The Candy House is somewhat of a sequel to A Visit from the Goon Squad, which was my previous book to wade through. It has been an interesting few weeks trying to understand the hype around these two books. It could be that I am just not as intelligent as the vast majority of readers/critics who have been so laudatory.
Many of the same characters from the Goon Squad reappear in this novel. The reader gets a closer insight into Sasha, Drew, their children, the children of her uncle, Ted Hollander, Bennie, Bix, and Dolly. Lulu, Dolly's daughter has grown up and has twins.
Again, the novel is a series of seemingly unconnected narratives told from the perspective of various characters, some of which appear and disappear with no logical explanation. Often one scratches his or her head trying to recall if that character had ever appeared before and what the connection is to the other characters. Central to the theme of the book is the role social media and technology play from circa 1990 until the futuristic 2030. Bix Bouton, trying to recreate his college days has developed a small glowing cube, Mandela, that is called “Own Your Unconscious.” This devise allow people to upload and store their memories or to share them with "Collective Consciousness. Of course there are people who do not embrace the idea and they are named "eluders" who are being sought by the "counters."
The novel is divided into 4 parts with different chapters in each part. It would seem that Egan is attempting to show the inter connectivity of human life and experiences. The characters, many of who are children of the Goon Squad characters are really connected, not only by the Mandela, but also in real life. As the reader moves from chapter to chapter bits of the history of the featured narrator are presented with those connections. One has to be aware of the point of view that changes as each character's story is unfolded. Egan reprises the unconventional writing structure of her previous novel with one chapter as a series of text messages and another as an aphoristic journal.
It will be interesting to hear the reaction of our book club and Egan's presentation on The Candy House. I am glad I read it, but it is not one of my favorites.
