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The Candy House (novel)

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The Candy House
2022 book jacket
AuthorJennifer Egan
LanguageEnglish
PublisherScribner
Publication date
April 5, 2022
ISBN978-1476716763

The Candy House is a novel by Jennifer Egan, published by Scribner's with a U.S. release date of April 5, 2022.[1][2][3][4][5]

Background and context

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This novel is a sequel to Egan's 2010 novel A Visit From the Goon Squad. Like the prequel, it consists of short, interrelated stories with recurring charachters, set at different times. Many of the characters from A Visit from the Goon Squad appear in The Candy House, in addition to some of their children. For the most part, The Candy House takes place at a later time period and some of the stories include science fiction themes.[1][3][5][6]

Stories

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  • "The Affinity Charm": Bix Bouton, CEO of the social media company Mandala, is longing for a new tech innovation. He overhears that experiments are being done to externalize the memories of animals, which sparks an idea.
  • "Case Study: No One Got Hurt": Alfred Hollander is obsessed with authenticity. He performs outlandish acts to elicit genuine reactions from strangers, causing strife with his family.
  • "A Journey: A Stranger Comes to Town": Miles Hollander considers his life to be a failure, and Drew struggles with guilt over Rob's death. Their lives change when they meet.
  • "Rhyme Scheme": Lincoln works for Mandala as a "counter", someone who analyzes data from users to predict their behavior. He tries to figure out how to get coworker M to fall in love with him.
  • "The Mystery of Our Mother": Melora Kline recounts the family history of her anthropologist mother and absent father Lou.
  • "What the Forest Remembers": Charlene Kline uses Mandala to explore the memories of her father Lou on a trip in the 1960s.
  • "Bright Day": Roxy Kline, a recovering heroin addict, uploads her memories to Mandala and is ready to start a new life.
  • "'i,' the Protagonist": Chris Salazar works complacently for a company that "algebraizes" stories to basic tropes. On a frustrating trip with a coworker, he finds a new direction in life.
  • "The Perimeter: After": Molly Cooke, a teenager, experience tensions with her friends when new girl Lulu arrives.
  • "Lulu the Spy, 2032": Lulu Kisarian works as a spy for the Citizen Agent program.
  • "The Perimeter: Before": Hannah, Molly's sister, recounts her mother's feud with their neighbor Jules Jones.
  • "See Below": A series of intersecting email threads between the large cast of the novel's characters.
  • "Eureka Gold": Gregory Bouton, Bix's son, mourns his father's death.
  • "Middle Son (Area of Detail)": As a child, Ames Hollander hits a surprise game-winning home run in a baseball game. The story quickly recounts events of his future, then returns to the triumphant moment of his home run.

Reception

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According to Book Marks, the book received "positive" reviews based on 55 critic reviews, with 27 "raves", 13 "positive", 11 "mixed", and four "pans".[7][8][9]

Dwight Garner of The New York Times wrote:

Egan has a zonking sense of control; she knows where she's going and the polyphonic effects she wants to achieve, and she achieves them, as if she were writing on a type of MacBook that won't exist for another decade. The Candy House and Goon Squad are touchstone New York City and technology...novels of our time; they'll be printed in one volume someday, I suspect, by the Library of America.[1]

Kirkus Reviews said:

As she did in Goon Squad's PowerPoint chapter, Egan doles out information in small bites that accumulate to demonstrate the novel's time-honored strengths: richly complicated characters and compelling narratives...[and the novel is a] thrilling, endlessly stimulating work that demands to be read and reread.[5]

The novel was longlisted for the 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.[10] Publishers Weekly named it one of the top ten works of fiction published in 2022.[11] It was also selected for The New York Times's "10 Best Books of 2022" list.[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Garner, Dwight (29 March 2022). "In Jennifer Egan's New Novel, Our Memories Are Available for All to See". The New York Times.
  2. ^ Chow, Andrew R. (March 30, 2022). "Why Jennifer Egan Created a Future Without Privacy in 'The Candy House'". Time.
  3. ^ a b Charles, Ron (March 29, 2022). "Jennifer Egan's 'The Candy House' revisits the goon squad". The Washington Post.
  4. ^ Moiseieva, Anna (February 15, 2022). "'The Candy House' Review: A Brilliant Tale Exploring the Human Side of Technology". The Harvard Crimson.
  5. ^ a b c ""The Candy House" book review | Kirkus Reviews".
  6. ^ Levin, Janna. "Science vs. Fiction: Jennifer Egan on "The Candy House"". Broadcast.
  7. ^ "The Candy House". Book Marks. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  8. ^ "The Candy House". Bookmarks. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  9. ^ "The Candy House". Bibliosurf (in French). 2023-10-04. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  10. ^ "2023 Winners". American Library Association. October 11, 2022. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  11. ^ "Best Books 2022: Publishers Weekly Publishers Weekly". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  12. ^ "The 10 Best Books of 2022". The New York Times. November 29, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
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