"The Candy House" is an intriguingly written literary fiction that reminds readers of a Black Mirror episode (Season 1, Episode 3.) While the premise of the story was interesting, the writing style was not a fit for me. This would be a great fit for those who like a wide range of characters and descriptive writing. Please also note that this novel is associated with "A Visit from the Goon Squad,” The reader may benefit from reading it before starting "The Candy House."

DNF - I tried to read this book twice & was simply not able to connect with the writing style. I don't know that I realized that this was the second book in a series. Perhaps, I might have been able to enjoy the narrative more had I been previously engaged with the cast of characters. Overall, I'm sure that this has dedicated readers & people who thoroughly enjoy the style & story.

I kind of wish I had reread Goon Squad first. There are some major character overlaps that I feel maybe I missed things in as it’s been 11 years since I last read Goon Squad.
Like that first book, The Candy House is written from many different character perspectives. One thing that was a bit disappointing is that we never go back to any of same characters once their narrative is over. All our characters are connected in some way (and things come full circle) but I was still sad we didn’t go back to the preteen girl or our tech genius/CEO from the first chapter.

Jennifer Egan does bring in some unconventional storytelling methods in The Candy House. We experience one story entirely through operative statements, and another set of character perspectives from emails sent back and forth. Both are closer to the end of the novel, and so took me by surprise.

Overall this is brilliant writing, as Egan tends to be. But it will not be for everyone. There is a multitude of characters and intertwined stories to keep track of (with no cheat sheets to help), and it’s written at a high literary level. So be prepared to need your dictionary for some of the doctoral characters dialogue.

If you love contemporary writing, want to explore the idea of consciousness uploaded to a ‘cloud’ (of sorts), or just experience some in-depth personalities then I would highly recommend Eagan’s latest novel. If The Candy House wins awards I wouldn’t be surprised. However it’s a bit too obscure at times and hard to follow for me to give it five stars. I also wish there was more said in the blurb about its tie-ins with Good Squad so I’d have known to read book 1 again. Especially given how long ago Good Squad was first published.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

I have tried to read this novel several t8mes. This time, I made it halfway before giving up. I’ve Egan’s previous books and suggested them to book groups.. this one just didn’t grab me. I wish it had. I’m sure other readers will not have this reaction. The writing is good, as usual. I just couldn’t connect with the characters.

This book was an absolute pleasure to read. Anything by Jennifer Egan is actually. I highly recommend this book.

I have not read A Visit From The Goon Squad and was not aware that this would be a companion book. Not knowing the characters going into The Candy House my have affected my enjoyment of the stories so take my review with grain of salt. I did like that the short stories had a clear connecting thread to at least on other in the collection but I still didn't find much development in each or in the overall arch of the collection. It felt like inside knowledge might have been needed and I only got bits and pieces of what I needed but never enough to actually put it all together. The writing was great but I do think you should try Good Squad first and maybe have more success with this collection than I did.

I read a chunk of the book but then it expired before I could finish it. I’m not really sure if I like it or not. I didn’t get far enough to get an idea how it would come together. The various stories didn’t seem connected.

2/5 Thank you to Net Galley and the author for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this one! I read Jennifer Egan’s “Manhattan Beach” and liked it. I was really intrigued by the memory sharing idea, but there were so many characters in this and their relationships were hard to distinguish at first. The story kept jumping around and I got confused. Perhaps I was meant to read “A Visit From the Goon Squad” first – apparently, it introduced many of the same characters. Also, I read this eARC on my phone and didn’t like the format of the email and tweet chapters or the bit about the beauties. I think that both of those would be easier to follow on a written page, (or at least a format with more landscape).

It’s also difficult to give a synopsis of the story: A guy created a way of uploading a person’s subconscious memories to a cube. People could do this and then access their own forgotten memories or other people’s memories of the same event, or even other memories. Some people embraced this; but there were many people hiding “off-grid”. If this main theme were dealt with more, I’m sure the story would have captured me; but there seemed to be too many other side stories with their own characters adding a level of complication. I often felt that I was just getting somewhere with a group of characters and their story when they were dropped and a new storyline started.

I will definitely read “A Visit From the Goon Squad” and maybe try this one again after I’ve been properly introduced to the characters.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This was an ok read. I felt a little bored throughout unfortunately.

2.5/5 stars

I would classify this book as general or literary fiction with some science fiction aspects.

I think that a lot of people will like this book. But I found it too complex for me. It is told by multiple narrators over multiple time periods. The chapters don't really seem connected. It reads like short stories. But some characters appear in multiple stories. Unfortunately I didn't really connect with any of the characters. Maybe I would have felt differently if I had read the first book.

It was an interesting way to tell a story. But I found some of it a bit confusing.


*This is a sibling novel to A Visit From The Goon Squad.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada, NetGalley and the author, Jennifer Egan, for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a trip. A chaotic, what is going on, why can't I stop reading trip! If you are familiar with Jennifer's novel [book:A Visit from the Goon Squad|7331435], this book follows-up with some of the lessor known characters in that book 12 years later. Bix, who is mentioned very briefly in the first book, has invented a cube that can download an entire human consciousness or share memories, consciousness with someone else. This book delves into the consequences of such an invention..but the delve is frantic and chaotic at times. It covers what can happen in an internet obsessed world and the effect on humanity.

I found it a bit hard to follow at times and often had to go back and retrace my read for something to make sense. Quite honestly, occasionally it made me feel a bit dumb! I did enjoy it even though it wasn't an easy read. It made me think harder than other novels ever have and to me that's a bonus. Five stars because it was quite a challenge and I loved it for making me obsess and think a bit harder than normal! I think reading this helped me stave off Alzheimer's a bit better than Sudoku hahah!

We’re told that a re-read of A Visit from the Goon Squad is not necessary before jumping into The Candy House, but honestly, I can’t help but wonder if it might not have helped. I read Goon Squad back when it was published in 2011 and remember loving it, but, alas, precious little else. Candy House continues the story of many of the characters (and their descendants) from Goon Squad, and that’s just it: there is immediately a bewildering array of characters, and I felt myself a little adrift, trying to get a firm grip on—well, anything, really. Events open in 2010, as Bix Bouton, wildly successful tech entrepreneur, is 40 and feeling bankrupt of new ideas. Whatever can he come up with next? A conversation group with a bunch of University professors (keep your eye on these characters) triggers a brainstorm: Own Your Unconcious, which allows you to access every memory you’ve ever formed, externalize and upload it, in exchange for access to all the other uploaded memories online. Thus begins the novel’s exploration of a world in which ubiquitous social media have largely displaced genuine human connection. (Hmmmm….. nothing familiar about that, is there?) The novel shifts from story to interlinked story, over decades, and the separate chapters are told in wildly differing styles (just as Goon Squad was). An inventive look at the cost of tech intrusion, where a nibble on the Candy House (think Hansel and Gretel) has unforeseen consequences. But there were too many characters flitting through to become attached to any, and for this reader, there was something essentially human missing.

Bix Bouton, the brilliant and successful owner of tech giant Mandala has developed new software that is completely game changing - Own Your Own Unconscious. It allows you to download your memories to a Mandela cube and to access them at any time. Not only that but, as the software evolves, you can download your memories to the Collective Consciousness which allows you to access the thoughts and memories of anyone else who has also downloaded to the Collective. But, like the candy house of the fairy tale, not everything is as it seems and there are potential dangers lurking within.

The Candy House by Jennifer Egan is one of the most anticipated books of the year and deservedly so. It is a complex tale brilliantly told across decades through interlocking stories of many different characters, many of them recognizable from The Goon Squad, and with many different voices and narrative styles including epistolary and even a chapter consisting completely of tweets. It is about family and memory. the uniqueness of each individual as well as the similarities and, of course, the value as well as dangers inherent in technological advances. Although there are some similarities as well as characters from The GoonSquad, The Candy House is a stand-alone novel, one that is guaranteed to make you think while entertaining.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review</i>

To say I am a huge fan of Jennifer Egan is an understatement. Her Pulitzer Prize winning novel A Visit From The Goon Squad is one of my all-time favourite reads and continues to haunt my thoughts even after picking it up nearly 10 years ago. When I saw that the author was releasing The Candy House, I was beyond excited.

The Candy House is a continuation of the beloved Goon Squad- part prequel and part sequel- it plays with jumps in time in a similar fashion to the Goon Squad. While Goon Squad centered its multiple narratives around music, self-destruction and the passing of time (how very rock and roll), Candy House cleverly reflects the zeitgeist focusing on technology, social media, roleplay and sci-fi. At the center, this novel is about "the quest for authenticity, privacy, and meaning in a world where our memories are no longer our own".

Told in multiple interconnected vignettes which can be read as individual stories, the unusual narrative structure is a lot of fun. I also loved revisiting familiar and beloved characters- Sasha's son! Benny's son! Lou's daughters!- and catching the Easter eggs within other stories.. Linc, Sasha's son, remains the highlight of the Goon Squad/Candy House universe for me as he moves on from his youthful power point analysis to a sweet chapter about the probability of love.

Jennifer Egan is a brilliant writer and I highly recommend this read which I rated ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Additionally, if you have not read A Visit From the Goon Squad, this is a must read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. THE CANDY HOUSE is out today so go get yourself a copy!

— 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒚 𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝐛𝐲 𝐉𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐠𝐚𝐧 [𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐]

“Never trust a candy house! It was only a matter of time before someone made them pay for what they thought they were getting for free. Why could nobody see this?”

The Candy House, out today from Simon & Schuster, is a ‘sibling novel’ to Jennifer Egan’s 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning hit, A Visit from the Goon Squad. Described by the publisher as a “bold, brilliant imagining of a world that is moments away,” The Candy House follows the advent of a new technology: Own Your Consciousness, which has replaced social media. You can upload and share every memory you’ve ever had, in exchange for the memories of others. The Candy House revisits many of the characters from Goon Squad (which I haven’t read), but this time focuses on their children and the ensuing decades of their lives as they grapple with their own roles within this new world. I felt the novel made sense as a stand-alone piece, though I’m sure it would be a lot of fun for Goon Squad fans to see what happens to each character. Each chapter in The Candy House is written in a different style, following different characters who are seemingly unrelated but slowly become connected by a common thread. Egan excels at this style, and I found myself wanting more from every character at the end of each chapter.

The Candy House explores the value of human connection, creativity, and privacy in the age of the algorithm. Some exploit the algorithm, and others elude it, understanding the price of the Candy House and what it means to take a bite. While the book is an anxious description of a near future, it was also incredibly immersive and fun, with a poignant question at its centre: in a world of algorithms dictating preferences, what does it mean to accept futility and a lack of knowing? And what does it mean to accept literature as one of the last true means of ‘escape?’

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.

@raquelisreading April 5 2022

This one just wasn't for me. I didn't realize that this was a continuation of the story from her first book. I do wonder if I would have enjoyed it more having some context from the first book.

For me, it was difficult to read. There was so many characters, timelines, and generations that I couldn't keep track of. The story felt disjointed and shifted so fast I wasn't able to connect to the characters or the story.

While I loved the idea of this story and the implications of having your thoughts and memories floating out in the world but I just couldn't get into it.

This is outside of what I would normally read but I would recommend it to people who like intricate, detailed reads that make you stop and think.

thank you to scribner and netgalley for the e-arc!!

the candy house is the much-anticipated "sequel" to a visit from the goon squad, a book that completely changed my life when i read it last year. in a similar fashion, the candy house follows an extremely intricate web of characters, lives, and stories--told in increasingly creative ways and increasingly insane connections. rather than being about music, this book is more about technology and the different ways in which we respond to it.

after reading a visit from the goon squad a year ago, i wrote out a character web in order to establish how each of the characters were related to one another. while reading this book (because most, if not all, of the characters are an extension of previous ones) i tried to mentally add on to that web, and i think my brain actually broke. i will never stop being in awe of jennifer egan's insane ability to make her characters feel like real people--to make them feel like a friend of a friend of a friend.

i loved this book just as much as a visit from the goon squad, which is a book i never thought of as needing a sequel, but i am oh-so-glad that it got one.

Happy to include this not-quite-sequel in the April edition of Novel Encounters, my regular column highlighting the month’s most anticipated fiction for Zoomer magazine. (at link)

The Candy House centers around the creation of Own Your Unconscious, a system created by tech entrepreneur Bix Bouton. OYU quite literally allows you to upload all of your memories to a shared space where they can be accessed, read, watched, used to solve crimes, predict disease - the list is endless. Each chapter is captured through the lens of a different character, and written in a completely unique style, depending on that character. I loved the feeling of escaping into a new story with each chapter, yet still piecing together a collective narrative. The commentary around our use of (and reliance on) social media is eye opening, and the final chapter is a great one.

At times, that common narrative was tough to follow - I found myself flipping back to confirm that the character we were talking about was indeed a character from a previous storyline. BUT if you love rampant character development, interesting story lines with completely unexpected twists and turns - this one is for you!

Not sure about this one for me. I had a hard time getting into it and it just didn’t engaged me at all. I did enjoy the writing style and feel the author is very talented but there were many characters to keep track of and it’s just not my cup of tea.

⭐️⭐️💫 for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel in exchange for my opinion.