REVIEWS Fiction

THE EVERY

by Dave Eggers, Hamish Hamilton, £12.99, ebook £9.99 ★★★II The Every serves as the sequel to The Circle, Dave Eggers’ 2013 novel offering a barely disguised deconstruction of a certain internet search engine.

Now we find the company has merged with an online merchant somewhat predictably dubbed ‘the jungle’.

Clearly, Eggers is not trying to cover his tracks – that is not the point. He wants to question the creeping, often creepy influence of technology on our lives. Our heroine is Delaney Wells, a former park ranger determined to bring down this behemoth from within.

But, in around 600 pages as addictive as any mindless scrolling, we discover just how difficult this logic is to dispel. The Every is a humanist document, a plea for individualism over

groupthink, but it is not delivered in judgmental tones. Eggers asks questions on every page, but delivers few answers, leaving the reader to reach their own conclusions.

HARSH TIMES

by Mario Vargas Llosa, Faber & Faber, £20, ebook £12.49 ★★★II

Harsh Times focuses on the

turbulent 20th-century history of Guatemala, with its US-backed coups and accusations of Soviet infiltration. The story is loosely arranged around the fictionalised life of Marta Borrero Parra, teenage mother, then mistress of the President, then propagandist in exile. Vargas Llosa relates a recent encounter with the ‘real’ Marta in the book’s closing chapter, though the question of how far he – and she – can be believed is left open.

Vargas Llosa writes with sympathy and interest about all his characters, weaving fact with imaginative speculation. At times the novel reads like an engaging history book.