Book Review: Little Eyes

By Marcia Divack

In her latest novel, Argentinian author Samanta Schweblin introduces readers to a world just like ours but plagued by little eyes. In Little Eyes, the world is infested by Kentuki, which are a terrifying crossbreed of the Furby (which is a toy that plagued the real world 20 years ago) and Amazon’s Alexa.

Kentuki are the latest craze, and everyone either has one or wants one. They come shaped as bunnies, dragons, or birds that roll around on wheels wherever they are set down, and their eyes are cameras. Each Kentuki has a keeper (the person who purchased it and brought it home) and a dweller (the person who is on the other side, watching through the gadget’s eyes). The plush little devices are designed to be used for communication. However, as with most devices connected to social media, they are soon put to more nefarious and insidious uses.

There is also a catch to these devices — they can die. Once the device is turned on, it cannot be turned off. Turning it off essentially kills it and breaks the connection. Neither the keeper nor the dweller can turn it back on, nor can either one of them be traced.

With the Kentuki infesting the world, the novel also spans the globe. While the story begins in a teenager’s bedroom in Indiana, it soon jumps to Peru, Hong Kong, Germany, Sweden, and so on.

As with Schweblin’s other books, there is a looming sense of dread throughout Little Eyes. From the very beginning, readers know that things are about to go horribly, irrevocably wrong.