Julie Chan is Dead

My reading of 'Julie Chan is Dead' began with no expectations. I was soon drawn into a primer on the intense world of online influencers. Yes, those bodies of any gender that promote products, themselves and anything on the Creator's green earth. There is a connection between siblings, Julie and Chloe as they pursue fantastic dreams or the mundane world of a cashier in a grocery store. I was then treated to the fickle nature of likes, followers and the callow nature of 'relationships' that threaten intimacy and actual friendships. The cost of living a life that is measured by counting sales and 'likes' is outlined in grim detail. Who determines how a life is well lived when faceless benefactors fawn over an influencer and by so doing put a price on their own shortcomings? Liann Zhang plays with the reader in this her first novel. We are defined by her at times as shallow consumers then as righteous social critics and finally as a sympathetic mass clammering to rehabilitate a contrite lost soul. I urge readers to keep characters Julie, Chloe, Bella Marie and certainly Liann Zhang close at hand as you read. Oh, be sure to determine the meaning of this acronym; EtOH. Ask yourself if Zhang intends to outline satire or parody in her work. I found the novel mildly entertaining written by a person who was an online content creator. The peaks and valleys in pacing and language is a touch ragged. Dive in and enjoy this romp.