Description

"How can you not want to exist on the Internet?” asks the young Charles Valérien. He has just moved into his first apartment of his own and has found a promising job in a consulting agency. He spends his free time on the ShowYou social network, which is actually where everyone is. After a party, the actual party takes place right there for him – when looking at the uploaded photos. In the weekly videos, which he is obliged to watch like every user, he lets his contacts participate in his everyday life.

While wondering if he really needs to interact with his boss on ShowYou, he meets Anne-Laure, who interests him right away. But he can't find her on the network: Anne-Laure rejects ShowYou and leads a life off the internet. Fascinated, Charles immerses himself in her world, which consists of literature, band rehearsals and nocturnal forays through the catacombs of Paris. But it quickly becomes apparent that these two worlds do not fit together and that Charles has to make decisions...

Peer Review Service for Public Libraries

Charles Valérien is young and successful. He has just moved into his first apartment and started his first job in a consulting agency. He spends his free time exclusively on the social network "ShowYou". Everyone is in there. Once a week, users have to post a video about their life, otherwise they will be banned from the network.
The hunt for the best video means that the experience itself no longer plays a role. Only the outward presentation of what has been experienced is important. Charles never questions any of that. But then he meets Anne-Laure, who isn't on ShowYou, and Charles begins to wonder if existence on the internet can be real life.
In France, the debut novel by S. Bied-Charreton was very well reviewed and the author has already been compared to M. Houellebecq. The topic is highly topical, especially among the younger generation. The escalating self-portrayal on the Internet, which is completely normal even among young people, as described in the novel, is already reality in many respects. Recommended.

Katja Buchholz

Source: Discussion service for public libraries, ekz publication ID or IN 2015/20, ekz.bibliotheksservice GmbH