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Egan is one of those writers who sees tech and the online world, and then tries to fold it into her work without really understanding it at all. I find her wor
by ubermonkey 4y ago
Egan is one of those writers who sees tech and the online world, and then tries to fold it into her work without really understanding it at all.
I find her work pretty banal and superficial as a result. Her hamfisted choices in Goon Squad mean I won't bother with the new book.
- snapplebobapple 4y agoI wouldn't use Egan talking about it because there is a very excellent Australian science fiction writer named Greg Egan that totally redeems the last name.
- sohkamyung 4y agoOff-topic, but "Egan" makes me think of "Greg Egan", the Australian Hard SF writer whose works are enjoyed by a subset of HN people.
- aspectmin 4y agoI enjoy Greg's work, and am a huge fan of hard SF.
- ubermonkey 4y agoFair point for sure, but the topic is explicitly about a different Egan.
- mbil 4y agoWhat "hamfisted choices in Goon Squad" are you referring to?
- giraffe_lady 4y agoShe may not "understand it" in the same way we do but in terms of how we experience and are shaped by it as a culture I think she's very astute. I read goon squad recently and was surprised it's more than a decade old so rather than engaging with recent changes from technology she was more predicting them. I think it would have read as very cynical to me in 2011 but reading it now it's clear that was warranted.