莎曼珊‧施維伯林(Samanta Schweblin)運用大膽、創新的敘事手法,顛覆讀者的認知,反思數位化下的隱私問題。
小毛怪(Kentuki)看起來像個孩子玩的動物玩偶,但是它配有攝影機和連線功能,更重要的是,身上沒有開關。出廠時,每組玩偶和遙控器是分開販售的,購買小毛怪的人是藏家(Keeper),購買控制器的人則是藏鏡人(Dweller)。這幕後的藏鏡人則可以透過網路,控制玩偶的攝影機,窺視一切。持有玩偶的人並不知道觀看者是誰:身在柏林的人可以自在遊逛另一個人在雪梨的客廳,而在布宜諾斯艾利斯的孩子們可能正和一個在曼谷的觀看者共進早餐。透過科技的協助,世界各地的陌生人走入彼此的生活,而他們的互動交織出一連串詭譎難料的故事。
來自阿根廷的男孩馬文(Marvin),偷拿媽媽的錢,買來一個控制器。而在美國印第安那州,三個少女的偷窺秀眼看就要失控。另外,利馬的艾米麗雅(Emilia)把她對兒子的思念投射在世界另一頭的某個德國女人身上…科技與網路讓陌生人之間輕易地牽起聯繫,卻又增加了每個人的孤立感。當我們的線上和真實生活越來越密不可分,這些故事隨時都有可能會成真。
(文/博客來編譯)
A visionary novel about the collision of technology and play, horror and humanity, from a master of the spine-tingling tale.
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE
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 in 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, butbut 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.