Review: Followers by Megan Angelo (audio)

Title: Followers

Author: Megan Angelo

Narrator: Jayme Mattler

Published: January 2020, Harlequin Audio

Length: 13 hours 29 minutes

Source: Library

Summary:

An electrifying story
of two ambitious friends, the dark choices they make and the stunning
moment that changes the world as we know it forever

Orla
Cadden is a budding novelist stuck in a dead-end job, writing clickbait
about movie-star hookups and influencer yoga moves. Then Orla meets
Floss―a striving wannabe A-lister―who comes up with a plan for launching
them both into the high-profile lives they dream about. So what if Orla
and Floss’s methods are a little shady and sometimes people get hurt?
Their legions of followers can’t be wrong.

Thirty-five years
later, in a closed California village where government-appointed
celebrities live every moment of the day on camera, a woman named Marlow
discovers a shattering secret about her past. Despite her massive
popularity―twelve million loyal followers―Marlow dreams of fleeing the
corporate sponsors who would do anything to keep her on-screen. When she
learns that her whole family history is based on a lie, Marlow finally
summons the courage to run in search of the truth, no matter the risks.

Followers
traces the paths of Orla, Floss and Marlow as they wind through time
toward each other, and toward a cataclysmic event that sends America
into lasting upheaval. At turns wry and tender, bleak and hopeful, this
darkly funny story reminds us that even if we obsess over famous people
we’ll never meet, what we really crave is genuine human connection.

My thoughts:  I was on the fence about this book and ended up picking it up because of a buddy-read. I have to say, it wasn’t my favorite book but I am glad that I had a group of fellow book lovers to chat about it with as I was reading it because I probably would not have finished it had I been reading it on my own.

I’m generally  not a science-fiction/dystopian fan and I think that that is where this book lost me. While the first half of the book started out ok and kept my interest, the second part really felt like a struggle and I had a hard time keeping focused. I will say the whole idea of living your life on social media to be a little frightening and this seems to be a trend in books – haven’t there been a few other books out this year with this idea already? I guess each has it’s own spin, but still. 

I think the redeeming part of this reading experience for me was definitely the chats I had with my group. That is what is going to be the memorable part of this book. The writing was good but I just couldn’t get into the story itself. Oh well…you win some and you lose some and this just wasn’t the book for me.

 



Audio thoughts:  This is the first time I’ve listened to Jayme Mattler narrate and I thought she did a good job. And that’s a good thing, especially as I was struggling to keep going with this book. Her intonation and pacing were good and I enjoyed listening to her.