The Echo Chamber

This is a difficult review for me as John boyne is one of my very favorite authors I love all his books even the young adult ones .i looked forward to this new book and paid nearly ten pounds for it so tbh I am a little disappointed it wasn’t a bad read but has nothing like the charm and writing style that I’m used to with this author .i found I didn’t care about any of the characters in the book it is quite funny and does show how social media has overtaken people’s lives but this is definitely not one of my favorite books or one I will remember

Ok. This was just a new type of awful. I have a 100 page rule for books but I jettisoned this after a mere 30 pages. This is the second book in a row from Boyne that has been exceptionally poor. The humour is infantile:, Carry On meets Tom Sharpe if you find your humour gravitates to the size of someone’s manhood this is the book for you. It’s a long way from “the hearts”. Boyne is clearly going through his late 80s Bowie phase, I remember at the time thinking it’s hard to believe the artist who made ‘station to station’ and ‘low’ also sired ‘tonight’ and ‘“let’s dance’Creativity is an unusual mistress, perhaps something has changed in Boynes personal life or Covid has negatively impacted his muse but this readers is Absolute 100 percentage locked on garbage

I love John Boyne's writing and I have read everything he has written, never once have I had a duff experience. The Echo Chamber has not let me down, its a terrific read, and very current.The book focusses on one family and their lives. It highlights their veneers, their insecurities and wraps it all up in a wonderful story that simply zips along. I read this in just three sittings and loved it.

Boyne yet again shows his writing skills to great effect in this genuinely funny takedown of those who self congratulate and virtue signal, by their self-conscious behaviour, how ‘aware’ they are of contemporary issues such as racism, sexism, etc. The book is written in a determinedly satirical vein in which a media family becomes the focus of the novel, its various members being used as templates for how skin-deep much social signalling can be. The end is a little pie-in-the-sky, although here Boyne may well have had his tongue firmly in his cheek.

Like other reviewers, I have loved other novels by John Boyne and was intrigued to see whether he could pull off a funny novel, which , like comedy acting, can be extremely difficult to get right. I feel he did so in spades with The Echo Chamber. I think I laughed out loud at every page and it was the perfect holiday read. I loved the very contemporary setting with up to date references and the challenge to our over dependence on gadgets, instant gratification and social media . My favourite parts were when Elizabeth gets a pedicure, the speed dating evening and anything featuring Elizabeth's boyfriend or the hilariously named tortoise - I may never be able to eat an After Eight again!I may forget this book quicker than The Hearts Invisible Furies but it was still the perfect summer read to lift the spirits during our Covid era.