The Every [by Dave Eggers]

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You would think since I’m so obsessed with The Circle that I would immediately know when Dave Eggers wrote a sequel. I blame my eight month old baby for not knowing when anything new comes out. Of course, I devoured this book as soon as I got it. Unfortunately, this one just went too far. There are cute references to Amazon and how they made a movie and it was terrible, but overall it was a bit of a mess.

It’s unrealistic that Mae Holland would be the CEO. Sure, she is the reason Ty didn’t destroy everything, but I didn’t like that she was in the book at all. It’s like when a TV reboot references the old show too much, it comes across a bit pathetic. Like if you don’t have any more ideas, don’t write a second book. 

To be fair, the reason I love The Circle is because it sounds great - I love tech and the book teetered in the edge of plausible spookiness in a way that was obliterated in The Every, with the weird clothes and the general mania and WHY was Francis back? Ridiculous. I know the intended reaction from reading The Circle is to be concerned about tech and monopolies and be weary of those companies. I had the opposite reaction, so maybe that means the writing wasn't as convincing as it could have been. But The Every takes it too far to a place that isn't believable.

It got to the point that I didn’t care what happened to the main character, and the only realistic person in the book was her friend who slowly became a believer in the company - that felt real. But the rest was disjointed and at best it was tiresome. You knew a twist was coming, but when it showed up it was disappointing, not exciting.

I can’t recommend this book, but I will continue to read and recommend The Circle because it is amazing. Sorry Dave, this was a miss.

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