The Echo Chamber John Boyne Doubleday, £16.99
SOMETIMES IT’S HARD to imagine where a novelist gets his inspiration from. Well, not in this case. Two years ago, John Boyne—best-known for The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas—published a book for younger readers called My Brother’s Name is Jessica. Its impeccably virtuous aim was to provide a sympathetic portrait of a teenage boy transitioning to a girl. However, by using that word “brother” and referring to the pre-trans main character as “he”, Boyne found himself under attack on Twitter for being transphobic, with critics taking issue with him not realising that once someone identifies as a woman, that’s what they’ve always been.
Of course, what normally happens next is that the person then issues an abject apology, explaining how much they’ve learned since. Well, not in this case. Instead, in his new book for adults, Boyne comes out all guns blazing for a full-scale satire on the idiocy of social media.
This story is from the August 2021 edition of Reader's Digest UK.
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This story is from the August 2021 edition of Reader's Digest UK.
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