The novel is propulsive because [of] Lola ... She is psychologically complex, straddling both beautiful sincerity and utter vapidity ... [Chang's] prose is infectiously funny, and her ability to satirize rich people paying silly amounts of money to be led to their souls has only sharpened.
Witty...high-energy ... Pleasures of this book: its vividly detailed, completely-sold-on-it portrait of the city of Los Angeles, and the crush-worthy love interest Chang creates for Lola.
Chang skewers these wellness settings with humor and biting specificity ... She also perfectly captures the internal spiral of financial worry ... The dialogue also shines ... Though the novel is overly plotted at times, these elements make it ripe for a screen adaptation ... Chang raises poignant questions about how to be authentic in the internet age, and how much of yourself you’re willing to commodify.
Satire is hard, and writing a novel of manners intimately connected with social media is even harder, of course. Despite the novel’s faults, it’s a testament to the author’s skill that Lola stands out as a luminescent, compelling narrator who transforms into her own greatest champion. What a pity, however, that, like so much of social media in the 'real world,' the book doesn’t really have anything original to say.
Half grief manifesto and half satirical commentary on the woo-woo influencer scene, sprinkled with humor and luxurious prose. Lola begins and ends her year of grief with the feeling that this was not how she thought her life was going to turn out. But by the time year’s end rolls around again, becoming the person she is meant to be is a distraction in itself; she is always coming of age.
Chang’s sophomore novel is a memorable exercise in cynicism—erudite, poignant, pathetic, funny—that offers glimmers of hope for lasting, lifesaving connections.
A dark and sometimes satirical social commentary ... Chang weaves poignant observations on grief and mortality into her descriptions of a generation that lives their lives in public ... The aspect of Lola’s backstory involving China’s one-child policy and its impact on Lola and her mother also feels undeveloped. Still, What a Time To Be Alive casts a keen eye on the frenzy of social media.
Despite sometimes fluffy revelations, Lola is a magnetic character who, despite her public life, has her most profound thoughts in private. Nails the emotional contradictions, absurdities, and cathartic surprises of modern life.
