The Circle
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I listed Dave Eggers’ memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, in my top picks because I really like it and I think he and I could be friends. So, reading his novel The Circle, which I consistently see on top dystopian novels lists, seemed like the next step. It ended up being more of a misstep.
Eggers has a strong set-up: a woman, Mae, starts working at The Circle-- an internet company that’s like Facebook + Google on steroids. The founders claim that everyone has a right to information, so they strive to make everything as transparent and accessible as possible. Of course, that leads to a long slippery slope whereby people make concessions to their privacy in favor of convenience and efficiency. The ends justify the means and the company ostensibly makes all of their shady “technological improvements” in the name of democracy. Their changes are incremental and therefore more insidious. Kinda like that thing about slowly boiling a frog without it noticing rather than immediately throwing it in hot water.
That’s us-- we’re the frogs. We’re leaping around ribbiting as if everything is fine and dandy. Eggers makes numerous comparisons to our current reliance on technology and how it’s so interwoven in our daily lives that we don’t acknowledge the sacrifices that we’re making. For example, Facebook made the genius move of encouraging us to sign up for different apps through their platform. So, if I ever want to delete my account, I’m more reluctant to because I signed up for Spotify via Facebook. And how else would I listen to bangers? Little things like that. Maybe that’s fine, maybe a lot of little things add up until it’s not fine. I write this as someone who will promote this blog post on her Facebook page.
Eggers’ concept has [frog] legs and who doesn’t love a lil dystopia? But the book is very predictable. If you’re going to be 500 pages long… you can’t be that predictable. The ending is very *duh*. Eggers doesn’t contribute much nuance to a conversation that already seems a bit obvious. Also, Mae is not very self aware. Perhaps that makes her more realistic, but as a reader, I was annoyed with the main character’s inability to think for herself at all. Overall, The Circle receives 2 out of 5 flames.
