This is one of the strangest, most prescient, distinctive and unconventional novels I have read in a long time. Lockwood explores the world of social media in a way that few others have done, giving us the good it does, but also describing the mind numbing disconnectedness it fosters. It was a hard book to get into but once you got there, you understand why this was a finalist for the Booker Prize in 2021!

A woman is suddenly thrust onto the stage of social media stardom. Her postings on what she calls “the portal’ have resonated with million of followers and she embarks on a tour around the world to meet and connect with her adoring fans. But as existential threats- climate change, economic instability, and the rise of dictators- begin to loom, she begins to post even more, throwing out details, facts, figures, images and details, trying to encapsulate and document the growing threats she sees. Her efforts, however, are met with a mixed bag of responses, “Are we in hell?’ the people in the portal ask and seem to sink into an ever deeper sense of loneliness and isolation. Frustrated and isolated herself, the woman struggles to find ways to inspire and connect with the people of the portal.  

Then her mother texts her. “Something has gone wrong. How soon can you get here?” and hard cold reality collides with the intellectualization and urgent absurdity of the portal. Forced to reconnect with a reality outside the portal the woman begins to see a world that is both just and unjust, filled with both evil and goodness and realizes she must find a way to embrace and navigate her way through all of it.

Insightful and sincere. Lockwood, through the fragmentary reflections and posts of this nameless woman, documents our current reality in a profound way, creating a modern meditation on the power of love, language and human connection.

Brenda’s Rating: ***** (5 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Sharon, Marian and Keith

Book Study Worthy? Yes

Read in ebook format.