CULTURE CLUB
Book Club CAMBRIDGE EDITION MYSTERIOUS AND THRILLING, THIS MONTH WE DELVE INTO SOME OF THE BEST NEW NOVELS THAT WILL KEEP YOU GUESSING
WORDS BY CHARLOTTE GRIFFITHS
THE CANDY HOUSE BY JENNIFER EGAN
An absolute tour-de-force of a novel, this extraordinary work asks questions of reality, consciousness and our grip on personal narratives. It will leave you breathless: both at the scale of the stories covered and the literary skills on display within its pages. At one point in the book, two characters fling synonyms at each other, struggling for the correct, most powerful and accurate words to describe their reality – which is neatly analogous with attempts to define The Candy House . Part-romance, part-family epic, part-science fiction thriller, part-political commentary on our image and technology-obsessed culture, Egan shifts deftly between narrative styles: at one point the tale is even picked up in a series of tweets. The story is told as a set of connected vignettes, which gradually reveal their links over decades. The main arc follows tech mogul Bix Bouton – who appears as a minor character in Egan’s 2011 Pulitzer-winning novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad , which is described as this book’s ‘sibling’ – and his fledgling service, ‘Own Your Unconscious’, PART-ROMANCE, PART-SCIENCE FICTION THRILLER
which allows you to download, store and review all your memories. You can also access the memories of others, assuming you’re willing to pay the price of sharing your own thoughts, feelings and histories with the world. Egan’s description of this service is so plausible you’d be forgiven for wondering if it already exists – or not be that surprised if Meta introduces it later this year. Those who prefer privacy and resist uploading their memories are outcast, but have they got it right? As with the moral learned fromHansel and Gretel’s cottage – which gave the novel its title – nothing in life comes for free. The links between the two books offer the perfect excuse to revisit Egan’s earlier work, then read this afterwards. Approach with a clear head, an open mind, and prepare to be blown away.
30 APR I L 2022 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
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