A novel following a woman who becomes an internet folk hero in the most unexpected way, catapulting her into fame and influence just as she’s finally beginning to reckon with her complicated past.
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.
