The Every

A Novel

By: Dave Eggers

Narrated by: Dion Graham

Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

From the award-winning, best-selling author of The Circle comes an exciting new follow-up. When the world’s largest search engine/social media company, the Circle, merges with the planet’s dominant ecommerce site, it creates the richest and most dangerous - and, oddly enough, most beloved - monopoly ever known: the Every.

Delaney Wells is an unlikely new hire at the Every. A former forest ranger and unwavering tech skeptic, she charms her way into an entry-level job with one goal in mind: to take down the company from within. With her compatriot, the not-at-all-ambitious Wes Makazian, they look for the Every's weaknesses, hoping to free humanity from all-encompassing surveillance and the emoji-driven infantilization of the species. But does anyone want what Delaney is fighting to save? Does humanity truly want to be free?

Studded with unforgettable characters, outrageous outfits, and lacerating set-pieces, this companion to The Circle blends absurdity and terror, satire and suspense, while keeping the listener in apprehensive excitement about the fate of the company - and the human animal.

©2021 Dave Eggers (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Once a decade a book like The Every advances the frontier of literary excellence: a book that reflects our culture. Predicts our future. Worm-holes into our subconscious. Delivers artful and complex characters, metaphor, ideas, narrative. Provides percussive movements of levity, gravity, grace, suspense, hilarity.” (Kerri Arsenault, The Boston Globe)

“(A) great-grandchild of Zamyatin’s We, but now the 'perfect society' is Silicon Valley. Be careful what you wish for!” (Margaret Atwood, via Twitter)

“Eggers is a wonderful storyteller with an alert and defiant vision. His down-home decency means he pulls short of articulating a thought that recurred for me throughout reading The Every: threatened with spiritual extinction through conformism, sanitization, shame, inanity and surveillance, it might yet be our evil, our perversity, our psychopathology, our hate that prove the saving of us.” (Rob Doyle, The Guardian)

story is good, voice over not so much

I like Dave Eggers, and although the story seemed a bit repetitive and drawn out in concepts, it was definitely entertaining and an unfortunate "not so far from the truth" piece of fiction.

I did find myself frustrated by the voice over. His narration voice was lovely however the dialogue voices were very distracting. First, if the main character was a female why not use a female voice? Second, every character's voice sounded like a satire of a person, like he was trying to mock the character with antipathy. Maybe that was the direction from producers since every character is ridiculous in this book, but it didn't work for me personally. Would've worked better to just narrate through the dialogue.

I Know It's Supposed To Be Satire BUT ...

I read The Circle and really enjoyed it. This one left me feeling meh. I know it's supposed to be satire but for me The Every descended into farce. The idea that people would all agree to give up their privacy, pets, traditions, etc. out of some universal agreed-upon concern over one's carbon footprint is ridiculous. I think Eggers has drunk his own Kool-aid. Mostly this seems to be a diatribe against cancel culture and the power of social media, but if you look at the world today, social media has only made us more fractious and splintered, not less. One of the author's points I DO agree with is his idea that people are increasingly intolerant of uncertainty. People seem to want everything to be either black or white. But most of life is uncertain, and reconciling oneself to that while managing to be happy seems to be a lost art.

I liked the narrator OK but I did find his loooong pauses after quotes ("I do," PAUSE she said ...) to be irritating. Once you notice it, you can't unhear it.

Frightening Portrait of the Future

This certainly didn't end how I had hoped, but as a look into the future I don't know what else I could have expected. I'm not even sure if some people should read this book because the ending is so bleak, but it's best to be aware than not I guess. It's definitely intriguing and it's very insightful if you're willing to see what's presented. GLTA

Another Bullseye

I was reluctant to read Egger's second story because so many sequels disappoint. This one doesn't. It really is a continuation of a compelling story masterfully told with humor, suspense, and wisdom. A cautionary tale with more truth than fiction. I am hoping there is a third book in this series and that it will be read by Dion Graham.

Funny, dramatic and thought provoking

Outstanding narration
Best audiobook I have listened to in last year. Worth the time certainly

Great narration and story, just a little predictable.

I love Dave Eggers and this was a good story, but the plot was revealed so early on that I found the entire book lacking suspense. Not that every story should keep you on the edge of your seat, but there were just no blanks for me to fill in with my own imagination.

As a critical essay on modern sociology and the privacies we all forego, it hits the mark as per usual with Eggers. The sabotage plot just seemed a little “same old” after having read The Circle prior to this.

Great work of literature, just not as complex as I would’ve hoped for.

Another Brilliant Work by Eggers

I loved The Circle when I read it a few years ago and have no idea this book had come out until I saw it in a bookstore. I bought the book to support the local place, but then got the audiobook as well so I could devour the story over a long drive. Ironic to have the book on Amazon… Anyways, loved it!

sarcastic spoof

intriguing but frightening almost apocalyptic tale of the end of free will by tech conformity. entertaining but not cheerful. cynics will feel right at home.

Our Future in Novel Form

So many times while listening to this book I had the same two thoughts. First: This can't happen. Second: But this is already happening. Great listen!

Not Great

This book was a disappointment. I really liked The Circle, but this seems like a poor follow-up. The main character (Delaney) is hard to like. The premise of the book is that she gets a job with The Every because she wants to go in and destroy it from the inside. So the author set himself up with a difficult task. How can you make the reader like a character who is basically deceitful almost all the time? I do not think he succeeded.

I got the Kindle version and the Audible version so I could go back and forth. The narration is really bad, in my opinion, The narrator chose to use a really snarky tone, which was very irritating. It seemed like a mismatch with the actual tone of the writing.