The Echo Chamber by John Boyne

The Echo Chamber by John Boyne

NC010921echo-chamber.JPG

reviewed by Louise Ward, Wardini Books

You never know you're reading a John Boyne novel, the subject matter is all so different. So what's occupying his mind this time? The internet.

Once upon a time there was a family. A father, George, a mother, Beverley, and three weird and wonderful children: Nelson, Elizabeth and Achilles. They were privileged, odd, good natured – a family. Then along came smartphones and apps and all was lost.

The novel pivots around George, a UK chat show host, a "national treasure". He loves his wife, loves his children, but somewhere along the way has acquired a mistress and an assumption of indestructibility. Feeling aggrieved and confronted in the aftermath of an encounter with a recently changed acquaintance George tweets inadvisably, using terribly incorrect terms, but arguably from a place of genuine good intention. The proverbial hits the fan.

The family meanwhile all have disturbingly hilarious stuff of their own going down. Nelson, 22, is a teacher being bullied by another teacher at the school they both attended as boys. Elizabeth is a social media troll. Achilles extorts money from lonely men. Beverley is having an affair with her buff young Strictly Come Dancing partner. It's a mess.

Boyne delves into the unreality of virtual reality, the need to have an acronym for in real life, the chaos wrought by the rich, the privileged and the outraged, the labels applied by those who do not wish to be judged by their labels.

The Echo Chamber is a brilliant piece of satire, laugh out loud funny, bitingly clever and very now, very human. I absolutely loved it.