I loved A Visit From the Goon Squad when it came out, but I wish that I had re-read it before starting this book because I didn’t remember the plot or chacters clearly anymore.

This new book is set a little ways in the future, but each chapter jumps back and forth in time as they are told from different character perspectives. This fact alone makes the book a challenging read that will demand the reader’s full attention.

The author also deftly examines weighty issues throughout, examining our need for connectedness and dependance on technology.

Readers looking for something literary are will enjoy this work immensely!

Jennifer Egan has written a sequel to "A Visit From the Goon Squad" and very nearly hits the same highs. A piece of the novel was excerpted in "The New Yorker" titled "What the Forest Remembers" and it not only works as a brilliant standalone story, it also fits the framework of the novel.

Egan provides shifting narrative styles and POV as in the original, which I really found entertaining. Terrific, terrific book,

Netgalley provided me with a free ARC in return for this review.

Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this novel. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy The Candy House. I admit that I am picky about my science fiction novels, but I didn't even like this as a piece of literature. It was confusing and I really didn't like the use of untraditional storytelling. The tweets and emails were simply convoluted, and I still don't get the story that Egan was trying to tell. This was a miss for me.

First & foremost, thank you to NetGalley & Scribner for sending me an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Referring to “The Candy House” as a stimulating read is a gross understatement. I felt like I was in an "Alice in Wonderland" meets "Black Mirror" crossover. The experience was nothing short of a mental gymnastics exercise that had me flying down the rabbit hole. The plot follows several interrelated POVs on various timelines. The story opens with Bix Bouton - tech god & founder of Mandala - who develops a revolutionary technology called "Own Your Unconscious." This invention allows people to access their forgotten & fuzzy memories by uploading their consciousness to an iCloud-type forum. Thus, the “collective consciousness” is born. Everyone’s most intimate secrets, private memories, & deepest perceptions become shared, public knowledge.

As horrifying as it sounds, this technology seems to have positive effects. It eradicates dementia & Alzheimer's, convicts covert pedophiles, solves crimes, preserves dying cultures, & fosters a greater sense of empathy among the devout community users (aka practically everyone). As with all tremendous societal advances, a rebellious force must rise to condemn the new norm. Enter Mondrian & Chris Salazar, it’s leader. This opposing conglomerate rapidly amasses a counterculture with a fervent following. Eventually, everyone must choose a side - sound familiar? Allies of Mandala value "collaboration over exile." Proponents of Mondrian value "freedom over surveillance."

Admittedly, this book can get super confusing, especially if you're not paying attention. Timelines & perspectives are jumpy, the chapters seem disjointed, & the sheer number of characters is intense...but it's all so FASCINATING. Everyone is connected to some degree, whether they/you know it or not. Each character arc is vital to the overall plot, regardless of how big or small their roles seem. Actions that appear to have limited relevance outside one individual’s self will directly impact the others, often inadvertently. The ultimate reveal of how they all link together had me completely rapt.

My main takeaway from this book: Despite the boundless tech advancements & unnecessary fluff in the realm of social media, humans are still intrinsically, inevitably, & profoundly connected OFFLINE. I love this perspective. I found it moving & refreshing.

“The Candy House” will be an incredibly divisive book. Some readers will immediately reject the writing style; some will loathe the delivery; some will lack the patience or desire to draw connections; some may miss the point entirely. I consider it a masterpiece: brilliant, prophetic, reflective, & challenging in the best way - one that will undoubtedly stick with me. My notetaking while reading bordered on maniacal & I ended up mapping out a complete guide (one that I would gladly share with anyone who gives it a chance). I HIGHLY recommend grabbing this book once it’s released on April 5, 2022!

Bix Bouton's revolutionary technological invention, Own Your Unconscious, has changed the way people view their past and their future. You can download your memory to access later, but also, access the memories of others. As the various characters move in and out of each other's lives, and memories, Egan spins their stories through a variety of styles, including one story told in a series of emails.

This was a slow start for me and for a while, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get through it. But somewhere around halfway, the stories really started to grab me and I was intrigued. The concept of memories, and the ability to go back and review those memories, is quite interesting, but it was really some of the other stories that I enjoyed the most. Lulu especially was one of my favorites. I think if you liked "A Visit from the Goon Squad" , you'll be able jump right in with this 2nd book. Looking back, I also struggled with Goon Squad because of the format but this time around, I knew the concept and was able to understand better what was happening.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Available April 5, 2022

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoy every book by Egan. Revisiting the method of A Visit from the Goon Squad, dropping in on new characters and seeing how they intertwine with each other or even the people from the previous novel was a nice treat. Egan shines best when you look at her writing. Dropping us in each chapter and seeing someone's worldview was perfect. I also loved the way she writes in different and unique ways for each of the characters, making sure the style is always slightly different to make you feel like you're sitting in a new story. She did a great job with this novel.

That said, it is definitely not A Visit from the Goon Squad. I felt in some instances like I should have reread the novel because I was constantly trying to grab at who was old and new. It felt more like a nostalgia play in some parts, hinting at different characters instead of focusing on the scene itself. Then again, that is a motif of the novel so that is partially my fault. But there was something else holding me back from actually loving this book. I think it was Egan trying to jump into a new worldview. Goon Squad is best when it looks at what Egan knows or cares about. This felt like she was often trying to look forward into the future in ways that weren't altogether comfortable with her. Sometimes the descriptions of the collective were a bit muddled for me and I wanted a deeper understanding. Altogether great novel, and so glad to read another Egan.

This is a difficult review for me, and to start I will admit that it is probably mostly my own problem. The thing is, I had a really hard time understanding “A Visit From the Goon Squad”, but I decided to give this one a chance. Overall, I like almost everything that I read, but there are some well-loved, if not beloved, books that I just did not like. One is “Wuthering Heights”, which took me countless chapters to even figure out that there were two Cathy’s and that the story had gone back in time. I finally had to look up an online summary to figure out what was going on. I just didn’t get it.

Unfortunately, “A Visit from the Goon Squad” and “The Candy House” fell in this same category for me. I read, and I tried, but I finally had to cave and look up summaries and reviews to figure out what was going on and that made me really not enjoy it. As I started, this is probably just me because this book got fantastic reviews.

I know that this may violate netgalley’s requirements, but I decided not to post my review on social media out of respect for the author. I just don’t think it’s fair, nor do I want to give this book a bad review because of my own issue. Thank you very much for the arc.

In a word, SENSATIONAL! Such a quirky, original, and above-all joyous sequel. The characters pop off the page, and the writing is luminous. I loved every word, and inhaled it. More, more more….

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this Arc!

One of my favorite books has been A Visit from the Goon Squad for a long time. So when I saw that there was a new book that is related and by this ingenious author, I could not wait to read it. And I was not disappointed!

I love these short tales going from character to character, all somehow relative but in different times, and this complex weaving of these different stories creates a beautiful full picture by the end. And, if this impacts me like Goon Squad, I will be caught in moments years from now thinking of these characters and their lives, their thoughts and opinions

No, it is not straightforward. My suggestion to readers, as is always my suggestion with stories like this, is to just let go of preconceptions and just go with it. This book is incredibly insightful and delves deeply into some very important issues like authenticity and something I've asked myself a lot in the last few years... Are we losing touch?

Great read. Highly recommend A Visit from the Goon Squad. It's a provocative style of story telling but I'm hoping people read this and see the big picture the author is painting.

Comes out April 5th!

I really really wanted to love this book but I did not. It was not for me.

It jumped around and was a slog to get through. I kept putting it down and then dreaded picking it back up. I didn't love her other novels so I wasn't too hopeful for this one.

Next!

What a brilliant writer! It’s hard to write a review of this one because it’s bends and folds genres while continually pulling at my heart. Characters have differing strengths of connection with one another - people weaving in and out of pages and sections. While it took me time to flip back and recall the characters as they reappeared sections later, I found this writing style so challenging as a reader and yet satisfying as I linked together stories and characters. In the end, I see this novel as a book about connections within ourselves and each other and how we all have this insatiable need to be accepted, fulfilled, and loved. Buckle up and just go with it - that’s my advice with Egan’s latest. It’s worth the ride. Thanks to Scribner for the advanced copy.

I am probably missing something since I did not read the goon squad novel that preceded this one, but I was able to get through the Candy House nonetheless. It took me about 50% of the book to grasp the writing style and events. Until then, it seemed all over the place, and I wondered if I had mistakenly thought it was a collection of short stories. By the end, I saw how everything came together and appreciated and enjoyed the novel very much.

A couple of characters from “Goon Squad” put in an appearance in this story about about a software platform that allows memories to be uploaded to the cloud and accessed by anyone. Fast paced and thought provoking, perhaps Jennifer Egan’s best book to date!

This is an incredibly interesting story of technology got awry. It’s perfectly timed for over technological world that we currently live in. The story is perfectly paste an interesting to read. I kept imagining myself in the same situation as the characters. I feel like that’s always the sign of a great book.

This is a tough book to get your arms around as a reviewer. It is a sweeping narrative that spans decades from the recent past to the future, with interlocking characters that makes "This is Us" TV show seem like a small cast of characters. Each chapter brings a new point of view, a new style (there is an entire chapter of Tweet-like stream of consciousness, which is just as annoying as having an all-snack diet), and others that will test your patience as a reader as you try to knit together what Egan is trying to do and how each character fits into this warped vision of society where tech bros are even more noxious than they are in reality, where anyone's thoughts and experiences can be downloaded and shared, and where companies can create "Total Recall" scenarios at the push of a button. Dystopia doesn't even begin to explain what is going on here. Did I like the book? For the most part. If you are the kind of reader that tires just having multiple first-person narrators, this isn't the novel for you. But it clearly shows Egan's prowess at spinning a complex world-wide tale that will take you into a very different place.

I enjoyed this book,a bit uneven and hard to follow at times but well written…parts were very funny,others sad. …very different from Manhattan Beach. Well worth reading

Jennifer Eagan's new release is being billed as "a sibling novel to her Pulitzer Prize- and ​NBCC Award-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad—an electrifying, deeply moving novel about the quest for authenticity and meaning in a world where memories and identities are no longer private."

I didn't know that going in. I might not have been so excited about The Candy House if I had known that -- so read the following with that in mind.

The Candy House started off so strong because Egan is such a talented writer. The book hinges on Bix Bouton's’s new technology, “Own Your Unconscious," a devise that allows you to re-experience every emotion and relive all the moments of your life -- but you have to download all of your thoughts and memories into a collective that anyone can access.

A really interesting idea and a great writer, but the book completely lost me. There were so many characters whose lives were weaved together somehow. So many that I can't even tell you how many because the narrator kept changing.

All of these individual story lines were interesting on their own, but they were just too short and too many. I could follow how some of the folks were interconnected, but could not keep track. I seriously needed a map of relationships. That would have made this novel somewhat easier too follow. It was too much and all over the place. I read for entertainment and joy, not to study. So, this one is a pass for me, unfortunately.

Compelling from its first few pages, "The Candy House" is a novel in hyperdrive. I didn't read "A Visit From The Goon Squad," so I'm not sure how closely these characters tie to the earlier novel, but I thought the cast of this novel was strikingly parallel to people in the real world. Egan is able to articulate through her characters the nuances of life and family that are commonly glossed over when we see comparable figures in media. I'll continue thinking about this book in the years to come.

So, I just really didn't get this book. I found it confusing, hard to understand, and just all over the place. Definitely not my cup of tea! I tried to get into it, but I found myself rushing to finish.

It took me quite awhile to get into this book. Honestly, I was pretty tempted to DNF it. The first 150 pages or so were so jumpy - there were so many characters, so many different plot points, and not of a lot of it was gripping my interest. The most interesting part for me was Bix's storyline, and that's what kept me going. I'm glad I finished this book though - about halfway in, I got captivated enough where I couldn't put it down! I ended up enjoying it a lot. It was heavy, both intellectually and emotionally. I've read other works by Egan before and it was reminiscent of her style - each character feels fully fleshed out with so many intricate details, and everything is interwoven in fascinating and sometimes miniscule-seeming ways that have unintended lasting impacts (much like real life!) That said, she withholds a lot too. Any one of these characters could have an entire novel wholly devoted to them. There were so many moments where I wanted to know more, or sometimes, less. But overall it was an enjoyable
and thought-provoking read and I'm glad I stuck it out! 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.