The Echo Chamber: John Boyne

Product Information

People that are, you know, constantly alert to every injustice in society, every perceived slight, and who are just desperate to let you know when they’ve found one. He is a gentle and troubled soul, still trying to discover his true self and looking for someone who understands him.

Nelson, the eldest, is a twenty-two teacher, a neurotic virgin, who is seeking help from therapists. What they lack in timeliness you expect them to make up for in originality and insight but that’s not much in evidence here. Their children are Nelson, an anxious fantasist, Elizabeth, who is obsessed with finding social media fame, and Achilles, who while still at school has used his charm to lucrative effect as a blackmailer. He is a handsome, skilful lover who seems to have slept with almost everyone, man or woman, in the story. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.As a Buddy read with Ceecee and Beata, we struggled to connect with the genuinely dislikeable characters, and we almost had a game to determine who we hated most. Funny, rumbustious, unstinting and wonderfully Hogarthian ― The Observer --This text refers to the paperback edition. The story follows each of the family members as they go through their far from normal lives creating havoc where ever they go. It makes some very pertinent points about the cynicism of things that are ‘leaked’ online designed to make a ‘name for yourself’ any which way, anyhow but then it becomes a pick and mix read with parts that make my eyes roll and not in a good way.

Overall, it’s a mixed bag for me, some parts are devastatingly funny, acutely observed and enjoyable while others are bizarre and odd. Living in a very exclusive part of London, the Cleverly Family rarely spend time together as a unit. John Boyne has the ability to turn the written word ( some of which are rarely used on a day to day basis,) into a joy to read. This is just so funny - a state-of-the-nation satire, poking fun at people’s reliance on social media platforms for personal affirmation or mischief-making.Summary: This is definitely a controversial book, but I get what Boyne was trying to say and I think choosing a satirical narrative was a smart move.