The Circle

I was intrigued by the NYT book review as well as a post on the Powell's Bookstore newsletter; here is another review from the NY Review of Books by Margaret Atwood.  This only slightly futuristic novel by Dave Eggers is--or should be--extremely unsettling. Given recent events surrounding the revelations of NSA electronic snooping, there are apparently still some powerful voices that can make themselves heard around intrusions on privacy. But I suspect that, as in this book, there are those who would say, "what's all the fuss?" Sick and tired of the dead-end job at the utility company, which was the only work she could find after college, Mae has called upon former roommate Annie--a few years older and now working for one of the hottest hi-tech companies in the world, The Circle. The Circle's founder came up with online services that simplified people's lives by consolidating all the various online activities in which they engaged and providing a single identity. No more lists of passwords to remember, now there is a single personal profile, "TruYou," which links you to shopping, financial services, health care, and more. But they are just getting started. And once Mae has drunk the kool-aid, she becomes their biggest advocate and their public face, a position she finds intoxicating--millions of viewers (for in the end she wears a camera around her neck nearly 24 x 7) who hang on her every word and product endorsement. She alienates her ex-boyfriend and her parents to the point where they cut off contact, but she rationalizes this by saying they are just not understanding the immense power and benefit of these social networking tools which make everyone's life fully knowable. Even Annie eventually opts out in her own way. There are so many ominous and somewhat obvious patterns that send up red flags, for example, the fact that politicians who refuse to become "transparent" always seem to end up being publicly disgraced by the revelation of some illegal or immoral online activity. There is a mystery man at the Circle Mae hooks up with for sex, but in spite of all the discovery tools at her command, she is unable to identify him. I was surprised to find out who he was, but perhaps you won't be. I kept reading 'til the end because I kept hoping Mae would come to her senses. Let me cut to the chase--she doesn't.