Staff Pick
This novel contemplates our relationship to technology in a very Black Mirror-esque way, and also explores human connection. It's eerie because it hits so close to home, and it left me with a creeping sense of unease. I love Schweblin's dark, otherworldly storytelling. Recommended By Carrie K., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
A
visionary novel about our interconnected present, about the collision of
horror and humanity, from a master of the spine-tingling tale.
They've infiltrated homes in Hong Kong, shops in Vancouver, the
streets of Sierra Leone, town squares in Oaxaca, schools in Tel Aviv,
bedrooms in Indiana. They're everywhere. They're here. They're us.
They're not pets, or ghosts, or robots. They're real people, but how can
a person living in Berlin walk freely through the living room of
someone in Sydney? How can someone in Bangkok have breakfast with your
children in Buenos Aires, without your knowing? Especially when these
people are completely anonymous, unknown, unfindable.
The characters in Samanta Schweblin's brilliant new novel,
Little Eyes, reveal the beauty of connection between far-flung
souls — but yet they also expose the ugly side of our increasingly linked
world. Trusting strangers can lead to unexpected love, playful
encounters, and marvelous adventure, but what happens when it can
also pave the way for unimaginable terror? This is a story that is
already happening; it's familiar and unsettling because it's our present
and we're living it, we just don't know it yet. In this prophecy of a
story, Schweblin creates a dark and complex world that's somehow so
sensible, so recognizable, that once it's entered, no one can ever
leave.
Review
“The Argentine literary sensation — whose work is weird, wondrous, and wise — leads a vanguard of Latin American writers forging their own 21st-century canon... Samanta Schweblin has perfected the art of pithy literary creepiness, crafting modern fables that tingle the spine and the brain. Her latest book, Little Eyes, distills her uncanny ability to unnerve. Think of it as Black Mirror by way of Shirley Jackson.” O, the Oprah magazine
Review
“Samanta Schweblin’s writing straddles the unsettling border between the real and the surreal... Her latest novel, Little Eyes, may be her most unsettling work yet — and her most realistic. Its dystopian premise is eerily plausible.” New York Times
Review
"A nuanced exploration of
anonymous connection and distant intimacy in our heavily accessible yet
increasingly isolated lives....Capacious, touching, and disquieting, this
is not-so-speculative fiction for an overnetworked and underconnected
age." Kirkus Review
Review
"Readers will be fascinated
by the kentuki-human interactions, which smartly reveal how hungry we
are for connection in a technology-bent world....this jittery eye-opener will appeal to a wide range of readers."
Library Journal
Review
"Daring and
original....Schweblin deftly explores both the loneliness and casual
cruelty that can inform our attempts to connect in this modern world." Booklist
About the Author
Samanta Schweblin is the author of the novel,
Fever Dream, a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize and the collection
A Mouthful of Birds, longlisted for the Man Booker International
Prize. She was chosen as one of the twenty-two best writers in Spanish
under the age of thirty-five by
Granta. She has won numerous prestigious awards throughout the world, and in English her work has appeared in
The New Yorker and
Harper's. Her books have been translated into twenty-five languages. Originally from Buenos Aires, she lives in Berlin.