What a Time to Be Alive - by Jade Chang (Paperback)

About the Book

"A deeply moving and often hilarious novel following a woman who becomes an internet folk hero in the most unexpected way, catapulting her into fame and influence just as she's finally beginning to reckon with her complicated past. Lola Treasure Gold can't figure out her life. She's broke, she's unemployed, she's back in her childhood home, a crumbling cottage in the Hollywood Hills. Worse-unspeakably worse-one of her closest friends has just died. So nobody is more surprised than Lola when a jackpot falls in her lap: she stars in a Very Viral Video, opening a surprising path for her to become a self-help guru. With the encouragement of her other best friend, Celi-still alive, thank god-Lola embraces the public interest in her perceived message. But is she a scammer or a sage? Just as Lola is telling others to be their own guiding lights, she can't seem to find hers: she's grieving, she's accused of using the notoriety of her friend's death to fuel her rise, and she's full of questions about the fate of her mother, who came to America pregnant, fleeing China's one-child policy; got deported when Lola was eight; and now has totally disappeared. Driven by an exuberant, searching spirit, Jade Chang's kaleidoscopic new novel is a deep examination of the ways we commodify belief, the power and precarity of fame, and the delicious terror of being truly seen. What a Time to Be Alive asks if we can look honestly at the world and still love it: the answer is a brilliant, resounding yes"--

Book Synopsis

LONGLISTED FOR THE MARK TWAIN AMERICAN VOICE IN LITERATURE AWARD

A deeply moving and often hilarious novel following a woman who becomes an internet folk hero in the most unexpected way, catapulting her into fame and influence just as she's finally beginning to reckon with her complicated past

Lola Treasure Gold can't figure out her life. She's broke, unemployed, and back in her childhood home, a crumbling cottage in the Hollywood Hills. Worse--unspeakably worse--one of her closest friends has just died. So nobody is more surprised than Lola when a jackpot falls in her lap: she stars in a viral video, opening a surprising path for her to become a self-help guru.

With the encouragement of her other best friend, Celi--still alive, thank god--Lola embraces the public interest in her perceived message. But is she a scammer or a sage? Just as Lola is telling others to be their own guiding lights, she can't seem to find hers: she's grieving; she's accused of using the notoriety of her friend's death to fuel her rise; and she's full of questions about the fate of her mother, who came to America pregnant, fleeing China's one-child policy, got deported when Lola was eight, and now has totally disappeared.

Driven by an exuberant, searching spirit, Jade Chang's kaleidoscopic new novel is a deep examination of the ways we commodify belief, the power and precarity of fame, and the delicious terror of being truly seen. What a Time to Be Alive asks if we can look honestly at the world and still love it; the answer is a brilliant, resounding yes.

Review Quotes

"What a Time to Be Alive is a sly, sexy work of art. Jade Chang has captured the true essence of Los Angeles, in all of its motley, messy beauty, with humor and heart. This is a novel that you will devour, and share with your friends, and soon want to devour again." - Angela Flournoy, author of The Wilderness and The Turner House

"A generous satire of the spiritual wellness space that delivers true magic in the character of Lola Treasure Gold, a heroine so dazzling and bold and psychologically healthy that you will wind up rooting for her with your whole heart. I loved it." - Rufi Thorpe, author of Margo's Got Money Troubles

"Lola Treasure Gold, the irrepressible heroine of What a Time to Be Alive, lives up to her name, and then some. Traumatized by a friend's senseless death, Lola trips through life attempting to grieve with authenticity. In the process, she becomes an accidental influencer, a lightning-rod guru, and a singular and hilarious guide through TED conferences, moon festivals, the underground LA music scene, online stans, hipster podcasts, debauched desert weekends, free love, familial love, and let's not forget a rabbit named Aristotle. Jade Chang has created a wise and provocative heroine sure to get people talking." - Maria Semple, author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette and Today Will Be Different

"What a Time to Be Alive is a consummate coming-of-age tale for our uncanny, screen-mediated era. It's part madcap journey of self-actualization, part love song to Los Angeles, part ode to friendship, and part meditation on grief--entirely witty and vibrantly alive." - Rachel Khong, author of Real Americans

"In What a Time to Be Alive, Chang delivers a moving novel about grief, fame, and what it means to be seen." - Alta Journal

"This hilarious examination of wellness culture is also an insightful take on where we truly find meaning." - Real Simple

"Lola's . . . first-person narration is punchy, introspective, sometimes profound, and often hilarious. . . . What a Time to Be Alive is half grief manifesto and half satirical commentary on the woo-woo influencer scene, sprinkled with humor and luxurious prose. Lola begins and ends her year of grief with the feeling that this was not how she thought her life was going to turn out. But by the time year's end rolls around again, becoming the person she is meant to be is a distraction in itself; she is always coming of age." - Chicago Review of Books

"Timely and touching." - The New Yorker

"There is joy to be had in this world of distortions and faux profundity; there are pockets of depth even among the shallows; and what seems to be sleight of hand may yet reveal the truest glimpse of our upside-down world. Jade Chang, with deadly humor and immense talent, has written an absolute romp of a novel about our ever-stumbling quest for sublimity and grace. I laughed, I cringed, I held on tight. What a Time to Be Alive is a triumph." - Justin Torres, author of Blackouts

"Chang draws characters with quick mastery, and writes Lola as a mille-feuille of sophistication, delighted lust, and self-doubt. The dialogue snaps and sparks, and Chang dispenses observations about race, class, feminism, sex, and influencer and tech-founder culture with panache. . . It braids satire of rich people searching for their souls and a practicum on how to find closure, with both our living and our dead. . . . Nails the emotional contradictions, absurdities, and cathartic surprises of modern life." - Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"Award-winning Chang's alluring hot-button tale will entice many curious readers looking for something fresh." - Booklist

"Casts a keen eye on the frenzy of social media and the disingenuous and addictive world of influencers and the influenced." - Bookpage

"Chang's irresistible narrative effortlessly toggles between story lines as Lola explores her origins and deals with her grief and youthful angst. Readers will be glad to encounter Lola's arresting voice." - Publishers Weekly

"Lola Treasure Gold . . . may be the smartest character who has ever helmed a novel about internet influencers, and also the funniest. . . . Two other pleasures of this book: its vividly detailed, completely-sold-on-it portrait of the city of Los Angeles, and the crush-worthy love interest Chang creates for Lola. . . . [Lola is] part Pema Chödrön, part Charlotte Brontë, part Jia Tolentino, and utterly a woman of her time." - Boston Globe

"Amusing, surprising, and provocative." - Pasadena Weekly

"Lola ends up in a viral video . . . inadvertently casting her in the role of self-help guru. . . . This unexpected fame catapults our delightfully haphazard heroine into a world of Silicon Valley conferences and private seminars primarily aimed at wealthy white women. Chang skewers these wellness settings with humor and biting specificity. . . .Throughout, Chang raises poignant questions about how to be authentic in the internet age, and how much of yourself you're willing to commodify. . . . What a time to be alive, sharing this human experience -- and to be a reader." - Katie Yee, The New York Times

"A propulsive novel about a viral wellness guru . . . . equal parts love letter to Los Angeles, narrative about being a first-generation Asian American, exploration of grief and love and a found-family novel. . . . [Chang's] prose is infectiously funny, and her ability to satirize rich people paying silly amounts of money to be led to their souls has only sharpened. Here she takes aim at influencers espousing wellness for likes, their followers and the whole industry of commodifying belief." - LA Times