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A review by savvystory
The Every by Dave Eggers
2.0
I think I finished this book just to write this review, and the irony is not lost on me. This book read as Dave Eggers exorcising his personal beefs with society*, and it only went so much deeper than that when it could’ve been an exploration of our relationship to tech by an excellent writer. We watch a Black Mirror episode to see the dystopic outcomes of technology. I wanted to read a (577-page!) book to sit with the human experience. I think most people, especially of the people reading this, are aware how toxic social media and tech are. So are we going to wallow in that, or are we going to examine why it’s happening?
Where’s the empathy? It felt like a scolding. “Of course human beings would blindly trade their privacy for comfortable security. Blech.” The book references pandemics, violence, climate change. Why might that push people toward desiring certainty? What are the benefits? What are the costs? It kind of makes sense humans might rely on tech to solve these huge issues we face, what are the alternatives? What is the value of uncertainty and subjectivity? How would this disproportionately affect people of different identities? Is it possible to drive change from within the system? How? There was an interesting seed about surveillance replacing religion - what does that say about humans and society? There are so many interesting questions that could’ve been explored.
It also seems out of touch with humans. Like the moment when they say no one has ever pushed back on credit scores, that people love having the clarity of that number. Excuse me? Pretty sure we all hate that you have to go into debt to establish credit to participate in financial life.
But maybe I’m expecting too much; it was supposed to be a dystopic action thriller. It wasn’t that either! There was no plot. Sorry, there was a plot, it was her stints in different departments to show us all the horrifying tech. The juicy mysteries could have propelled the story, but they were forgotten and then wrapped up in a paragraph at the end. Who did the bombings? I guess we’re left to assume it was Stenton’s scheme to bring about the end of the world. Did Joan know? So many unanswered questions.
And don’t get me started on DELANEY. UGH. I was waiting for some self-awareness. Wes hints that she’s being overly individualistic. Otherwise there’s no commentary on her self-centered assumption she could single-handedly overturn the Every. Maybe in book 3 Eggers will let humans discover community organizing.
Also why did Agarwal flip so easily! That’s barely developed and feels so cheap.
This just left a bad taste in my mouth. Hopefully PrefCom can recommend an ethical toothpaste.
*Athletic wear? Really?
Where’s the empathy? It felt like a scolding. “Of course human beings would blindly trade their privacy for comfortable security. Blech.” The book references pandemics, violence, climate change. Why might that push people toward desiring certainty? What are the benefits? What are the costs? It kind of makes sense humans might rely on tech to solve these huge issues we face, what are the alternatives? What is the value of uncertainty and subjectivity? How would this disproportionately affect people of different identities? Is it possible to drive change from within the system? How? There was an interesting seed about surveillance replacing religion - what does that say about humans and society? There are so many interesting questions that could’ve been explored.
It also seems out of touch with humans. Like the moment when they say no one has ever pushed back on credit scores, that people love having the clarity of that number. Excuse me? Pretty sure we all hate that you have to go into debt to establish credit to participate in financial life.
But maybe I’m expecting too much; it was supposed to be a dystopic action thriller. It wasn’t that either! There was no plot. Sorry, there was a plot, it was her stints in different departments to show us all the horrifying tech. The juicy mysteries could have propelled the story, but they were forgotten and then wrapped up in a paragraph at the end. Who did the bombings? I guess we’re left to assume it was Stenton’s scheme to bring about the end of the world. Did Joan know? So many unanswered questions.
And don’t get me started on DELANEY. UGH. I was waiting for some self-awareness. Wes hints that she’s being overly individualistic. Otherwise there’s no commentary on her self-centered assumption she could single-handedly overturn the Every. Maybe in book 3 Eggers will let humans discover community organizing.
Also why did Agarwal flip so easily! That’s barely developed and feels so cheap.
This just left a bad taste in my mouth. Hopefully PrefCom can recommend an ethical toothpaste.
*Athletic wear? Really?