The Circle by Dave Eggers
Eggers projects a fresh look at totalitarian government from what we read recently with Churchill and Orwell. His novel is cast in the near future, where we, the every day public, willingly, peer pressured or coercion submit all, ALL, private behavior, speech or thought to the public eye. Through an uber-cyber network all things are linked together under the watchful eye of the theoretically beneficent entity (read monopolistic corporation) called the Circle. The sad ending is the world no less depressing for the individual than if WW2 had been lost. A totalitarian regime that eliminates all individuality.
Enjoyed his writing, enjoyed the story but in candor I skipped major parts of the book due to Egger relying too much on sex to carry a major theme in the story. I went to online notes and summaries, after bailing about half way thru, and then read the end of the book. Unlike Homage to Catalonia where the carnage of war was wearing on me, yet I went back and finished the book; this time I just couldn't. Too little time, too many good things to read, to get stuck in the mud. Interesting premise, in tune with my examination of totalitarianism, but he could have cleaned it up.
Eggers projects a fresh look at totalitarian government from what we read recently with Churchill and Orwell. His novel is cast in the near future, where we, the every day public, willingly, peer pressured or coercion submit all, ALL, private behavior, speech or thought to the public eye. Through an uber-cyber network all things are linked together under the watchful eye of the theoretically beneficent entity (read monopolistic corporation) called the Circle. The sad ending is the world no less depressing for the individual than if WW2 had been lost. A totalitarian regime that eliminates all individuality.
Enjoyed his writing, enjoyed the story but in candor I skipped major parts of the book due to Egger relying too much on sex to carry a major theme in the story. I went to online notes and summaries, after bailing about half way thru, and then read the end of the book. Unlike Homage to Catalonia where the carnage of war was wearing on me, yet I went back and finished the book; this time I just couldn't. Too little time, too many good things to read, to get stuck in the mud. Interesting premise, in tune with my examination of totalitarianism, but he could have cleaned it up.
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