The Candy House

De: Jennifer Egan

Narrado por: Alex Allwine, Chris Henry Coffey, Christian Barillas, Colin Donnell, Dan Bittner, Emily Tremaine, Griffin Newman, Jackie Sanders, Kyle Beltran, Lucy Liu, Michael Boatman, Nicole Lewis, Rebecca Lowman, Tara Lynne Barr, Thomas Sadoski

PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD


From one of the most dazzling and iconic writers of our time comes an electrifying, deeply moving novel about the quest for authenticity, privacy, and meaning in a world where our memories are no longer our own--featuring characters from A Visit from the Goon Squad.

It's 2010. Staggeringly successful and brilliant tech entrepreneur Bix Bouton is desperate for a new idea. He's forty, with four kids, and restless when he stumbles into a conversation with mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or "externalising" memory. Within a decade, Bix's new technology, Own Your Unconscious--that allows you access to every memory you've ever had, and to share every memory in exchange for access to the memories of others--has seduced multitudes. But not everyone.

In spellbinding linked narratives, Egan spins out the consequences of Own Your Unconscious through the lives of multiple characters whose paths intersect over several decades. Intellectually dazzling and extraordinarily moving, The Candy House is a bold, brilliant imagining of a world that is moments away. With a focus on social media, gaming, and alternate worlds, you can almost experience moving among dimensions in a role-playing game. Egan takes her "deeply intuitive forays into the darker aspects of our technology-driven, image-saturated culture" (Vogue) to stunning new heights and delivers a fierce and exhilarating testament to the tenacity and transcendence of human longing for real connection, love, family, privacy and redemption.

Full List of Narrators:

Alex Allwine
Ali Andre Ali
Allison Light
Chris Henry Coffey
Christian Barillas
Colin Donnell
Corey Brill
Dan Bittner
Danny Campbell
Emily Tremaine
George Newbern
Gibson Frazier
Griffin Newman
Jackie Sanders
Kyle Beltran
Lucy Liu
Michael Boatman
Nicole Lewis
Rebecca Lowman
Tara Lynne Barr
Thomas Sadoski
Timothy Andrés Pabon
Travis Tonn©2022 Jennifer Egan

Reseñas de la Crítica

'A complex, compelling read that showcases Egan's masterful storytelling'

'Fans of A Visit from the Goon Squad will not want to miss this new novel'

'A thrilling, endlessly stimulating work that demands to be read and reread'

'Egan returns to the fertile territory and characters of A Visit from the Goon Squad with an electrifying and shape-shifting story that one-ups its Pulitzer-winning predecessor'

'A forceful, wonderfully fragmented novel of a terrifyingly possible future, as intellectually rigorous as it is formally impressive, and yet another monumental work from Egan'

'Playfully twists various narratives into a series of compelling interconnected vignettes, featuring many of the same characters from her award-laden 2010 novel. Ever the consummate storyteller and with a deft and powerful sense of characterisation, Egan is sure to have struck gold once more'

'A fast-paced polyvoiced romp through America in the grip of a sinister tech that allows others into your mind. EEK! Includes a dazzling novella Egan wrote' (Margaret Atwood, via Twitter)

'Egan is skilful, even masterful, at writing in a variety of styles and formats to suit each character's voice, making the book that much more real and that much more affecting'

Impressive

A dazzling feat of literary construction that belies the profound questions at its core: Does technology aid our sense of narrative or obscure it?

You don't have to read A Visit From the Goon Squad to love this sibling novel to Egan's stellar hit...complex and intimate

Inventive, effervescent...Egan plaits multiple narratives and techniques to underscore the manifold ways our own desires betray us in a brave new coded world

Very funny, penetrating, and impactful

Tech guru Bix Bouton creates 'Own Your Unconscious,' a technology that allows users to access and share every memory they've ever had. It's a concept so killer, it's hard to believe such technology doesn't already exist

[The Candy House] does what only the best and rarest books can: peel back the thin membrane of ordinary life, and find transcendence on the other side

Haunting and often hilarious...a wondrous, riotously inventive work of speculative fiction

'Humming with a sustained brio, The Candy House is especially rewarding on a micro level. Even post-BLM, Egan felt free to write from the perspective of a black character, as she should feel free, and she's apt to get away with it, too. The chapter narrated by an autistic character is convincing. Egan is particularly good at evoking the insecure teenage girl. The writing is stylish: "a man of so few words that the occasional word he did utter had the cleaving finality of an ax splitting a log". The novel is spirited, playful, sometimes incisive. So who cares if I can't remember anyone's name'

Amazing narration

I was struggling to understand the story given the breadth and amount of characters at times, but the narration was absolutely stellar, especially Lincoln's narration (chapter 3), he nails the tones making me sputter out in laughter half the time.

A novel that's novel

This book IS the candy house, "merely the portal", but "the thing that changes everything". On one level it's a bunch of good stories with linked characters, told in innovative ways: a good read. But there are so many more levels, making this that rare thing: a worthwhile read. I will never forget this book.

The excellent voice cast is worth the listen. For maximum value, read or listen to A Visit from the Goon Squad first. Be sure to view the slide show chapter (available on Jennifer Egan's website).

A quest for human connection around technology

"The Candy House" (8/10) is a science fiction novel by Jennifer Egan. It is a set of interconnected stories of different characters, who are related to the main protagonists of a companion novel, "A Visit From a Goon Squad" (9/10). The stories are moving, especially of those who desperately need love and wreck their lives as a result of not having enough of it.
This book is about family, how to be it's part no matter who you are. Also it's about new technology that brings back memories and allows to relive them at a price of sharing your memories online. The past cannot be changed, however. Everyone pays for their own choices in life, but there is always hope for the future.
The audiobook narration is fantastic. Chapters are voiced by different actors, who match the characters well.