I deliberated for a long time as to how I felt about this book. Eventually, it came down to: the first half was a three-star book, the second half was a five-star book. In many ways it felt like reading two different books, but one doesn’t really work without the other.

The first half is a literary depiction of doom scrolling. Sometimes funny, it mostly makes you want to throw your phone into the ocean and move to the moon. It’s the worst of social media, and the swirling vortex it can easily pull you into. In and of itself, it doesn’t accomplish much aside from making me think that perhaps real-life Twitter is better?

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The second half follows the same main character through a family tragedy. Inevitably, the family are contending with moral and political outrage, as well as the failings of the healthcare system, all while navigating an incredibly difficult, heartbreaking time. It was incredibly moving, dealing with both the big, all-consuming questions of life, and also some of the mundane aspects of grief. The social media aspect from the first half was still this hum in the background, sometimes helping but mostly hurting.

The end of this book was a triumph. I spent most of the book going “Huh? What?”, but I’m glad I persevered because it was worth it for the payoff.