What a Time to Be Alive
A Novel
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- USD 15.99
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- USD 15.99
Publisher Description
A deeply moving and often hilarious novel following a woman who becomes an internet folk hero in the most unexpected way, catapulting her into fame and influence just as she’s finally beginning to reckon with her complicated past
Lola Treasure Gold can’t figure out her life. She’s broke, unemployed, and back in her childhood home, a crumbling cottage in the Hollywood Hills. Worse—unspeakably worse—one of her closest friends has just died. So nobody is more surprised than Lola when a jackpot falls in her lap: she stars in a viral video, opening a surprising path for her to become a self-help guru.
With the encouragement of her other best friend, Celi—still alive, thank god—Lola embraces the public interest in her perceived message. But is she a scammer or a sage? Just as Lola is telling others to be their own guiding lights, she can’t seem to find hers: she’s grieving; she’s accused of using the notoriety of her friend’s death to fuel her rise; and she’s full of questions about the fate of her mother, who came to America pregnant, fleeing China’s one-child policy, got deported when Lola was eight, and now has totally disappeared.
Driven by an exuberant, searching spirit, Jade Chang’s kaleidoscopic new novel is a deep examination of the ways we commodify belief, the power and precarity of fame, and the delicious terror of being truly seen. What a Time to Be Alive asks if we can look honestly at the world and still love it; the answer is a brilliant, resounding yes.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An adrift Chinese American woman unexpectedly becomes an online celebrity in Chang's lively sophomore effort (after The Wangs vs. The World). The story opens at a Los Angeles cemetery, where Lola Treasure Gold, 31, is reeling during the funeral for her best friend Alex, a skateboarder who died while attempting a stunt. "I felt outside of time," Lola narrates. Later, Lola and Alex's other friends play a game in which they take turns delivering mock TED Talks on random subjects. Lola's "drunken monologue" about scams is recorded and posted online. A couple of weeks later, someone posts a clip of Lola's speech cut together with a video of Alex's final moments, and the post goes viral, partly due to Alex's catchphrase "be your own beacon," which was meant to spoof self-help language, but is taken as the real thing. Lola gets a major spike in followers, and in need of cash, she reluctantly embraces her new influencer role. She also begins searching for her birth mother, who was deported to China when she was a girl and has been unreachable since then. Chang's irresistible narrative effortlessly toggles between story lines as Lola explores her origins and deals with her grief and youthful angst. Readers will be glad to encounter Lola's arresting voice.
