Fiction by Naomi Alderman.
I went into this book completely cold, (not having read any synopses or reviews, and not having ever read anything by this author before) which was a risk for me. This time is was a good bet; the book was great!
In this not-too-distant future world, there are three people who control a huge portion of not only the world's money, but also the world's thoughts. Through each person's individual online platform, which are both rivals of each other and somehow bound together by mutual interest, everyone in the world views everyone and everything else in the world. Everyone's personal social media feed is controlled by at least one of these online giants, and each of those companies is controlled by a single person.
In this story the media platforms are given fictional names, but it's obvious that the Big Three are some form of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, or whatever. The goal of each one is to captivate their audience as much as possible and keep them scrolling online longer and longer, and that goal is accomplished by making sure the most inflammatory and polarizing content is highlighted specifically for each user. (This definitely sounds familiar; am I right?)
The result of these money-grubbing tactics is that the whole world seems to be going down in flames. There's even an incredibly popular online forum called Name the Day that's all about surviving the coming apocalypse. (Wait, is this contemporary nonfiction? Not yet, we hope.)
And in the face of the world's imminent destruction, the strategy of the Big Three is to make plans for the bunkers they will personally hide in when it all goes to heck.
Wow, huh?
The story actually begins with the three multi-billionaires getting The Text: "It's happening. Your loved ones and staff have been alerted. Quietly and calmly pack your stuff and board your private jet for your trip to your personally prepared survival bunker." Then it goes back in time a bit to let the reader know how we got here, and then....
What comes next? You'll have to read it, but let me say: Mind. Blown. What a great story!
No comments:
Post a Comment