Jennifer Egan's Pulitzer-winning novel is hard to review because there are so many specifics in it that it's impossible to explain one part without needing to explain all the parts.
If I had to define what it's about, I'd say it's about growing up, changing and revisiting your past as a stranger.
Each chapter is told in a different character's point of view, and along the way we learn how the characters' stories are connected. This has been done before, but these characters are all so vibrant that it doesn't feel tired. There's also a really unique chapter presented in the form of slides a la PowerPoint. You wouldn't think you'd take away as much information or even the essence of the character from that kind of presentation versus a written chapter, but you do. (Don't tell my employers, who are currently obsessed with iPads and web site traffic and seem to have forgotten that their core product is a written publication.)
The last chapter is unsettling because it seems to take place in a time ahead, where almost all communication is reduced to "text speak" and human-to-human interaction is even less genuine than it is now. In this futuristic digitized world (unsettling because it doesn't seem far-fetched), an event occurs that is one of those "Do you remember where you were when..." moments. It rocks people (that is an excellent pun, if you've read it) to their core and sort of snaps them out of their digital fog for a second. It makes them remember what a person is capable of, as opposed to the capabilities of technology.
I think that's what Egan was trying to get across all along: No matter how advanced we think we are, we are humans first. And that alone makes us awesome.
No comments:
Post a Comment