrative structure is therefore not quite that of a conventional novel. I guess this approach has its pros and cons. On the minus side, to be honest some chapters are stronger than others. More positively, you're more likely to find at least some parts to your liking. I loved one chapter in particular, a love story set in Bix's tech company that could easily stand by itself as a superbly written short story. If the rest of the book had been up to that standard it would be an easy five stars. But even as it is, the book overall is very good.It seem this book divides opinion, judging by some of the other reviews and the negative reactions of a couple of others in my book club. However, this is a clever, entertaining and thought-provoking read and well worth a try.

Looking forward to a return to form

Truly excellent.

This novel in interlinked stories is set in the same universe as A Visit from the Goon Squad and shares many characters. The Candy House takes place partly in the future, after a technolgical innovation that allows consciousness-sharing: or grey grabs as Egan cleverly puts it. This does require a lot of clunky explanation, especially in the early chapters. She might have avoided this if she’d started with her central message, that technology lures us in like the gingerbread (or candy) house in Hansel and Gretel. The stories get noticeably better in the middle sections, where the technology is put to use, and the characters stop explaining and start acting. It’s not the epoch-defining blaze that Goon Squad was, but it’s entertaining and appealing, with the same fearless jumps between characters and times, some fun with different genres, and provocative extrapolations about where the social media age is taking us.

If you loved Goon squad you have to read this, brilliant sequel, love her writing style and the characters created. Compulsive reading.

Very weell done, as usual:Quite a bizarre point - external storage of your mind, your knowledge+experience.So, to live foreever....

I'm not one for having to do too much heavy lifting in joining the dots and making the connections. The story telling here relies a little too much in my opinion on the reader stitching the narrative together. Perhaps if I had read this straight after "...Goon Squad" I wouldn't have felt so stretched.Don't get me wrong; the story still works when read in the semi-disjointed way that my un-joined dots dictated. But I never quite felt I was being carried along by the narrative. For me it's the more linear stories (and storytellers) that have the pages turning themselves.