Joyce's Reviews > The Candy House

uhhh... what?!

The back cover flap reads "Those who have not read Goon Squad will be awed and exhilarated." Nope, how about "Those who have not read Goon Squad will be confused, frustrated and disappointed."

This book follows about five hundred different characters through several decades, and their stories are supposed to interlock over a new technology called Own Your Unconscious—allowing you to upload your every memory and thought onto a Cube, or into the Collective Consciousness. The premise sounded so interesting to me, and I was thrilled to stumble across another book by Jennifer Egan (I adored Manhattan Beach, and I thought her other books would be equally amazing).

Sore disappointment. That's how I would describe the book. I could not concentrate enough to figure out which character was which, or what the point of the whole book was. What a waste of time. Perhaps it would be easier to follow if read in one sitting, which I did not do—maybe I will give it another chance someday, someday far in the future when my disappointments are forgotten. So many unresolved threads...

I just didn't get it. Way too many characters. Way too many jumps forward and backward in time. Way too many random stories within the story that seemed to be trying to make a point, but just didn't fit. And the portion of the book that contained only email correspondence... wtf was that...

If you enjoyed the book, I'm happy for you. I just couldn't stand it.