That sort of thing happens multiple times throughout the book, and it left me reeling. Or she makes several references to Caroline Calloway throughout the book, but again doesn't explain who that is until one of the last chapters. But there are many, many people who would have no idea who she is, and yet Bluestone references her and then doesn't actually explain who she is until a later chapter. I mean, I know who Elizabeth Holmes is because I am the kind of person who listens to podcasts about that sort of thing. It's less clear to me whether the other thing that really irked me will be fixed: Bluestone would reference something-an event, a person-and not explain or give context. It's entirely possible that it is incomplete-that more will be added to it before publication.

The conclusion, which addresses the Covid pandemic, felt incomplete. The lack of foot/endnotes at several points, references were made to 'studies' or 'research' that had me going, 'Okay, I need a citation and I need to read the original source to make sure it really said what Bluestone says it said because I'm skeptical.” I guess I'll have to borrow the published edition from my local library so I can follow up on sources. It's like a bad headline that doesn't match the article that was actually written.Ī few things that really bugged me that I am almost certain will be fixed before publication. And I don't think that it actually does explain why 'we're following' as the title claims-but that is probably the fault of the publisher for choosing that title and making that claim. These felt like things that should have been fixed before the book got to the ARC stage. I really struggled with it on a paragraph level sometimes. I felt like the narrative jumped back and forth through time, buried the lede, didn't explain things in enough detail, and jumped abruptly from one topic to another. I don't know if the book just hasn't been line-edited yet or what, but the prose lacked clarity. The book uses the frame of the Fyre Festival debacle to explore the whole world of internet hype-an approach that could have worked. But I really didn't, and I'm unsure of whether that's because this is an ARC and there's still a lot of editing to be done before it's published or if it's just a weakness of Bluestone's writing. We are living in a world of grifters, of intentional blindness to facts, of obsession with surface instead of substance, of performative 'living.' This book promised to explore that world-and explain why it's so very addictive. We need to have more discussions about how social media is screwing with our heads, our post-truth society, the phenomenon of influencers and our obsession with 'authenticity' as a commodity.

I guess I'm the odd one out: I thought this book was a great premise pretty badly (or maybe just mediocre-ly) executed. I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair review.

Hype bluestone