[REVIEW] The Secret of Skytop Hill

The Secret of Skytop Hill – A Thrilling Collection of Adventure Stories

Enid Blyton | 2014, Bounty Books | 352 pages

Illustrated by Pythis Ashton-Jewell

Cover illustration by Laurence Whiteley

978-0-75372-705-8

Hardcover, BBW Jakarta 2017, IDR 85000

Reading Enid Blyton made me feel nostalgic. As a person who grew up entangling in adventures with the Famous Five and Five Find-Outers, I am curious how it feels to reread or read another works of Enid Blyton now. Would I be thrilled over again by those kinds of adventure?

*

I bought this book at BBW Jakarta 2017 (technically it was not in Jakarta; it was in South Tangerang) and only in the mid of 2018 I finally read it. This book contains 13 stories; some of them link to each other, i. e. “The Mystery of Melling Cottage”, “Number Sixty-two” and “The Case of The Five Dogs” which present John the “detective” as the main character. Most of the stories, of course, was about teens trying to uncover the mysteries they found, and it can be their first time engaging in that kind of mystery-solving. (So, I, who during these years in my life of absenteeism of Blyton’s mystery books have consumed adult mystery fictions which much more sophisticated—Holmes, Poirot, Yukawa “Detective Galileo”—now needed to adjust my expectation when reading Blyton’s mystery fiction for teens in which the characters are also teens and the plot was simple enough for quick case-solving.)

For example, “The Mystery of Melling Cottage” is the story when John the “detective” was first engaged in his own mysterious case. Beforehand, he only could imagine that he was a detective. He adored his Uncle Thomas, who was an inspector in the police force, and he loved to hear the tales of catching burglars, thieves…. But, I dare say that the mysterious case didn’t happen to John out-of-nowhere; it could happen since John let it by doing what his uncle once said,

“We learn to use our eyes, our ears, yes, and even our noses, in the police force! You would be surprised if you knew how many times a very small thing has led to the capture of criminals.” (p. 90)

Whoa, indeed, this is one of the messages the author wanted to deliver to me!

Because John was eager to find something strange, the universe author granted him through small things when he ought to go to Melling Cottage to give a bundle of old clothes from his mother to Mrs Browning (who lived all alone there). But, strangely, John discovered the signs that there was another inhabitant besides of Mrs Browning in that cottage. Who could that be?

Ever since John had solved the mystery of Melling Cottage he had been on the lookout for another. But mysteries didn’t seem to come along very often—and some mysteries turned out not to be mysteries after all! (p. 145). This time, in “Number Sixty-two”, John was eager nothing like before to solve mysteries again. When he climbed and settled at a branch of a tree in Oaktree Wood, he heard two men in their (seemed-to-be) secret meeting under him. The one said, “Number 62, tomorrow” that made John thrilled. What could that mean? And then, he tried to search and solve the number of what that 62 might be.

“The Case of the Five Dogs” is the last John the “detective”’s story in this book. After solving the previous cases, John was becoming pretty well-known in his neighbourhood. One day, four kids came to him, seeking for help to prove that their dogs neither killed nor chased Farmer Warner’s sheep. Instead, it was the log-man’s black dog that did it. Julie, one of the gypsies, told them that she saw the big black dog chase the sheep and kill it, but she won’t tell the police because she was afraid of the police. But, was it true, for the log-man said that at that time when the sheep was killed, he was miles away from there. Which one was true? And, I wondered, why were the gypsies scared of policemen? (p. 248)

*

If John the “detective” gained the fame from his acts, James and Malcolm (in “Great-Grandpa’s Telescope” got a pair of real binoculars as a reward from the police for helping get the thieves arrested. And it was James’ great-grandpa’s telescope that made James spot some men on the church’s roof, and then, he with his friend, Malcolm, tried to discover what they were doing suspiciously. Meanwhile, for helping the police to arrest the smugglers, the three kids in “A Night on Thunder Rock” got a new boat as reward, for their old boat was leaking very badly and finally sank, just before they got to shore. But maybe James, Susie, and George in “The Lost Treasure” were the ones who got the most bejewelled reward—the famous family jewels, hidden treasure of their great-great-grandfather—of course, if they could find it, or if that treasure even existed. Did Blyton imply that one deserves reward for her/his good deed.

The main character did not always get the role of the detective. In “It Happened One Afternoon”, Mike, the main character, was the culprit. And the case itself was so simple. One afternoon, Mike came into his Dad’s study, saw his new golf club and swung it; accidentally it smashed a valuable vase. Mike was a coward, so he ran and hid. And, who knows that his friend, Joe, who then will be blamed?

*

Some stories have this typical plot: a bunch of teens (usually they’re in [summer] holiday, so they had plenty of times to follow their curiosity and were not in the time when everybody is engaged with their gadgets) went to an old (supposed to be empty) house, found a secret passage, and then saw mysterious things that were actually the “clues”. “The Secret of Skytop Hill” follows this pattern, in which John, Molly, and Harry went to the old ruin at the bottom of Skytop Hill. Inside the ruin, they wanted to set the fire in the fireplace but they found that something was blocking the chimney. Guess what? It was a box contained a map. They followed the map, walked down into the secret passage led towards the heart of the hill. They discovered a powerful lamp hidden inside the hill with its light shone up—what for? However there’s something I still wondered: the inspector claimed that it was actually a little nest of spies, but spies of what? What was they’re spying?

And other stories weren’t about mystery-solving at all, i.e. “The Wild West Kids”, “Caravan Holiday”, and “A Week before Christmas”. “The Wild West Kids” is a lengthy, near-boring drama about a circus. Peter and Jill loved to ride their horses, Bunter and Nuzzler, so much. They even liked to do some tricks as if they were in circus. Luckily, there was a circus camp arrived there, and they got to know Sam and Dan, “the world’s wonder riders, the real Wild West Kids”, and learn many tricks from them. But, unfortunately, before the last performance, Sam fell from the top of the tent and couldn’t perform. Blyton showed that diversity is a normal thing (in circus): each performer has their own fondness towards particular animal. Jill liked horses, Madame Lilliput loved dogs, etc. (pp. 281 – 282).

Meanwhile, in “A Circus Adventure”, two mischievous children made a scene in the circus that came to their village. They unlocked Sammy the chimp’s caravan and opened the monkeys’ caravan. They’re out to the village and their masters were frantically looking for them.

And then, “A Week before Christmas” told about three nice children, Robert, Ellen, and Betsy who agreed to look for jobs to earn money for it was a week before Christmas and sadly, Mum’s lost her purse that contained all of the money she had to prepare all the Christmas things. Robert was being a delivery-boy for the butcher; Ellen helped Mrs Harris to take her three little children for walks; and Betsy was reading and being a good company to Mrs Sullivan. They all did their jobs very well and finally could have a decent Christmas celebration. And see, what the kind words Robert told his mum,

“And what’s more, Mum, I once heard the headmaster’s wife saying to the head that she had noticed that all the nicest children were the ones that had the best mothers—so, if you think we’re nice, you’ve got yourself to thank!” (Robert, p. 345)

*

Apparently, the most interesting thing for me is the gender-based stereotypes that I found. In a game which was played by the children in “The Wild West Kids”, the girl is the one who should be rescued by boys (p. 280). In the most tiring-cum-annoying story in this book, “Caravan Holiday”, the socially constructed gender role was explicitly shown when Roddy told his sisters (Jenny and Ann) to do the packing for their holiday (p. 167) and then do the cooking when they were out caravanning, although actually Jenny didn’t like to do those things (p. 168), but she ought to do it anyway just because she was a girl. Meanwhile, towards Geoff, Roddy stated (p. 164) that “he will be all the odd jobs of getting wood for the fire, putting up the tent, and that kind of thing.” It didn’t matter if Geoff really wanted to do it or not; he must do it because he was a boy. And he was lazy; so was Jenny, so Roddy got angry easily as the oldest made them do things.

Nevertheless, I appreciate how Blyton had portrayed how four young brothers and sisters with his and her own weakness went caravanning on their holiday and in that journey, they learned from their mistakes. After they came to a turning point, the story was ended with them promising each other and decided to continuing the holiday better. Well, just a promise? Hehehe.

In “The Lonely Old House” I also found a sexist comment. Dick, Cathy, and Harry, oh, and their dog, Kim, discovered a secret underground passage which led towards the cellar of the old empty house. And then there was someone—“a real recluse”—came to stay at that house. In a night, Harry saw a light went out through the top window of that house, as if someone was trying to give signal to somebody. Cathy was indeed afraid of one’s shadow, but it’s not right for Dick to—though he meant to be kidding—say like this to her:

“Do come on. Can’t you enjoy an adventure, Cathy? Just like a girl—scared of everything.” (p. 113)

WOW, Dick, she was really a girl—not “like a girl”, and “scared of everything” was not a character built in the DNA of girls. I’m not blaming the author here, for maybe she just projected reality of gender stereotyping in the 20th century in UK. But, still. She could do better. When a writer is writing, (a part of) her/his ideology is also dwelling into the writing.

Look, this book maybe is also responsible in conserving patriarchy by teaching its young readers how to act based on her/his gender and how to throw sexist comment at their friend! And maybe someone reads this and accuses me of violating the freedom of writing of the deceased author, but hey, what can I be violating while her books have already spreaded all over the world? 

*

As a whole, this book, which was first published in 1998, didn’t give me much thrill, but it entertained me in my holiday last June with the stories of holiday too. And the nostalgia it gave me was irreplaceable. But, I am also anxious, what if the other books by Blyton (including the ones I have read when I was too naive to be aware) also include these kinds of gender stereotypes and sexist comments?

Read More

[Review] just ELEANOR (and PARK?)

My rating: ⭐⭐1/2

—Tell us, why has Romeo and Juliet survived four hundred years?

—Because people want to remember what it's like to be young? And in love?

(p. 45)

Omaha, 1986.

ELEANOR came back after being kicked outta house for a year by her step-dad. She is white, big, with red bushy hair and bizzare fashion style. But somehow she just wanted the world ignored her existence, but how it could be with that striking appearance? Her family was dreadful: an abusive-alcoholic step-dad, a submissive mom, and four little siblings, all were packed in a tiny house, so tiny that Eleanor had to share a small room with all her siblings.

PARK was Korean-American, a quiet boy who always sat alone in the school bus reading comics and listening to the music. He came from well-off family, and he had an insecurity about his "stereotypical" beautiful Korean boy appearance which he inherited from her mom, if compared to his brother Josh's macho appearance. Thanks to his family background, his friends had never really bully him (which was still odd, though).

THE TWO met in the bus, and from the first time when Park gave the seat beside him to Eleanor, they gradually became closer and closer. But the world didn't want them to be together.

***

While I found many positive reviews on Goodreads (FYI, its rating is 4+), I just couldn't connect to this YA romance story. Why, why? Anything’s wrong with me?!

FIRST, the characters.

The two flawed characters are realistic indeed, but it's unforgivable that Rowell reduced Park to only became a "stupid Asian kid" whose face Eleanor always wanted to eat (seriously, eat? And yeah, she reminded me too often that he was Asian—why not Asian-American then?). Despite of the reality that Park shared the title together with Eleanor and this story was told from their point of views alternately, this story is about Eleanor. Yeah, Eleanor. Whereas Park, with his half-Asian identity, he must've experienced many insecurities living in Omaha (you know, since 19th century, even up to 21st century, thiscity had been racist) and went to very "white" school. But, while I saw Eleanor's character development, I know almost nothing about Park’s. Rowell also seems to exaggerating in making Eleanor's life so miserable so that the reader sympathizes with her.

SECOND, the racial issues, historical & cultural background.

Some reviews called this book "racist" (the author of this Tumblr post picked to pieces the “racism” found in this book) and written without sufficient research on historical background and Korean culture. (This review by Laura of Clear Eyes Full Shelves says much about this issue. And maybe you wanna know an opinion of Eunnie Lee, a Korean reader about this book.) There were racial tensions throughout the 19th-20th century and even up to now in Omaha. (FYI, Rowell grew up in this city.) But, this story told me that Park (the only one half--Korean in the neighborhood) and the two black girls, “friends" (I couldn't call it friendship though) of Eleanor lived such more peaceful life compared to Eleanor's (she was white, you remember?). And about Korean culture... well, one of the most visible mistakes is how could Park's mom gave him a Korean last name as his first name? “Park” is a family name after all. Together with “Kim” and “Lee”, they make the three most often used family names in South Korea. (But, there was always a possibility that Rowell did this on purpose.) Look, I didn’t do K-Pop boy bands fan-girling and watching reality shows and Korean drama series without learning anything “cultural”.

THIRD, the plot.

So boring. But the ending isn't cliche, thanks God, although I wasn't satisfied since I hope that Rowell told more about what happened to Eleanor’s mom and siblings, rather than her mere anxiety.

*

Actually I love how Rowell created analogies which aren't cliches yet make sense, and humorous lines which sometimes made me chuckle. For example:

Thinking about going out with Park, in public, was kind of like thinking about taking your helmet off in space. (p. 173)

Because being assaulted with maxi pads is a great way to win friends and influence people. (p. 61)

And also the much-pop-culture references (music, comics, books). Although I didn't know much of them. Meanwhile, about the romance, some of the readers found it unbelievable because Park went from shouting to Eleanor at the first time she got into the bus to a kind of no-words-communication, to a deep romance in which they “can’t live without each other” too fast that it turned out to be silly rather than romantic. But I didn’t really think so. It wasn’t too fast for them to be in that kind of romantic relationship. I saw they gradually became closer and closer little by little. At first Park shouted to Eleanor, then give the seat beside him to her, then Eleanor peeked at the comics Park read in the bus every day. And then Park lent his comics to her, then they began to share music. All of those, at first, were done almost without they said something to each other. So, yeah, Rowell made every effort so that they could be in that degree of relationship. But I didn’t deny that their relationship seemed to me more likely to be a friendship rather than romantic one.

I started reading this with high expectation but it didn't turn out well. So, yeah, 2.5 out of 5 rating for this novel. And I didn’t feel any heartbreak in reading this.

“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice, form it was supposed to make you feel something.”

book identity

Title: Eleanor & Park

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Number of pages: 328

Publishing date: October 2013 (International Edition)

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

ISBN: 978-1-250-05399-2 (International Edition)

Price: IDR 145,000 (Books and Beyond)

Read More

[Review - Part 2] THE CIRCLE: We Are Not Meant to Know Everything

Title: The Circle

Author: Dave Eggers

Publisher: Vintage Books

Publishing year: 2014 (Open-Market Edition)

Number of pages: 497

ISBN: 978-0-8041-7229-5

Genre: science-fiction, dystopian fiction

Price: IDR 122,000 (at Periplus)

kayaking alone: the moment when Mae became “human”

Mae loved kayaking alone sometimes.

She guessed at it all, what might live, moving purposefully or drifting aimlessly, in the deep water around her, but she didn’t think too much about any of it. It was enough to be aware of the million permutations possible around her, and take comfort in knowing she would not, and really could not, know much at all. (p. 272)

At that moment Mae apparently came back to her senses. She realised that she “could not know much at all”. This made me think that maybe the moment when Mae on her kayak on the sea is a symbol used by the author to show how calm the life is if you’re not connecting to the internet. The beauty of nature; the seal stared at you and you stared back solemnly, silently; the dark that made you invisible from others who maybe were also in that part of the sea; the time you made with yourself. In that brief of time, Mae became human again.

She didn’t move, and the seal didn’t move. They were locked in mutual regard, and the moment, the way it stretched and luxuriated in itself, asked for continuation. Why move? (p. 81)

But, ouch, the SeeChange camera apparently was installed in that coast too. From that camera, Mae was seen using kayak illegally, and it drew her to deal with the police. I think maybe this symbolise the inevitable reality that this moment without internet will soon be engulfed again and again by the power of internet itself.

mercer, let’s see if there was a chance for your bringing Mae back to her senses

Mercer, Mae’s ex-boyfriend, was the one who first confronted Mae boldly and sharply.

“It’s not that I’m not social. I’m social enough. But the tools you guys created actually manufacture unnaturally extreme social needs. No one needs the level of contact you’re purveying. […] It’s like snack food. […] You’re not hungry, you don’t need the food, it does nothing for you, but you keep eating these empty calories. This is what you’re pushing. Same thing. Endless empty calories, but the digital-social equivalent. And you calibrate it so it’s equally addictive.”
(Mercer, p. 134)

Mercer was trying to bring Mae to her senses, but all bounced off. Sadly, later he was bullied by the netizens who were at Mae’s side.

“And you willingly become utterly socially autistic. You no longer pick up on basic human communication clues. You’re at a table with three humans, all of whom are looking for you and trying to talk to you, and you’re staring at screen, searching for strangers in Dubai.”
(Mercer, p. 262)

*Ha! That kind of thing is really happening now in real world.

“You know how I spend an hour every day? Thinking of ways to unsubscribe to mailing lists without hurting anyone’s feelings. There’s this new neediness—it pervades everything.”
(Mercer, p. 134)

*What Mercer said above is so true happening now, when unfollowing one’s Instagram account can hurt her/his feeling. The act of following one’s account only when she/he did a giveaway and then unfollowing her/his after the giveaway ended is considered to be rude. Is it so? Maybe we’re just being too sensitive after all.

when democracy becomes mandatory, is it still democracy?

Gradually, the Circle began to interfere in affairs of state, like voting. And yeah, it was Mae’s idea that encouraged the Circle to take over that very public act (p. 394-395). Previously, the Congresswoman Santos was the first elected leader who decided to become transparent.

“You’re either transparent or you’re not. You’re either accountable or you’re not. What would anyone have to say to me that couldn’t be said in public? What part of representing the people should not be known by the very people I’m representing?”
(Congresswoman Santos, p. 210)

But, yeah, it’s true that you will “behave differently when you know you’re being watched, and when you’ll be held accountable, and when there will be a historical record”. So maybe it was true that SeeChange—Bailey’s surveillance cameras, also the one that was used by transparent people—would eliminate most crimes because everyone would watch she/his behaviour out. But it also meant that everyone could be pretending in things she/he knew being watched. Didn’t it?

And then, as the Circle suggested once the voting system was ready to be tested, “Democracy is mandatory here!” (p. 406), I was wondering… When democracy becomes mandatory, is it still democracy?

the shark

The shark, first appear in Book II as one of the near-translucent sea creature brought by Stenton (one of the Three Wise Men) to the Circle. They were placed in enormous aquarium and the feeding time was a real show to Mae’s viewers, especially the feeding of the shark. I thought that the shark and its terrible constant hunger symbolised the Circle itself. The Circle which was always hungry to control the whole world.

“The fucking shark that eats the world.”
(Kalden, p. 484)

other thoughts

“Actually, I don’t know if we should know everything.”
(Annie, p. 439)

This novel brought on me the anxiousness of future world with the very fast advancement of technology. On one side, I, of course, support that advancement but on the other side, I am anxious that we humans will one day be controlled by our creation. Even now, the symptoms have been observably. Internet, via our gadget, has controlled us. I became care so much in the number of likes I got on my posts on Instagram—more than I care about if someone I am interacting with in the real world likes me or not.

Though, I think that some technologies developed by the Circle are indeed useful. From all the of them, I’m very fond of the health monitor bracelet, but without the feature to share the personal health information to the cloud. I need privacy. And, you know what? I loathed Mae’s character, except when she did kayaking—it was when she was “so human”. Ah, I’ve gotten pretty confused about how old Mae was in this story.

Bailey: You’ve known our beloved Annie a long time?

Mae: I have. Since sophomore year in college. Five years now.

Bailey: Five years! That’s, what, 30 percent of your life!

(p. 281)

*Ha, 30% of Mae’s life? So, up to that moment, Mae had lived for 50/3 years or about 17 years? I’m sure that Mae wasn’t that young at that time!

Besides that, I regretted that I watched The Circle’s movie trailer before I finished reading the book. My mood had been sunken right before I saw Kalden in the movie. Kalden’s physical appearance in the movie was in no degree resembled the one I imagined when reading the novel. I imagined that Kalden looked alike L on the Death Note. Kinda freak; he was the type of person who sit before his computer for a long time. But, John Boyega, the one acted as Kalden, was so far from the image of a freaking genius who was also socially-awkward.

 

Source: The Circle Movie Trailer #2

Mae was almost at the bathroom door when she saw a man, in skinny green jeans and a snug long-sleeved shirt, standing in the hallway… (p. 91)

His eyes were dark, his face oval, and his hair was grey, almost white, but he couldn’t have been older than thirty. He was thin, sinewy, and his skinny jeans and tight long-sleeve jersey gave his silhouette the quick thick-thin brushstrokes of calligraphy. (p. 92)

*Look, you can see much physical differences, right?
 

I hoped that there was a disclosure about what the darkest secret of the Circle was, but nothing. Yeah, it was manipulating humans using SeeChange and many other its social-media-based technological products, but that's not the secret I expected as secret. This was just too frustrating, like what our main character—Mae—did to me. She had been so blind all the time because she was easy to be provocated. But, thank God, there was Mercer, whose opinions are corresponding with mine.

“We are not meant to know everything. […] Did you ever think that perhaps our minds are delicately calibrated between the known and the unknown? That our souls need the  mysteries of night and the clarity of day? You people are creating a world of ever-present daylight, and I think it will burn us all alive. There will be no time to reflect, to sleep, to cool.”
(Mercer, p. 434)

 Finally, I decided to give this novel:

my rating

Read More

[Review - Part 1] THE CIRCLE: All That Happens Must Be Known

Title: The Circle

Author: Dave Eggers

Publisher: Vintage Books

Publishing year: 2014 (Open-Market Edition)

Number of pages: 497

ISBN: 978-0-8041-7229-5

Genre: science-fiction, dystopian fiction

Price: IDR 122,000 (at Periplus)

“Now we’re all God. Every one of us will soon be able to see, and cast judgment upon, every other. We’ll see what He sees…”
(Francis, p. 398)

congratulation, you’re hired to work to the Circle!

You have loathed your hometown for years you wanted to run away.

You have worked at a utility company, a kind of job and supervisor that you couldn’t stand anymore.

And then, with the recommendation from your best friend who had been a senior executive and now was a part of Gang 40—the forty most crucial minds at the company (p. 14)—you are hired to work for that company, the Circle—the world’s most powerful internet company.

What’s your feeling then?

You must be feeling on top of the world and are buzzing for all about the Circle and your job!

Right, that was what happened to Mae. At first, in the Circle she worked at Customer Experience, with the job to answer the customers’ messages and ensure that they give her maximum ratings. Yeah, she worked in front of screens and dealed with numbers. In Book I, we watched how Mae’s life grew concentrated just within campus of the Circle until she became anti-social and addicted to social media. We could watch the process of Mae being brainwashed so that she couldn’t help but believe in what Bailey—one of the Three Wise Men who built the Circle—said,

“All that happens must be known.”
(p. 68)

In Book II, Mae’s role in the Circle became increasingly public since she had decided to go “transparent” (it means that she wore camera along her neck like necklace every time except when she went to toilet and to bed, and the public could watch everything she was doing). Meanwhile, there would be “completion” of the Circle. What did it mean? Nobody knew exactly, except, yeah, nobody also knew who knew.

Since going public, Mae nearly had no privacy, including private time to talk with her closest friend, Annie (and it was also because of the business of the two, especially Annie. “She’d been gone for almost a month in Europe and China and Japan, ironing out some regulatory wrinkles…” [p. 337]), her parents, and above all with Kalden—the mysterious man. But then, Kalden tried to open Mae’s eyes to the menacing that could be because of the completion. Since Mae had became the public figure represented the Circle, he hoped Mae agree to warn the people about the disaster could be brought if the Circle took over the world using SeeChange. He also hoped Mae would join him in preventing the completion from happening.

Would Mae agree to do that? Or, she would let the Circle be complete and moreover, help speed it up to reach the completion?

book with no chapters

You’ve got to know that this novel contains three parts, Book I, Book II, and Book III. Actually it was pretty astonishing that I could enjoy read this no-chaptered book. Moreover much parts of the storyline showed the mere routine of the Circlers, as seen from Mae’s third person point of view. Normally, I will get bored easily, but maybe because I expected (and nearly believe) that there would be more and more suspense and something staggering, I could enjoy reading this. Ironically, the process of how Mae were becoming addicted to social media and how she grew from the Mae before working in the Circle until became one of the public figure represented the Circle, were the things that made me addicted in reading this book.

how the Circle made Mae be social autistic

Secrets are lies.

Sharing is caring.

Privacy is theft.

(p. 305)

In this book, Mae is our main character, and because we see things through her third-person point of view, we will get easily to know her personality. It is fascinating to watch the process of a person from zero in using the Circle’s social media to be addicted in it. Thing like this is really happening now in our real world.

Be hired to work at the Circle really changed Mae’s life. According to her point of view, she surely had better life than before. Her father, who suffered MS (multiple sclerosis), now could have real coverage from the company.

“Anything that makes our Circlers’ lives better instantly becomes possible.”
(Annie, p. 161)

Was it possible that her father would soon have real coverage? That the cruel paradox of her parents’ lives—that their constant battles with insurance companies actually diminished her father’s health and prevented her mother from working, eliminating her ability to earn money to pay for his care—would end? (p. 161)

But, we can see that Mae’s life hadn’t really gotten better. Her colleagues, for example, Denise and Josiah, made Mae feel guilty for not sharing her experiences to the social media (p. 184), a kind of “What if someone would benefit from your experience? But you didn’t share it!”. And it became so strange (and so wrong?) that Mae didn’t post anything to her social media about her doing kayaking.

“No, I mean, this is a tangent, but my problem with paper is that all communication dies with it. It holds no possibility of continuity. You look at your paper brochure, and that’s where it ends. It ends with you. Like you’re the only one who matters. But think if you’d been documenting. If you’d been using a tool that would help confirm the identity of whatever the birds you saw, then anyone can benefit—naturalists, students, historians, the Coast Guard. Everyone can know, then, what birds were on the bay on that day. It’s just maddening, thinking of how much knowledge is lost every day through this kind shortsightedness.”(Josiah, p. 187-188)

Since that, Mae became more concerned in building her image on social media. Working at Customer Experience, she’d got to know that numbers matter the most. Everything had been reduced into just the numbers. Her aggregate customer service score, the number of messages sent by other staffers, the number of friends in her OuterCircle, the number of unread zingers….

She could see how many people had viewed her profile that day, 210, and how much time on average they spent: 1.3 minutes. If she wanted, she could go deeper, and see precisely what each person had viewed. (p. 195)

*Wow, one couldn’t be a silent unknown reader or stalker anymore!

Mae becomes kinda too perfectionist in the matter of the numbers and it indeed made me cringe. Why did she bother so much at the 3% who frowned at her awesomeness? It is so natural having someone doesn’t like you, isn’t it? Mae just had used to have so much fans around her, that she was bothered that much knowing that not everyone was her fans. This was just too much, Mae. However, she couldn’t be blamed since this happened to her because the system engineered her to be. She was also exposed to too much “knowing everything” by the system.

… what had always caused her anxiety, or stress, or worry, was not any one force, nothing independent and external—it wasn’t danger to herself or the constant calamity of other people and their problems. It was internal: it was subjective: it was not knowing.
(p. 195)

*Oh, no, I thought that it was the contrary: what had always caused her anxiety, stress, worry, was accustomed to knowing too much, so that, once she was not knowing something, she became anxious, stressed, and worry. Like when she couldn’t find Mercer anywhere.

“There was something very wrong when you couldn’t find someone you were trying to find.” (p. 378)

Mae’s subconscious tried to tell her…

“…feeling the familiar tear, the growing blackness…” (p. 416)

I think that that was the indication of her not feeling right about the Circle, but she kept and insisted to kill it without gave it an opportunity to say her heart of heart’s voice aloud. She worked like crazy maybe to run away from paying attention and listening to her subconscious. But she thought of something else. She insisted in shutting her subconscious up.

“… she felt the tear opening up in her again…. she knew what the tear was and how to sew it closed. The tear was the madness of not knowing…. It was not knowing that was the seed of madness, loneliness, suspicion, fear. But there were ways to solve all this. […] Full transparency would bring full access, and there would be no more not-knowing.” (p. 470)

*The irony is, though SeeChange and Mae’s camera could see many things, the readers of this novel outdid them. We even could know what was Mae doing in the bathroom, where she went offline for a while.😂

“I think everything and everyone should be seen. And to be seen, we need to be watched.”
(Mae, p. 490)

To be continued in Part 2

Read More