The Candy House

I took in the audiobook version of the first book set in this fictional universe, [b:A Visit from the Goon Squad|7331435|A Visit from the Goon Squad|Jennifer Egan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1356844046l/7331435.SX50.jpg|8975330], but this one for me was a hardback instead. The viewpoint characters are mostly identifiable as minor players in the other story though it was hard work recalling the intricate web of relationships even though I finished that book only two months ago. There is a futuristic consciousness-uploading technology that pervades the story, even though it jumps back and forth through time before it was invented and after it became ubiquitous. It is like the Metaverse but with a scary neurological implant component as a possibility too where people can experience events uploaded by or streamed by others by entering their memories. People find it pleasant, like eating a fairy-tale candy house, but can also be dangerous.

I didn't have rapport with every single one of the viewpoint characters in either book but the ones that succeed are done very well indeed with conflicting agendas and lies all out on display. There is a big ensemble scene in the last quarter of this book told through email threads that reminded me of the climactic concert scene closing out the first book that I sort of knew was going to portray a crazy event succeeding despite long odds, which I thought was fun.

The effort involved in keeping the cast straight is one of the main things I think people will find hard to accept. In the end this near future vision of what our world might have turned into isn't a utopia or a dystopia, one that is still peopled with characters who still feel happiness and sadness, triumph and loss, whether they embrace the technology or oppose it. I feel as though this is an important lesson when it comes to any disruptive technology.

I liked the concept of uploading your memories to the internet, and having corporate incentives to share them. . However, this entire book felt like an introduction. New characters and new events, often in different time periods every chapter. They did become somewhat intertwined, but not in a way where I felt it all came together. At the end I didn't feel like I had any real sense of any of the characters or why they did the things they did. I also didn't find that it really stimulated my thinking at all about what a world where many uploaded their memories to the internet for all to see would be like. It was all just too disconnected. I have not read the first book, A Visit from the Goon Squad, where many of these characters were first introduced. Perhaps that would have helped, but I wouldn't recommend it as a stand alone.