“City of Likes” by Jenny Mollen

“City of Likes” by Jenny Mollen was another fiction book that I finished while still in the Czech Republic on my reading spree. I think it is the book that I gave the lowest rating to along with “Wow, no thank you” by Samantha Irby.

The plot of the book centers around Meg Chernoff (who is surprisingly married to a Ukrainian immigrant!), a stay-at-home mum who is about to enter workforce after having two children. While on a search for work, she bumps into Daphne, a social media influence, by accident and Daphne takes fancy to Meg introducing her into the world of Instagram fancy. From then on, Meg is trying to navigate what is pretend and what is real in her life and how she could live her best according to her values.

I thought the storyline had some potential, however, its execution was not good. The writing was okayish and the story itself developed in a clumsy way with not much insight into the characters. Overall, I think the book touched on an important topic of social media influence, however, it did not explore it sufficiently.

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“I looked up at my son, who was swinging his heart out. The sunlight was refracting into think segments and the sky was the truest blue I’d ever seen. It was so beautiful. Prettier than any filter. I asked Sari if she could finish rigging up the pinata and stuffed my phone back into my pocket. “Roman” I called out as I headed over him. “I see you”.

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Overall this was an okay read but I generally would not recommend spending time on it.