The Echo Chamber opening line: In a waiting room at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, George Cleverley sits quietly, looking at his five-year-old son Nelson and four-year-old daughter Elizabeth, at their sleepy expressions and unkempt hair.
My blurb:
George Cleverley and his family are so consumed by social media that they fail to live a life in reality. And now George should be kept as far away from Twitter as possible. Each time he tries to reach out, he digs a hole. And the hole is getting so big it is about to engulf him. Can George stop the process before it gets out of control and costs him everything?
The Echo Chamber
What a thing of wonder a mobile phone is. Six ounces of metal, glass and plastic, fashioned into a sleek, shiny, precious object. At once, a gateway to other worlds – and a treacherous weapon in the hands of the unwary, the unwitting, the inept.The Cleverley family live a gilded life, little realising how precarious their privilege is, just one tweet away from disaster. George, the patriarch, is a stalwart of television interviewing, a ‘national treasure’ (his words), his wife Beverley, a celebrated novelist (although not as celebrated as she would like), and their children, Nelson, Elizabeth, Achilles, various degrees of catastrophe waiting to happen.Together they will go on a journey of discovery through the Hogarthian jungle of the modern living where past presumptions count for nothing and carefully curated reputations can be destroyed in an instant. Along the way they will learn how volatile, how outraged, how unforgiving the world can be when you step from the proscribed path.To err is maybe to be human but to really foul things up you only need a phone.
My verdict:
If ever you wanted to be scared away from modern life, and living within the walls of social media, then this book is for you. A light hearted read into why mobile phones need to be turned off every so often.
Publishing information:
Disclosure: I was sent the book to review by Penguin Random House South Africa. I was not required to write a positive review. This post is in line with my blogging policy.
Inspiration published on Lavender and Lime December 26:
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- 2018: Piccolo Loft San Tommaso
- 2016: Spelt Pasta
- 2010: Christmas 2010
seems like a book many people need to read!
I think so as well.