Followers

4/5 stars

It’s 2016 and Orla is a hopeful novelist who makes a living writing clickbait articles about celebrities. She soon meets Floss, a wannabe influencer, and the two hatch a plan to thrust Floss into the spotlight. Meanwhile in the year 2051, Marlow is living her life for her 12 million followers. As she contemplates her life and the possibility of going offline, she learns a shocking secret about herself. 

This was a really intriguing book that forced me to consider how wrapped up we can get with social media. This futuristic read was a page-turner. I had to piece together how Orla, Floss, and Marlow were connected as the timeline alternated between 2016 and 2051. 

I thought this book did a great job at describing the lengths people will go to adhere to influencer culture and depicted a very creative potential future if we continue to get absorbed in the internet. My only caution to readers would be that I think there should be a trigger warning. There were passages that could be challenging to read for anyone who has struggled with mental health or parenthood.