The Candy House : A Novel
The Candy House opens with the staggeringly brilliant Bix Bouton, whose company, Mandala, is so successful that he is āone of those tech demi-gods with whom weāre all on a first name basis.ā 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 āexternalizingā memory. Within a decade, Bixās new technology, āOwn Your Unconsciousāāwhich allows you access to every memory youāve ever had, and to share your memories in exchange for access to the memories of othersāhas seduced multitudes.
In the world of Eganās spectacular imagination, there are ācountersā who track and exploit desires and there are āeluders,ā those who understand the price of taking a bite of the Candy House. Egan introduces these characters in an astonishing array of narrative stylesāfrom 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.