My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (4 stars)
Publisher: Gaydon House (January 2020)
I quite enjoyed this creepy, cautionary and sometimes witty tale.
The story is told in two timelines, 2015 and 2051. We follow Orla and Floss from 2015 and also through 2051 (from their twenties to their sixties). I really liked that we followed them through the decades and saw them change (or not change) as life moved on Marlow has the POV for the 2051 thread.. Her crisis point arises as a married, thirty-five year old who is about to embark on motherhood and what she does in response to that is what turns out to be the beginning of a whole new life. Her life's been wrapped up in social media followers and influencers much like her mother before her with an additional feature of reality tv on overdrive with pharmaceutical tie-ins and all run by the government.
From the start, characters reference an event called The Spill, where everyone's online lives are basically used against them and social chaos ensues culminating in a government takeover of the internet, China style. And that made me want to know about what happened, who was responsible and why they did it. So of course, this information was teased out slowly but very well in the narrative and it didn't bother me a bit when the big day finally arrived somewhere around the 80-85% point. I'd usually be raging at taking so long but I was gripped. Deftly written by Megan Angelo.
To the characters, I found that Marlow and Orla were best drawn. There were plenty of contexts that went to make their points of view clear and their actions understandable. Floss is another story altogether. She was determinedly shallow but never had enough background given or perspective depth to make her anything more than that. I wanted to know why she made the decisions she made, if anything deeper than a need to be seen drove her and what she truly valued. By the book's end, she seemed the least changed and that was something of a disappointment. Aston, who was a tertiary character at best, had a deeper characterization and backstory which was very well done.
By the time I was 95% in, I still didn't know how this was going to end. A big takedown of Constellation? A family reunion and new life for Marlow? Honey's downfall (because she really needed one; wth was with her parties with only white and fair-skinned people allowed?)? All of the above? None? That was a wonderful feeling and I'm not telling you how it ended. I will say the ending felt a bit abrupt and a tad too tidy but I appreciated the ending the author wanted to tell.
There was plenty that was highlight-worthy and a couple of my favourite quotes follow:
"She was- though she couldn't admit it directly, not even to herself- in search of a shortcut. A way to be someone who had done something without having to actually do it."
"She knew how strangers saw her; as the cheapest sort of star, the tagalong friend of a TMI queen. But the point was: they saw her. She was visible. She was there."
"I was Twitterfamous," one of the old men croaked at her, glaring, Marlow just nodded and smiled, pretending to be impressed. She has never quite understood Twitter, though Floss still talked about it like a dead, beloved friend. Short messages, but to everyone, mostly pointless, with blatant lies allowed- Marlow could not imagine what had been the appeal."
As speculative fiction goes, this had it all. It was rooted and grounded enough in the current landscape but the steps forward felt quite plausible and made for an uncomfortable read. I'm not an over-sharer online but when banking, medical and other online information that people don't control came into play here, it made the hair on my arm stand on end. We already live waiting for the next corporate entity to do a tepid mea culpa when they've had a data breach with our information so that thread of the story felt all too possible. So, think before you share and post to mitigate the possible damage.
Lastly, extra points for the mention of CoreStates bank. It took me back to my childhood.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for the opportunity to read this arc.
Summary: An electrifying story of two ambitious friends, the dark choices they make and the profound moment that changes the meaning of privacy forever.
Orla Cadden dreams of literary success, but she’s stuck writing about movie-star hookups and influencer yoga moves. Orla has no idea how to change her life until her new roommate, Floss―a striving, wannabe A-lister―comes up with a plan for launching them both into the high-profile lives they so desperately crave. But it's only when Orla and Floss abandon all pretense of ethics that social media responds with the most terrifying feedback of all: overwhelming success.
Thirty-five years later, in a closed California village where government-appointed celebrities live every moment of the day on camera, a woman named Marlow discovers a shattering secret about her past. Despite her massive popularity―twelve million loyal followers―Marlow dreams of fleeing the corporate sponsors who would do anything, even horrible things, to keep her on-screen. When she learns that her whole family history is a lie, Marlow finally summons the courage to run in search of the truth, no matter the risks.
Followers traces the paths of Orla, Floss and Marlow as they wind through time toward each other, and toward a cataclysmic event that sends America into lasting upheaval. At turns wry and tender, bleak and hopeful, this darkly funny story reminds us that even if we obsess over famous people we’ll never meet, what we really crave is genuine human connection.
Orla Cadden dreams of literary success, but she’s stuck writing about movie-star hookups and influencer yoga moves. Orla has no idea how to change her life until her new roommate, Floss―a striving, wannabe A-lister―comes up with a plan for launching them both into the high-profile lives they so desperately crave. But it's only when Orla and Floss abandon all pretense of ethics that social media responds with the most terrifying feedback of all: overwhelming success.
Thirty-five years later, in a closed California village where government-appointed celebrities live every moment of the day on camera, a woman named Marlow discovers a shattering secret about her past. Despite her massive popularity―twelve million loyal followers―Marlow dreams of fleeing the corporate sponsors who would do anything, even horrible things, to keep her on-screen. When she learns that her whole family history is a lie, Marlow finally summons the courage to run in search of the truth, no matter the risks.
Followers traces the paths of Orla, Floss and Marlow as they wind through time toward each other, and toward a cataclysmic event that sends America into lasting upheaval. At turns wry and tender, bleak and hopeful, this darkly funny story reminds us that even if we obsess over famous people we’ll never meet, what we really crave is genuine human connection.
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