Black Box

Goon Squad #1.5

by Jennifer Egan, Brigitte Walitzek (Translator)

Für ihre neue Geschichte BLACK BOX gibt es noch keine Bezeichnung, denn auch hier betritt sie Neuland: Die Story wurde getwittert und erschien erst, nachdem die Kurznachrichten gesendet waren, gebündelt im NEW YORKER. In der festgelegten Zeichenzahl von 140 Zeichen pro Tweet entfaltet Jennifer Egans Text eine ungeheure Explosionskraft. Eine namenlose, auf sich gestellte Frau ist auf einen hochrangigen Verbrecher angesetzt: Ihre Aufzeichnungen entfesseln eine atemberaubende, von Agententhrillern inspirierte Verfolgungsjagd, offenbaren dabei aber auch schonungslos den Umgang mit weiblicher Schönheit und technisch aufgerüsteten Körpern eben als BLACK BOX.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Science Fiction, Thriller, Contemporary, School, Ebooks

89 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Jennifer Egan is the author of several novels and a short story collection. Her 2017 novel, Manhattan Beach, a New York Times bestseller, was awarded the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and was chosen as New York City’s One Book One New York read. Her previous novel, A Visit From the Goon Squad, won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Los Angeles Times book prize, and was named one of the best books of the decade by Time Magazine and Entertainment Weekly. Also a journalist, she has written frequently in the New York Times Magazine, and she recently completed a term as President of PEN America. Her new novel, The Candy House, a sibling to A Visit From the Goon Squad, was published in April, 2022, and was recently named one of the New York Times’s 10 Best Books of 2022, as well as one of President Obama’s favorite reads of 2022.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!

last year, i carved out my own short story advent calendar as my project for december, and it was so much fun i decided to do it again this year! so, each day during the month of december, i will be reading a short story and doing the barest minimum of a review because ain't no one got time for that and i'm already so far behind in all the things. however, i will be posting story links in case anyone wants to read the stories themselves and show off how maybe someone could have time for that.

here is a link to the first story in last year's project,

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

which in turn links to the whole monthlong project, in case you wanna do some free short story reading of your own! links to the stories in this year's advent-ure will be at the end of each review.

enjoy, and the happiest of decembers to you all!

DECEMBER 7

When you emerge from a warm, churning bath where you've spent an indeterminate period of time, expect to feel shaky and weak.

Remind yourself that you are receiving no payment, in currency or kind, for this or any act you have engaged in.

These acts are forms of sacrifice.

An abundance of diaphanous bathrobes suggests that the occupants of this bathroom are often female.

A soiled and tattered white sundress can seem oddly precious when it's all you have.

Keep with you the things that matter - you won't come back for them later.

a story written in second-person and originally published as a series of many many tweets posted over a ten-day period about a female spy with some advanced bio-gadgetry on a mission to.... do something. i don't know why i loved this as much as i did - the brevity of the segments is a little distracting and it can be repetitive, but there's something wonderful about it despite the gimmicks - a story keeps pushing its way through all the obstacles to its storydom, breathing life into the cold second-person voice and the stripped-down snippets - a soft, warm, viable story with a snuffling nose and a lovely beating heart that wants to be more than just a robot delivering terse sentences. i still have a fever, despite all these antibiotics, so my brain might be all curdled. but the story is good - go read it please.

read it for yourself here:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...

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[S. ≽^•⩊•^≼ I'm not here yet · Rating 4 out of 5]

8.5/10

Black Box, Goon Squad #1.5 is part of the second book, The Candy House

"The fact that you feel like you're dying doesn't mean that you will die."

"The fact that a man has ignored and then insulted you does not mean that he won't want to fuck you."

A Visit from the Goon Squad, Goon Squad #1 ⭐8/10
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Candy House, Goon Squad #2 ⭐9/10
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Ariel · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the near future, you might be called up to serve your country based solely on your looks & willingness to deploy these looks in service to said country.

Your country may ask you to accessorize that service with some pretty heavy subcutaneous tech.

Your country may be an idiot and decide the camera in your eye would be awesome if it had a flash.

This flash might briefly blind you or get you killed. It may lead you into further shenanigans that get you killed.

You might be killed.

You are not getting paid for this service. When crap hits the fan, possibly the one located in your left bicep, you'll be happy to know you're not getting paid for this service.

Jennifer Egan's Black Box is a Bond Girl meets RoboCop science fiction short story. It was initially available on Twitter in a series of tweets over a ten day period. You can still read the tweets as originally intended or you can read it in full at The New Yorker. I decided to read it in full because it's formatted so that you still get the gist of Egan's tweet intentions without having to flip through from tweet to tweet. I'm glad it was available this way - Egan's 140 character bursts fit in with her story and add interest to the narrative.

I like thrillers in general; I lean more towards detective rather than espionage narratives but I'm happy to dive in to anything that gifts its readers with an interesting premise and characters. Egan's Black Box as espionage thriller with Bond music playing in the background? Interesting premise. The more interesting aspect, to me, was how far a reader could run with this short story. Sure, it's a spy thriller with a science fiction layer. It's also well-seasoned with social commentary. The story itself was a two star read for me; I liked it well enough and might check out more by Egan. What stuck with me was the social commentary aspect; it gave dimension to the typical spy thriller Bond Girl shtick and added a vibe that pushed it up to three stars fairly easily.

[Sarinys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riprendendo l’idea di interconnessione tra persone (e testi) che caratterizzava Il tempo è un bastardo (ovvero A Visit from the Good Squad in originale), Jennifer Egan recupera Lulu, uno dei personaggi del romanzo che le valse il Pulitzer nel 2011, e la rende protagonista di questo racconto.

Che si tratti di Lulu è indiscutibile, anche se non sapremo mai il nome della protagonista del racconto – e non è un caso, come vedremo. I dettagli biografici coincidono con i suoi, dieci anni dopo (suo padre era una star del cinema che lei non ha mai conosciuto; la sua professione di futuribile addetta marketing; l’ingegnere kenyota con cui era fidanzata è diventato il marito).

Se sappiamo che si tratta di lei, sappiamo anche che siamo nel futuro, perché nel presente narrativo 2010 circa del libro, Lulu era una bambina. Probabilmente, ci troviamo dopo il 2030. E in effetti il mondo di Scatola nera è dotato di una tecnologia più avanzata della nostra, tant'è che il racconto è spesso definito di fantascienza (a cominciare da Wikipedia). A me, le apparecchiature futuribili menzionate nella storia hanno fatto pensare più all’universo di 007, che in effetti usa una tecnologia fantascientifica. E come genere, Scatola nera è proprio una storia di spionaggio.

L’operazione che ha generato questo ebook è legata all’immagine di Egan come la scrittrice legata a temi “2.0”, l’ipertestualità e via dicendo (si veda appunto Il tempo è un bastardo, costruito come un incastro di storie connesse tra tempo e spazio, e pieno di attenzione per il futuro della società derivato dall’uso dei nuovi media). La storia è stata pubblicata per la prima volta dal New Yorker nel 2012, su Twitter; si tratta quindi di un racconto costituito da una lunga serie di aforismi contenuti in 140 caratteri, che messi insieme formano effettivamente una vera storia – tant’è che non ogni tweet ha una particolare rilevanza a sé stante, ed è stato fatto notare che il racconto è bello, ma non è un esempio calzante di letteratura trasposta su Twitter.

Ero sospettosa rispetto a questa formula, avevo paura che fosse una forzatura – come mi era sembrato forzato il capitolo stile Powerpoint in Il tempo è un bastardo (che poi, voglio dire, dai, proprio Powerpoint; e va bene che lo stile infografico cambierà nel corso del tempo, va bene che oggi risulterebbe datato quello delle infografiche fighette del 2010; ma siamo proprio sicuri che lo stile di Powerpoint possa in qualsiasi maniera risultare futuribile per qualcuno?). Avevo il timore che, come il capitolo del romanzo, fosse qualcosa che cercava in modo greve di adattare il linguaggio romanzesco a quello dei media odierni e futuri; che finisse per essere troppo semplicistico, o mal riuscito, o brutto da leggere – e il Powerpoint un po’ lo era. Ogni tanto, leggendo il romanzo Pulitzer, mi ero chiesta se dietro alla struttura a interconnessione ci fosse un vero pensiero, un vero senso, o se fosse invece una confezione per contrabbandare il romanzo in un’epoca (il 2010) in cui il mondo editoriale si interrogava sui cambiamenti del futuro, con la paranoia che la scrittura come la conoscevamo venisse spazzata via da non si sa bene quale nuova forma derivata dal web. Oggi, nel 2017, l’editoria è ancora in crisi e la carta stampata piace sempre meno, ma la forma del romanzo e del racconto mi pare venga messa in discussione in modi più ragionati, sulla base di idee e dibattiti letterari (non paranoidi); che so, ragionando sul ruolo della non-fiction, per dirne una.

Fatto sta che. Avevo il timore che Scatola nera fosse una robetta così. All’epoca non l’ho letto, lo recupero ora, in questo inizio 2017 ormai lontanissimo dal contesto che lo ha prodotto. Posso dire che Egan ha trovato un senso alla struttura aforistica data dal formato tweet, raccontando la storia – tra l’altro in seconda persona singolare – come una serie di istruzioni che la protagonista riceve. Chiaro che la seconda persona singolare lo fa diventare un tu/io, come se parlasse a se stessa. Ma è tutto giustissimo, coerente, perché il personaggio è perso in un’avventura solitaria, senza confidenze e amici, e perché ha davvero ricevuto una specie di addestramento spionistico, per l’appunto delle istruzioni, una lunga serie, che la forzano a fare cose che non le piacciono e che sono pericolose.

Il racconto, è stato detto, parla dell’oggettificazione della donna e del corpo femminile, e sì, decisamente lo fa, e anche questo è coerente con il tema dello spionaggio – mi viene in mente la bellissima serie tv The Americans , che fa riflessioni analoghe, e anche più profonde, sull’uso e abuso dei corpi e delle vite degli agenti segreti protagonisti. Come in The Americans, dove i personaggi sono fedeli all'Unione Sovietica, la ragione che spinge la protagonista a prestarsi a tutto questo è il patriottismo, la devozione all’America. E l’America prende il suo corpo e lo trasforma nella scatola nera del titolo. In questo senso, non è un caso se Lulu non viene mai chiamata per nome, e viene anzi definita soltanto con l’appellativo “una bellezza”. Quello è lo spazio eroico che la patria le ritaglia: il suo corpo espropriato, la sua bellezza usata come paravento e esca.

Quindi sì, tutto coerente. Il racconto è scritto bene, appassiona, scorre. Piacerà di più a chi ama la scrittura rapida e sintetica; d’altra parte, sapendo che è una storia costruita sui tweet, non credo che vi aspettiate dei periodi alla David Foster Wallace. Se l’operazione sia invecchiata bene non riesco a dirlo: il punto è chiedersi se questo tipo di adattamento della letteratura a Twitter funzionasse già all’epoca. D’altra parte, quello che rimane a distanza di anni non è la pubblicazione online (quella anzi era scomparsa nello stream dei tweet già nel 2012), ma l’edizione ebook di un racconto costruito per piccoli paragrafi.

[David Sarkies · Rating 4 out of 5]

The death of the traditional book
21 April 2013

Despite this being a novella and also appearing in a magazine, I simply could not leave off making some comments on this rather unusual piece of literature. I guess this is something that you would call post-modern, but the way the story is constructed, and the uniqueness of it, is what makes it intriguing. Basically it is a simple spy story, but it was originally told through a number of Twitter™ posts over a period of a week and the story unfolds through a number of instructions to a spy (who, by the way, is not getting paid for her work).

The protagonist of the story is a volunteer American spy who goes to the south of France to infiltrate an organisation and obtain some secret information. The thing is that we do not know who this person is (she is never named), we do not know what the information is, or who the organisation is, but I do not think that detracts from the work in itself because what it does is that it leaves that part of the story up to us to imagine.

I guess this is a classic example of what one would consider post-modern literature. The idea has moved on from where the the images of the characters in our head differ from reader to reader (one person's vision of Bilbo Baggins would differ from almost every other) to the actual guts of the story being determined individually by all who read it. All we know is that she is a beauty (once again relative to the reader's perception of beauty), and that she is on a mission to extract information. What that information, who the mark is, what the organisation is, and what this person is back in the United States is (though we know that her husband is black) is left up to us to determine. Even the bulk of the dialogue is left for us to imagine, since, as I said, the story is constructed by using instructions from a spy manual.

It took me a little time to work out what was going on, but that is not surprising since at the start is seems that it is simply a random collection of comments, posted as Twitter posts, that do not seem to have any particular connection, but as we move through the story it becomes clear that they are instructions, and then it becomes clear that it is a spy story. At first I thought it was simply instructions to a beautiful woman on how to handle a man, and I guess in some ways the story can also be as such. It has, in a sense, a dual purpose. It is also, in a sense a movement from the unreal and the chaotic to the ordered and it takes time for this to come about. We, the reader, no doubt, are meant to be confused, to try to make sense of and understand what it going on, in the same way that we are meant to try to make sense of and understand life.

It also shows us how technology has changed the way we communicate. Ten years ago if you went on a holiday you would only be able to describe your experiences through emails to a select group of friends with photos attached to those emails, and ten years before that it would be over a beer at a pub once you had returned home. However these days you can follow people's exploits over Facebook, while seeing the photos appear as they are taken (though I would upload them when I had some down time at my hotel or in the airport). When I travelled around Australia I would only be able to update my status when I had access to a computer, but now I have a laptop that has been to Europe twice and Hong Kong once.

One wonders if this is how literature is going to develop and whether the traditional book is on its way out. Maybe, maybe not. We follow people on Twitter (well, I don't) and we follow people in Facebook. The idea of the imaginary novel may disappear as we are able to see people's lives more as they are posted on the internet for the world to see. Of course, some people seem to have no shame in what they post on the internet, and others are much more reserved, but still, the way we communicate seems to be changing day by day.

[Luca Masera · Rating 4 out of 5]

La forma di Twitter che diventa sostanza per una spy-story d'autore con la protagonista de "Il tempo è un bastardo", romanzo che ha consegnato il Pulitzer alla Egan nel 2011.

Consigliato agli amanti di Twitter che ben sapranno trovare in questo esperimento letterario il giusto ritmo di lettura: frasi da 140 caratteri massimo, dei tweet appunto, che mischiano poesia e tecnologia.

Libro da leggere tutto d'un fiato lasciandosi trasportare dalla suspense.

[Ellis ♥ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Un esercizio di stile davvero mal riuscito e poco convincente.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

An undercover spy is on a mission to stop bad guys from doing bad stuff – this story is a recording of her mission, her Black Box.

Sounds vague and generic? Well Jennifer Egan switched things up by writing her story on Twitter! That’s right, each line is a separate tweet making up a whole story. It’s also written in my least favourite style, the second person. This means that everything refers to you. You think. You do. You are. You know. You You. You You You. YOU!

Our unnamed narrator lives in a future where the government seems to be recruiting civilians for dangerous undercover missions ‘cos they got no records linking an involvement with law enforcement. Which makes sooooo much sense. Oh wait, no it doesn’t (you think).

This spy is different from Bond and Bourne and other B’s (though she is described as a “Beauty” throughout – a piece of vapid arm-candy is her cover) because she’s got nanotech gadgets implanted in her body. Mics in her ears, cameras in her eyes, buttons behind her knees - she’s like a cyborg, watch out bad guys!

Speaking of them, what are the bad guys up to? We never find out. The whole story comes off as very abstract – no names or locations are mentioned, the villains’ aims are unstated – and the 140 characters limit per line gives it this poetic air, strangely juxtaposed with the cold manual-like instructions that compose the majority of the story.

Black Box isn’t a bad short story. It’s pretty average and nothing that special - its standout feature is HOW it was written which says a lot - but it’s entertaining enough and skilfully constructed.

You could read the story for free over at The New Yorker here: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...

[Clarissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boh ? Pensieri scritti a caso ? Non ho ben capito purtroppo di che cosa cosa avrebbe voluto trattare il libro

[Valentina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Allora, se l’intento era quello di fare uno scherzo, sappi Jennifer che stai ridendo solo tu.

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Black Box is another story by Egan, along the lines of her narrative experiments in A Visit From The Goon Squad. A story told in Twitter-size sentences, moments of bizarre poetry happen on nearly every page. Using a second-person limited (I think?) point of view is confusing at times, and has an ethereal quality at others. The 'black box' is what you're reading, a tape of narrated instructions of the agent's spy work as she does her mission. An interesting technique, but a little unweildy.

The innovative reworking of the spy genre into a female agent that functions as an informat by sleeping with key players as a 'beauty' and 'host' (as the book terms it) relationship is something realistic, as the KGB had been known to carry out that style of intelligence gathering. Sleeping with the enemy, essentially.

The gadgets the agent uses take the form of chips and implants within her body and this plays around coyly with the idea of nanotechnology. I thought this aspect was developed well.

In all, this is an odd story. A mix between long-form poetry and fiction, wrapped in the guise of a spy thriller. I enjoyed the experience, but I can see people finding the POV and form of Black Box too dense for their liking. Still, Jennifer Egan is an accomplished writer, and her skill is on display throughout.

[Alfonso D'agostino · Rating 5 out of 5]

C’è chi trova limitativi i 140 caratteri consentiti da Twitter – e a volte mi capita di essere uno di questi – e c’è chi riesce a trarre ispirazione da uno strumento di comunicazione e a renderlo, genialmente, un vero e proprio canovaccio narrativo. E’ il caso di Jennifer Egan, di cui ho adorato “Guardami” e “Il tempo è un bastardo” e che mi ha ampiamente soddisfatto nuovamente con il suo “Scatola nera”, romanzo basato interamente su paragrafi che non vadano oltre i digit limitati consentiti in un cinguettio informatico.

Lo so, letta così può sembrare una forzatura oppure una forma di esercizio letterario piuttosto fine a se stessa, ma sono costretto ad assicurarvi che non è così: l’ultima fatica della Egan funziona, e funziona perfettamente, perché – a prescindere dalla forma scelta – è un cavolo di ottimo thriller, che tiene agganciati a questa curiosa successione di mini-paragrafi con una trama solidissima ed una protagonista per la quale si empatizza immediatamente. Una donna che per motivi politico-patriottici si mette a disposizione del suo paese e delle agenzie spionistiche, disposta a far utilizzare il proprio corpo e le proprie esperienze come una vera e propria scatola nera, da cui il titolo del volume. Idea moderna, funzionante e geniale, niente da dire. E occorre rassicurare ulteriormente chi immagina uno sviluppo narrativo zoppicante, figlio delle limitazioni di caratteri sopra descritte: si può giocare anche con la lunghezza delle frasi, si può creare suspense allungandone alcune e moltiplicando le descrizioni di luoghi o sensazioni, così come si può rendere più incalzante la vicenda con scelte sintattiche arrembanti e periodi più contratti.

Si può, se ci si chiama Jennifer Egan e si ha un vero talento per la scrittura, unita (indovinate un po’) alla genialità di un artista in grado di superare le convenzioni ed adattare il dono ricevuto alla modernità.

Costruito interamente con una narrazione in seconda persona che accentua ulteriormente la partecipazione del lettore (“Ravviati i capelli con il braccio funzionante e tenta di fare un sorriso grande e spensierato”. “Il sorriso è come uno scudo: ti immobilizza il viso in una maschera di muscoli dietro la quale puoi nasconderti.”), “Scatola nera” è un piccolo capolavoro che non si può perdere.

[Piero · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mah. Questo esperimento di scrittura stile manuale di istruzioni non mi pare riuscitissimo. Peccato perché la storia sarebbe anche interessante. Philip Dick ci avrebbe fatto un distopico con i fiocchi.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

4-4.5/5
Really short but pretty interesting!

[Junta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ever read a short story which was serialised on Twitter? Black Box by Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Egan was published by the New Yorker Twitter account over nine days in 2012, and hence is comprised of lines containing less than 140 characters.

Below is part 1 of 47:

People rarely look the way you expect them to, even when you've seen pictures.

The first thirty seconds in a person's presence are the most important.

If you're having trouble perceiving and projecting, focus on projecting.

Necessary ingredients for a successful projection: giggles; bare legs; shyness.

The goal is to be both irresistible and invisible.

When you succeed, a certain sharpness will go out of his eyes.

Postmodern, science fiction, feminist writing - if that sounds appealing to you and you have up to half an hour to spare, you can read the story here.

[Tantravahi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm giving it nearly five stars for how new and bizarre the idea is to write a novel (or a novelette) this way. Black Box is supposedly a 'spy thriller'; the whole novelette is divided into tweet-sized paragraph, in the form of instructions for the readers/ conclusions drawn from the actual action experienced by the character. For example, if the character is sitting out in the sun for a while, and concludes this isn't a good idea, the related paragraph would simply say: "Do not sit out in the sun for too long." There would be no other context. The whole story is built on these directions. You get used to it pretty quickly. This format also allows the whole novel to be written in second person; the part that I find mildly disorienting is how the 'we' in the novel, being the narrator who's shooting us these directions, seems to be alternating between the woman who's IN the story, and the people who have sent her on this mission as a spy. There isn't much of an explanation for this switch, but okay... small problems. It's fantastic for what it sets out to do, and it succeeds to an almost complete extent. I think it faltered in explaining WHAT the mission was about. There's a commentary on how this is to save America (??), and the woman is dispatched to the South of France to gather intel that'd save America (??), but the fuck does that mean for the big picture? There's a hint of an allegory, without enough information to crack what the allegory is. That makes this novel a spy thriller for the sake of the thrill; maybe AYE don't get what's thrilling about an adventure that doesn't mean anything except that it's fun. I docked off a star for that, and nothing else. I really like this writer. Really really.

[Linn Ålund Thorgren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intressant struktur och spännande upplägg då ”novellen” består av ett antal tweets istället för den regelrätta formen. Dock får detta upplägg effekten att det känns mer som en lång dikt än en novell. Detta amplifieras av en väldigt vackert språk, som vaggar in läsaren i någon slags dystopisk omfamning och gör att man sveps med på ett väldigt fint sätt. Helt ok! Men ej fantastisk.

Läs här: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...

[Viktor · Rating 2 out of 5]

on God an unpleasant read

[Tindra · Rating 4 out of 5]

typ det enda jag läst pga universite de fribourg som jag gillat????? dock bara en short story:( den är skriven i second person singular (you) form vilket är så intressant!!! hade aldrig velat läsa en hel bok av ’you’ men som en serie tweets som blir till en short story är det otroligt. handlar om en kvinnlig spy och hur hennes mission går.

[Rauwolfia]

Don't know how this book is in my tbr. It was fine, scary

Upd.
Scary in it's realism of how women are treated. Enraging and sad. The whole sci fi part just added to how women are used as functions and instruments.

[⚔️Kelanth⚔️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Scatola nera" è un’originalissima spy story scritta dall’autrice Premio Pulitzer di "Il tempo è un bastardo", Jennifer Egan. E' una storia nata per essere pubblicata su Twitter, ossia scandita in brevi porzioni di testo non più lunghe di 140 caratteri. Minimum Fax, attraverso il proprio account, twitta il libro della Egan, tradotto dal bravissimo Matteo Colombo (un impresa tutt'altro che facile la sua), al ritmo di un cinguettio al minuto; razioni di testo tornano ad avvicendarsi negli spazi ristretti del social network fino al 31 ottobre.Poi il tutto viene digitalizzato e pubblicato dalla stessa casa editrice.

Scatola nera è un intrigante esperimento letterario con una trama da perfetta spy story: in un futuro non troppo lontano, la lotta al terrorismo cambia le regole e a difendere gli Stati Uniti non sono più corpi speciali di agenti segreti, ma comuni cittadini che si offrono volontari per singole missioni. E così l’eroina del racconto si ritrova a infiltrarsi nell’harem di un misterioso miliardario dedito al crimine internazionale, per sottrargli dei dati di enorme importanza.

"Scatola nera" è una specie di manuale di istruzioni per spie, che però si dipana contemporaneamente all'operazione. «Se una persona ti ha sparato mancandoti, neutralizzala prima che possa sparare di nuovo». Non sappiamo chi sia a dare le istruzioni, non sappiamo dove la storia si svolga, sappiamo che è in un futuro prossimo, dove c'è la possibilità di usare la tecnologia per migliorare il proprio corpo come avere connessioni nascoste sotto pelle tra le dita dei piedi, la possibilità di usare il corpo come luogo dove scaricare i dati sottratti, poter registrare conversazioni con l'udito o scattare fotografie con il flash con gli occhi.

I periodi, limitati dal limite dei 140 caratteri in puro stile Twitter sono incisivi e diretti, ognuno è un frammento a sé, ogni frase, ed ha un valore puro e finito nella sua dimensione, ma collegati con tutti gli altri. Il tutto, sembra strano, funziona e convince davvero, rendendo questo micro libro una storia di spionaggio intensa, accattivante, lineare e coerente.

“Scatola nera” è un piccolo capolavoro che merita di essere letto perchè sapra sorprendervi e inchiodarvi alla poltrona per quel poco tempo che ci metterete a finirlo.

[-Notta. · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Breve parere scritto come parte della Reading Challange 2020 del gruppo Il Circolo della Lettura)

Che bella idea fu Il tempo è un bastardo?
Per chi non avesse letto questo Pulitzer, era un libro singolare che riusciva a essere sia un romanzo che una raccolta di racconti attraverso la creazione di un microcosmo in cui diversi personaggi si muovevano e trovavano approfondimento psicologico nei singoli capitoli, strutturate come storie brevi leggili a sé stanti dai diversi registri e generi letterari.
Ed ecco quindi che la Egan si lancia in un altro piccolo esperimento: scrivere un romanzo attraverso il linguaggio dei tweet, piccoli messaggi di 140 caratteri che sintetizzasero al meglio i pensieri e le azioni della sua protagonista.
Il risultato è... un mezzo disastro.
Se l'idea può sembrare carina e anche futuristica letta così, sulla carta il risultato è una spy story moscissima e al limite del ridicolo, con lo stile secco e sdentato dei tweet che fallisce nel creare una coesione narrativa, nel dar voce a un personaggio interessante o ad offrire spunti curiosi al di là del semplice fatto di star ragionando in periodi sintattici microscopici.
Alcuni passaggi hanno un eco della talentuosa scrittrice che la Egan ha dimostrato di essere, ma questo suo esperimento poteva tenerselo nel cassetto.
★★☆☆☆

[Maria Johansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kære Jennifer Egan, det var dog en genistreg i særklasse at indpakke det sociale kodeks og de tilgængelige (kønnede) genkendelsesfaktorer, der er for en kvinde i en lille fin fortælling om en spion med en mission.
Sort boks er en lille roman i twitterformat. Den blev oprindeligt postet på The New Yorkers twitterprofil, hvor tweetsne blev postet med ét minuts interval i en time hver aften i ti dage. Senere blev de mange tweets samlet, og de blev både udgivet som online artikel, e-bog og endelig i fysisk udgave.
Historien handler – i al fald på overfladen – om en amerikansk spion, som er ude på sin hemmelige mission. Hun er en Skønhed, og hun bærer sin skønhed som camouflagedragt, så de magtfulde mænd ikke afslører hendes undercover-ærinde. Hendes eneste vej til overblik og total kontrol over situationen er at lade sig kue af sin Tildelte Partner ved at spille på en blanding af naivitet dumhed og passivitet. Hun er sendt afsted for at uddrage information fra hans vigtige private samtaler med det endelige mål at uskadeliggøre ham. Hendes krop er den sorte boks – den er kilden til missionens forløb og den tilhører det ”vi”, der udsender instrukser.
Det er formentlig en bog der – hvis ikke der læses mere i den ­– er hurtigt glemt, men hvis læseren selv formår at tillægge den større betydning, så er den både tankevækkende og snedigt udarbejdet.

Jeg har skrevet mere om den lille bog her: https://bookmeupscotty.blogspot.dk/20...

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why is it some reviewers are so easy to provide 5 or 4 *s just because they are fans of the author, are first to review, or just can't say a bad thing because they don't want to hurt someone feelings?

That's how I feel with Black Box,I agree it's unique and interesting, but did I really enjoy it or consider it the best? That's what we're essentially saying here by giving it anything more than 3 stars. With three were saying that we liked it, with two its just ok, and one we disliked it.

So how did this book garner so many four and five star ratings? Lots of fans? A unique concept? Or a lack of reviews? Now I almost gave this two stars because I thought at first it was just alright, but it's uniqueness for structuring each line under 140 lines and the story of the black box wasn't boring.

The problem with reviewers being too easy though just makes it harder to find a truly great book by just reading the reviews. You have to nowadays rely on them along with word of mouth and the buzz it generates.

[Ilinalta · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you ignore the format that it was written in, it's a pretty alright story.

[Henk · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of “may”, “should”, “likely” and “probably” in this short story, originally from twitter and now readable via the New Yorker website (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...).

The narrator felt very detached (allmost like she is drugged) during this short sci-fi spy short story. She is a beautiful woman of 33 who is send out by America to the Mediterean, where she is shadowing her new “Designated Mate”. This shadowing is done in a very high tech fashion, the unnamed narrator feels more and more like a cyborg with not only a build in microphone but even a camera eye with a flash in her eyebrow.

The story itself is not very interesting but the oneliners Jennifer Egan delivers are very crisp, some examples are included below. Especially the first is very accurate in my opinion, but the story does make me curious for more of Egan her prose:

"You will reflect on the fact that too much reflection is pointless."

"Silence after a roaring motor is a sound of its own."

"Knowing your latitude and longitude is not the same as knowing where you are."

"Feeling at the mercy of those around you prompted a seismic internal response. The will to dominate was deeper than yourself. You were never childish, even as a child."

"The fact that a man has ignored and then insulted you does not mean that he won’t want to fuck you."

"As Americans, we value human rights above all else and cannot sanction their violation. When someone threatens our human rights, however, a wider leeway becomes necessary."

"Hindsight creates the illusion that your life has led you inevitably to the present moment.
It’s easier to believe in a foregone conclusion than to accept that our lives are governed by chance."

"A smile is like a door that is both open and closed."

"You will not be able to wait, but you will have to wait."

[Sohail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saying that this short story is both interesting and uninteresting at the same time might seem contradictory, but it's not, since whereas the story succeeds in being intriguing by the means of its innovative narrative devices-especially considering the gradual revelation of the identity of the narrator-one must not forget that, at its core, it's a vulgar and cliched spy thriller that's supposed to be a page turner, but even fails at that, thanks to its boring substance and irrational concept.

I was especially offended by the sex scenes, constant recollections of the protagonist's husband, and stupid gadgets that are ripped off from James Bond. Shame, its spectacular narration deserved better action.

[Lea Dokter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disturbing, engaging, wonderfully weird.

[Marianne Barron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morsomt format på en spionthriller. Denne er nemlig skrevet i twitter-format. Herlig sært :-)

[Mary Kaener · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool