The Echo Chamber
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Get 3 months for £0.99/mo
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Narrated by:
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Richard E. Grant
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By:
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John Boyne
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
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.
©2021 John Boyne (P)2021 Penguin AudioThis is the first time I have encountered Boyne’s humour and it is very, very funny. The story revolves around tv presenter George Cleverly, his wife and three children; all of whom struggle with problems that have their roots in modern culture.
I particularly enjoyed the episode with pronouns which I also struggle to keep up with in fact, I only recently discovered I was a cis woman because my daughter in law told me.
This is an excellent comedy of manners that all of us will recognise and the scrapes the family get themselves into are so hilarious, I had to keep reminding myself that there is an edge to all this that we can all learn from. Underneath there is quite a thought provoking message.
After Covid,isolation and so much bad news, this was a real tonic especially as it was read by Richard E. Grant who really brought the characters to life and emphasised the humour with a light touch. Even my husband who “does not do fiction” was drawn in. It feels like a very long time since I have laughed so much. I sincerely hope it will bring a smile to your face too.
A Morality Tale with Panache
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I am recommending it to everyone, which I have never done with any book and I'm a librarian!
laughed all the way through!
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The narration, by Richard E. Grant is magnificent. I could listen to him read a phone book.
A funny & thought-provoking story
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enjoyable
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Laugh out loud
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