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.
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.
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.