The Echo Chamber: John Boyne

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Achilles is remorseless as he scams and bribes people after his ‘sting’ games and moves from girl to girl with abandon until he meets his fate. They wend their way through the usual pop-culture targets – reality TV, influencers, affairs, anxiety, and as they each land themselves in ever deeper trouble, their stories cross over and loop back on one another. As the book is a satire, there are a lot of laughs but if one digs a bit, one can see that The Echo Chamber is about a lot of serious topics, ranging from sexism in the media, the lack of education in younger generations, being an authentic author to politics. The characterisation is the strongest element of the book as all are depicted with sharp and startling clarity but it’s hard to connect with characters that are so revolting although that is entirely the authors point.

Furthermore copies are now scared of these people so when someone voices an opinion that is ‘wrong’ that person may be out of a job as that company does not want their reputation tarnished. A very unlikable, though maybe recognizable family for the most part, though they hadn't always been that way.and while i agree with the message - the dangers of how deep social media has integrated itself in our lives, how reliant we are on it as individuals and as a society to push an agenda, and the often negative feedback loops that plague social media - its just too… on the nose for me. With the exception of Beverley and Nelson , social media plays a big role in these people’s lives, however they all suffer the brunt of it.

John Boyne's latest novel is an outrageously bonkers satire on the modern world's social media addiction, living life online rather than grounded in real life realities and relationships. Obviously it can be used positively (I have had authors contact me which brought some wonderful books into my life) but I still feel that there is a long way to go.That's not to say that there weren't some very funny moments, among the many ridiculous situations and occasionally grating monologues. Browsing the new release shelf at the library I stumbled upon it and after reading the summary checked it out. Boyne has written some amazing fiction over the years, one of my favourites being The Heart's Invisible Furies. It’s a dark view of society but actually very sobering as the author is right that life for some is lived through an app rather than with real contact and in oblivious unawareness of what’s going on around them.

Packed full with non-PC comments that could upset some readers, John Boyne has come out fighting from the outcry surrounding his 2019 book My Brother’s Name is Jessica with a lively, and blatantly exaggerated, depiction of a family caught up in the whirlwind of likes, blue ticks, ratios and the cancel culture. Where self esteem is measured by how popular one is and a warm fuzzy feeling can be had by the application of a blue checkmark. Seems he has drawn on his inner snarkiness to give us a tale about the ridiculous of our social media addicted society. The winner of four Irish Book Awards, including Author of the Year, he is the author of fourteen novels for adults, six for younger readers and a collection of short stories. Elizabeth dreams of being an influencer possessing THAT longed-for blue tick and is prepared to go to any lengths to fulfil her ambition.John Boyne has the ability to turn the written word ( some of which are rarely used on a day to day basis,) into a joy to read. It is a theatre of horrors yet occasionally the author flashes back to their earlier life, pre-social media, when they were still a caring family. Namely that some of the characters had a very pointed discussion about cancel culture and wokeness that felt gratuitous and out of place, and that the characters in the later chapters ventured into farcical caricatures.

He has won four Irish Book Awards, including Author of the Year in 2022, along with a host of other international literary prizes. A rather different book from his previous works that is definitely worth reading, but more of a marmite affair.I have no idea if the unusual names that crop up mean anything or are perhaps some kind of anagrams.