Girlcrush

APPLE BOOKS REVIEW

The strange, sometimes sinister, social contract that comes part and parcel of being an influencer is something that Florence Given knows intimately. Shot to online fame at the age of 20 after launching a viral petition against a Netflix show deemed problematic, she uses her substantial platform to promote social activism, with a broadly feminist slant. Her debut novel, Girlcrush, is a Jekyll-and-Hyde depiction of two women, who are one and the same: the Eartha who finds the confidence to explore her sexuality after dumping her cheating boyfriend, and the Eartha who chronicles her fancies and foibles for a rabid audience on Wonderland, a social media network capable of creating overnight superstars…provided they stay plugged in. As the offline and online begin to bleed together, Eartha becomes increasingly detached from reality, destroying her relationships with her friends and burgeoning romantic prospects, but unable to give up on the promised dream, even after a harrowing experience puts her in danger. Given’s dramatic skewering of much of the mythology of her own rise to success lifts the lid on a predatory industry that picks up and discards women indiscriminately, how hypocrisy can seep into online activism and the toll that baring all to strangers on the internet can take on your mental health. This darkly twisted cautionary tale, with its underlying narrative of female liberation, is a must-read.