About
The Echo Chamber Synopsis
What a thing of wonder a mobile phone is. Six ounces of metal, glass and plastic, fashioned into a sleek, shiny, precious object. At once, a gateway to other worlds - and a treacherous weapon in the hands of the unwary, the unwitting, the inept.
The Cleverley family live a gilded life, little realising how precarious their privilege is, just one tweet away from disaster. George, the patriarch, is a stalwart of television interviewing, a 'national treasure' (his words), his wife Beverley, a celebrated novelist (although not as celebrated as she would like), and their children, Nelson, Elizabeth, Achilles, various degrees of catastrophe waiting to happen.
Together they will go on a journey of discovery through the Hogarthian jungle of the modern living where past presumptions count for nothing and carefully curated reputations can be destroyed in an instant. Along the way they will learn how volatile, how outraged, how unforgiving the world can be when you step from the proscribed path.
Powered by John Boyne's characteristic humour and razor-sharp observation, The Echo Chamber is a satiric helter skelter, a dizzying downward spiral of action and consequence, poised somewhere between farce, absurdity and oblivion. To err is maybe to be human but to really foul things up you only need a phone.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781529176742 |
| Publication date: |
12th May 2022 |
| Author: |
John Boyne |
| Publisher: |
Penguin an imprint of Transworld Publishers Ltd |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
510 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Modern and Contemporary Fiction
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| Other Genres: |
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Press Reviews
John Boyne Press Reviews
An uproariously funny novel... John Boyne skilfully skewers the cruelties of social media and the absurdities of wokeness ... a brave and timely foray into the contemporary culture wars. - Financial Times
A fearless romp with big laughs along the way - Graham Norton
A comedy of manners and lack of manners ... good fun and cheeky as hell - Ryan Tubridy
His relish is infectious - The Times
Funny, rumbustious, unstinting and wonderfully Hogarthian - The Observer
Author
About John Boyne
John Boyne was our Guest Editor in May 2010 - click here - to see the books that inspired his writing.
John Boyne was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1971, and studied English Literature at Trinity College, Dublin, and creative writing at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, where he was awarded the Curtis Brown prize.
His early writing consisted mostly of short stories and he published a number of them. His first story, The Entertainments Jar, was shortlisted for the Hennessy Literary Award in Ireland. In total, he has published about 70 short stories.
He has published seven novels: THE THIEF OF TIME (2000), THE CONGRESS OF ROUGH RIDERS (2001), CRIPPEN (2004), THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS (2006), NEXT OF KIN (2006), MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (2008) and THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE (2009).
His 2006 novel, THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS, was made into an award-winning Miramax film. The novel itself won 2 Irish Book Awards, the Bisto Book of the Year, and was shortlisted or won a host of international awards. Amongst other accolades, it spent more than 80 weeks at no.1 in Ireland, topped the New York Times Bestseller List, and was the bestselling book in Spain in both 2007 and 2008. Worldwide, it has sold more than 5 million copies and was the 6th highest selling novel of 2008.
His novels are published in 42 languages.
He lives in Dublin.
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