* Named a Top Ten Best Book of 2022 by The New York Times Book
Review, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Slate * Named a Best Book
of 2022 by The New Yorker, NPR, Oprah Daily, Time, Harper's Bazaar,
Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, Vogue, and many more! *
"A compelling read that showcases Egan's masterful storytelling."
--Time
"Dazzling." --Vogue
"Radiant, exhilarating." --Slate
"Mesmerizing...A thought-provoking examination of how and why we
change." --People
From one of the most celebrated writers of our time comes an
"inventive, effervescent" (Oprah Daily) novel about the memory and
quest for authenticity and human connection.
The Candy House opens with the staggeringly brilliant Bix Bouton,
whose company, Mandala, is so successful that he is "one of those tech
demi-gods with whom we're all on a first name basis." Bix is forty, with
four kids, restless, and desperate for a new idea, when he stumbles into
a conversation group, mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is
experimenting with downloading or "externalizing" memory. Within a
decade, Bix's new technology, "Own Your Unconscious"--which allows you
access to every memory you've ever had, and to share your memories in
exchange for access to the memories of others--has seduced multitudes.
In the world of Egan's spectacular imagination, there are "counters" who
track and exploit desires and there are "eluders," those who understand
the price of taking a bite of the Candy House. Egan introduces these
characters in an astonishing array of narrative styles--from omniscient
to first person plural to a duet of voices, an epistolary chapter, and a
chapter of tweets. Intellectually dazzling, The Candy House is also a
moving testament to the tenacity and transcendence of human longing for
connection, family, privacy, and love.
"A beautiful exploration of loss, memory, and history" (San Francisco
Chronicle), "this is minimalist maximalism. It's as if Egan compressed
a big 19th-century novel onto a flash drive" (The New York Times).
