Elizabeth Fritzler

So, so good. I have been interested in what Snowden's had to say since I saw Citizenfour right after it came out in 2014. I'm just a few years younger than Snowden, and my youth was similarly defined by the development of the Internet (AIM, anyone?). Many of Permanent Record's early chapters felt personally relatable. As I read Permanent Record, I felt a renewed sense of fury at how grossly commercialized the Internet has become. I can't so much as think about reading mattress company reviews without seeing mattress ads infesting my social media channels for perpetuity. I hate that our digital privacy is constantly violated so deeply. I have such respect and admiration for Snowden for standing up to these abuses. It took so much courage for him to do what he did, even despite knowing he'd never be able to come home, and even despite the immense risk of being caught and possibly never seeing his family again. The book is a well-written account of Snowden's life and the circumstances surrounding his 2013 info leak in Hong Kong. The whole story is extremely interesting and I flew through it in just a few days. I would probably read it again in the future.

After reading Memory Wall I reeeally wanted to like All the Light, but I never made it past the middle of the book. My attention kept wandering after reading a few pages, and I never felt compelled to pick it up again after putting it down for days at a time. I didn't find the writing to be trite, but I wasn't invested in the characters. I wasn't dying to find out what happened next. I suppose if someone can convince me the second half of the book is worth it, I may try again, but slogging through the first half felt...tedious. Too bad. I'm still interested in giving Doerr's other works a shot, but this one didn't grab me.