The book begins slowly with the focus on character development. The perspective of both Nina and Vanessa is given with several
flashbacks providing detailed backstories.
As a result, the reader comes to know each of the women very well. Both prove to be complex people with both
positive traits and flaws. The reader
will find him/herself liking and disliking both of them at different times and
thinking each is both a victim and a villain.
Because their pasts are explained, it is possible to understand their
behaviour in the present.
Both of the women are dynamic.
They learn about themselves and others.
One of the women, for instance, rails against her circumstances and the
behaviour of others but eventually feels shame:
“Shame that I did not do more with what I did have, and shame that I pretended that the road I’d taken was
the only option I had. Because it wasn’t. I chose that road. I made it mine. And if this is where it took me, it’s my own
fault.”
In the second half, after the action and pace pick up, there are a number
of plot twists. Most are believable
given the people involved. It soon
becomes clear that people are not what they seem, both in real life and on
social media. Suspense is created
because no one can be fully trusted.
The novel is a commentary on the shallowness of social media. Vanessa thinks about the importance of
appearing authentic while carefully showing only the positive: “The ability to convincingly perform authenticity is perhaps the most
necessary skill set for my generation.
And the image you exude must be
compelling, it must be brand-positive,
it must be cohesive no matter how
fractured your internal dialog might be.”
There are comments like “social media feeds the narcissistic monster
that lives within us all” and “the Internet has turned us all into armchair
critics, experts at the cold dissection of gesture and syllable, sneering
self-righteously from the safety of our screens. There, we can feel good about ourselves, validated
that our flaws aren’t as bad as theirs,
unchallenged in our superiority. Moral
high ground is a pleasant place to perch, even if the view turns out to be
rather limited in scope.” Because of
social media, “People don’t take the time to really look at each other
anymore. We live in a world of surface imagery,
skimming past each other, registering just enough to assign a category and
label before moving on to the next shiny thing.”
A comparison is made between grifters and people like Vanessa who
curate their lives on social media; Vanessa is called a queen of duplicity and
told, “’Your career has been all about spinning lies. Putting up a pretty façade for public
consumption when you’re a mess underneath.
Selling a life that doesn’t really exist. . . . You’ve been profiting
off a mythical version of yourself, promoting unachievable aspiration, giving
your half-million followers insecurity complexes and dooming them to a lifetime
of FOMO therapy. You’re a huckster.’”
Though the book starts slowly and is somewhat repetitive (because of
overlap when the same event is shown from different perspectives), readers who
persist will be rewarded. Will you be
able to find the truth in the tangled web of lies?
Note: I received a digital
galley from the publisher via NetGalley.
This book will be released on April 21.
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