A young woman lands a dream job at the world's most powerful internet company, which wants to make everything visible
When privacy disappears
Mae Holland is thrilled when her college friend Annie helps her get a job at the Circle, the world's most powerful technology company, which has merged social media, search, payments and identity into one system. Its California campus has gourmet food, parties and endless activities. Mae rises quickly, but the company's vision of total transparency starts to change her, and the world.
Who will enjoy it
Readers interested in technology, social media and privacy, and anyone who enjoys a thought-provoking modern dystopia.
What you will get
A gripping, thought-provoking novel that makes you think twice about social media, privacy and the price of being always connected and always watched.
The Circle Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Literary Fiction · Technology · Privacy · Dystopia
Length
512 pages · ≈ 15 h
More about this book
Mae starts in customer experience, answering queries while being rated on every interaction. She is soon expected to join endless online groups, post constantly and respond to messages day and night, and her social participation score becomes as important as her real work. The company's leaders, known as the Three Wise Men, launch ever bolder projects, including tiny cameras placed everywhere and plans to put politicians on permanent public view.
When Mae makes a small mistake, she is invited to go transparent, wearing a camera that broadcasts her whole day to millions of viewers. She embraces it with enthusiasm, even as her parents and her former boyfriend Mercer, a craftsman who rejects technology, grow uneasy and pull away. A mysterious man named Kalden warns her that the Circle's plans could destroy freedom itself. Eggers writes in a brisk, satirical style, and the slogans the company invents about sharing and secrets become chilling. The book raises big questions about surveillance and democracy, and its ending is unsettling.
Provocative, fast and timely, later adapted as a film. About 512 pages in the Vintage paperback.
1984
Brave New World
Fahrenheit 451
Klara and the Sun
Dark Matter
The Testaments
Small Great Things
Prophet Song
Interior Chinatown
The Husband's Secret
The White Tiger
Such a Fun Age