Structured like a network or a spiderweb, San Francisco–raised Egan’s imaginative novel in stories—her sixth novel—refracts themes of memory, technology, and authenticity. While this novel can stand alone and double as social commentary, it also serves as a sequel of sorts to the earlier A Visit from the Goon Squad. Egan’s fans will find added enjoyment in tracing the storytelling circuit that links Goon Squad’s peripheral characters to the characters in The Candy House. At the outset, we’re introduced to a tech founder who uses professors’ experiments with downloadable memory to make a popular social technology called Own Your Unconscious, which allows people to link their memories into a collective unconscious. A wide-ranging cast of characters wrestle with the value of this new technology, so close to what already exists, and its possibilities.•

Scribner Book Company THE CANDY HOUSE, BY JENNIFER EGAN

<i>THE CANDY HOUSE</i>, BY JENNIFER EGAN
$17 at Bookshop
Credit: Scribner Book Company

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