What a Time to Be Alive

by Jade Chang

A deeply moving and often hilarious novel that follows a woman who becomes an internet folk hero in the most unexpected way, catapulting her to 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 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 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 has now 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  the answer is a brilliant, resounding yes. 

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Audiobook, Adult, Death, LGBT

304 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2025

About the author

Jade Chang's debut novel, The Wangs vs. the World, is being published on October 4, 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She is a journalist who has covered arts, culture, and cities and a recipient of the Sundance Fellowship for Arts Journalism, the AIGA/Winterhouse Award for Design Criticism, and the James D. Houston Memorial scholarship from the Squaw Valley Community of Writers.

She was recently a member of the Goodreads editorial team, where she worked on newsletters, author interviews, blog posts, infographics, and the quote of the day!

Reviews

[nestle • whatnestleread · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one started off so strong. I was really into Lola’s messy, grifty energy and thought I was in for a wild ride. But the second half kind of lost its spark. The influencer stuff especially just didn’t work for me. It felt like there was an idea there, but the execution never really clicked, and honestly, I think the story would’ve been fine without it.

Still, the writing is easy to read and there are plenty of moments that land, especially around grief and identity. Fun enough, but not one I’ll be thinking about for long.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Ellen Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This was a hilarious and entertaining read. So perfect for the times we live in where you can practically become a viral sensation overnight, I was rooting for Lola but then wanting to warn her along the way. This book actually helps to give us all a look at the other side of the screen and the pressure it can put on these individuals who suddenly sky rocket to social media fame. There is plenty of entertaining drama in this novel, but the undertones of how we view and judge these famed folks is a great lesson to everyone whether it’s us who go viral overnight or if we just stay the ones on the other side of the screen that judge.

[Celine · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 !

The first half of this was stronger than the second. I love a good grifter, I love someone torn apart by grief. And if that was all the book was about, I would have appreciated it more. I think the book shines when the passages are centered around navigating grief, the complex truths between her and her friend Celi, and missing her mother.

But a big part of the story is also tied up in the narrator, Lola, capitalizing on an accidentally viral moment, trying to become an influencer. I think the reasoning behind why she decides to pursue the lifestyle is understandable - but the execution was poor. It didn't feel grounded in an internet that was real, or maybe like that part of the plot wasn't thought about all the way through.

I would read more from this author because their prose is lovely. I was thoroughly gripped by the initial 150 or so pages!

[Joy D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lola Gold is grieving and dealing with unemployment and family issues. She returns to her childhood home when an unexpected viral video makes her into an internet folk hero and self-help guru. This is very much a novel of today, and depicts our digital world realistically, with social media influencers, memes, hashtags, viral videos, and the often-toxic online environment. It appears to be intended as social satire. I think Millennials or older Gen Zs (or those comfortable with the constant churn of social media) will enjoy this book more than I did. It made me nostalgic to return to the days before social media turned into a beehive of discontent.

3.5

[Tell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved. Need to sit with the themes of spirituality, scamming, grifting, and what it means to be a person, but ultimately this is a book about honesty: being honest with what you want, not knowing how to get it, saying the hard things, and how to be a person- even a floundering, messy person in their thirties- in the world.

[Sam Cheng · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lola’s in her early 30s (b. 1986), living in LA. On top of accruing financial debt, she must manage processing her absent mom, who was deported to China when Lola was 9 years old, and grieve Alex’s sudden death. Her dear friend dies from a skateboarding accident at 32, and Lola never got to tell Alex her true feelings for him. What a Time to be Alive follows Lola’s messy year of wandering and squandering after losing Alex. In her search for personal meaning and belonging, she gains fame as a self-styled influencer, helping others experience transformation—true freedom and self-love—by orienting them to the moon, incorporating Chinese lore to buttress her teaching.

Unfortunately, Lola’s grief is unbelievable in its hollowness, and the character’s simplistically irreverent attitude presents her all the more uncompellingly. All of the characters bear a quickly sketched quality—even Lola lacks dimensionality because her relationships with her biological mom, biological older brother, and Denise lack meaningful saturation. Certainly, there’s a way to increase saturation even when depth is absent from relationships. I want to round up for Chang’s debut; alas, the length requires significant editing, too.

My thanks to Ecco and NetGalley for an ARC.

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wait, is this pithy and irreverent story about an up-and-coming influencer… an atheist manifesto?

OK, this is going to sound like I’m trying to start a cult right now, but I swear I am not! The opposite, honestly. I feel like we should each be our own cult. In fact, I think that might be all life is. Trying to get to a place where we truly, wholeheartedly believe in how life should be lived…I want to take all the good things we’ve ceded to religion and find a way to bring them into our secular, spiritual lives: community, gratitude, transcendence.

Just really a sense of high stakes in regular life. I mean, when eternal damnation is on the table, when your soul might wander in purgatory or be struck from the book of life, the stakes are undeniably high — but all our lives are high stakes all the time, because of the fallibility of our crude matter. We are all always going to die. This is always going to be the last time we are in any particular moment. How is that not the highest of stakes? And we are always living in a time of miracles. The Earth spins, and you do not fall off: this is a miracle! You sleep, and your cells repair themselves: this is a miracle!

Mainly, it’s a book about a group of friends losing and finding themselves amid grief, after a loss. Through an interesting, likable first person narrator.

Was I also an undeserving weirdo with survivors guilt and an absurd life? Yes, and some day I would eat the rich. But until that last feast, I will keep [feeding] people what they want to hear. I will rip my heart open. Conveniently, it happens to be behind my boobs.

This a witty, insightful book with a fantastic audiobook narrator. Grabbed me from the beginning.

We’re on the 3rd or 4th or 5th wave of feminism. We’ve survived pickup artists and hook up culture… but it’s still true that if you want a guy to stick around, it helps if you tell him you’re not ready to have sex yet. Among the things I hate myself for doing, this is the most reliable. I’ve developed a whole social theory to justify the deception to myself: boys are conditioned to believe that they are gross creatures who want to befoul everything, but that girls are pristine and without urge. This becomes a foundational truth, and to uphold it the existence of female is denied.

Thanks to NetGalley for an opportunity to read this advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. 4.5 stars. Highly recommend!

[Traci Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book overall. I think it is smart and has a big heart. It was a lot less about influencing and much more about grief than I had anticipated. The pace felt a bit slow for me. There were scenes I really loved and then parts that I thought could've been cut completely.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This ambitious novel starts with the accidental death of a young man. Lola is a close friend left behind to grieve. As she struggles to deal with his absence, a video of her someone posts goes viral. Since she’s broke (and broken), she reluctantly accepts the opportunity to monetize her status as a social media influencer and grief guru. Yet, with her scarcity mindset, she still stuffs her backpack with all the “free” conference swag she can get her hands on. Friendships and relationships are tested, including some very complicated ones that are familial and familial-like. It’s a bit messy, but exuberantly so. Well-narrated and well-observed.
My thanks to the author, publisher, @HarperAudioAdult, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook #WhataTimetobeAlive for review purposes. Publication date: 30 September 2025.

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lola is in her 30s and has lost her best friend. His death has shook her and while she’s never been particularly organized, his death has left her lost. When a rant during a game is taped without her knowledge and goes viral, she leans into the exposure and decides to profit off it by becoming a self-help guru.

An interesting dive into the problematic nature of influencers, and social media. I lost a friend in my late 20s and the reflections surrounding grief was spot on. Chang captures all the different emotions and thoughts beautifully. Lola is very self centred and not particularly likeable but I was captivated by her journey and wanted to see whether she would grow up and take responsibility or continue to flounder.

I found myself annoyed with Lola and her entitlement but I couldn’t put the book down which is always a good sign.

I loved the narrator and found the audiobook easy to listen to.

Thank you to Ecco books for the physical copy and harpermuse / NetGalley for the audio book.

[Suz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried to like this book. The main character, Lola, was just unrelatable. The story bounced all over the place for me, and was too hard to follow. I felt like her thought process had ADD, and never fully finished. It seems that every time she started something new, the story started, but then moved onto something else, and later came back to what she was talking about but the thoughts or stories were never fully complete. Too inconsistent for me.

I received this book as an ARC.

[Mai H.]

ANHPI TBR

🎧 Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco

[Violet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy a somewhat messy heroine, so it was easy to get into this book about a 30-something, Lola, who becomes viral after a drunk speech at her best friend's funeral and decides to milk it to become a self-help influencer. She's also trying to trace her mother, who disappeared when she was 9 and may have gone back to her native China, and navigating friendships and fame.

I loved the character's cynicism and her focus into turning her viral video into basically a cult, studying other influencers and trying to turn everything into content, and I enjoyed her grappling with the morality of it.

After a while though I thought it was maybe too messy, and a tad repetitive - the novel is organised chronologically, month after month over a year and a bit, and it could have been... cleaner. Some of the sub plots felt unnecessary.

But overall it was a fun, easy to read novel and I enjoyed it.

Free ARC sent by Netgalley.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and HarperAudio Adult for this ARC!

A messy and explorative look at personality, grief, online presence, and identity. This was funny and moving, small cult vibes. An introspective character study of someone creating an online presence after going viral from a video speaking about their friend’s death and an unflinching look at what it means to have a “following”. Family dynamics and relationships explored, how we show up for others, and how we ultimately all hold the power to hurt one another.

The narration was excellent, I really enjoyed the cadence of the story and the quality of the performance. If you like unwavering mirrors held up to the ambiguous world of social media alongside existential crises and group think, this is the book for you!

[Mylissa B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lola is struggling to find her identity in life and her passion for her future. After losing a close friend in a tragic accident her life is thrust into the limelight after a post goes viral. While I had empathy for Lola's character giving her background and upbringing (mother deported and raised by a woman who adopted her), I struggled to form an emotional connection to the MFC. She seemed more focused on partying with her friends than finding herself at times. I also found the number of side characters who were not well developed to be distracting from the story.

[Keri Ault · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a frustrating read. The premise held promise but the lack of depth in its characters, while simultaneously trying to espouse value in love and relationships fell flat. I normally love a messy protagonist but it didn’t feel like the author provided anything that helped me care about her story. It felt like being stuck being stoned with an immature and shallow character.

[Leslee Hale · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a Time to Be Alive by Jade Chang was a unique and powerful read that left a lasting impression on me. The story follows Lola Treasure Gold, a woman grappling with grief, unemployment, and the return to her crumbling childhood home—until an unexpected viral video turns her into an internet folk hero and accidental self-help guru. As she navigates sudden fame, she also confronts questions about her identity, the commodification of belief, and her painful past, including the mysterious disappearance of her deported mother.
Chang masterfully balances humor and heartbreak, creating a kaleidoscopic narrative that explores grief, identity, fame, and the often blurry line between authenticity and performance. I felt a full spectrum of emotions while reading—it’s both deeply moving and sharply observant. This book is absolutely worth the read.

[Melissa Woods · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to go 4 for the writing alone but couldn’t do it. There are moments here that are wonderfully clever and funny, and it’s clear the author is brilliant. However, there are too many themes and none are explored deeply enough given all that cleverness you can tell is there.

This is an LA version of all the romanticized stories you hear about New York, and it’s fun to see a place I know so little about portrayed with such love and care. I’m too East Coast for these characters though. We’re still trying to go viral in our mid-thirties instead of having a career?? Jesus.

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lola Treasure Gold is definitely lost. She's in deep grief at losing a close friend from a stupid social media stunt and she's struggling with her mom abandoning her, 20 years ago. After drunkenly and randomly being posted in a viral video, she tries to lean into it despite having huge imposter syndrome. This sharply, and is often quite funny, interrogates grief and how people totally fall under the spell of randos on the internet.

I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.

[emily *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Lola's best friend passes away she is torn by grief and has found herself broke and very lost in life. when an embarrassing video surfaces of her she becomes an internet sensation overnight. We follow her journey of fame and finding herself all while navigating grief. I found this book extremely intriguing and found Lola to be hilarious & easy to relate to. I overall really enjoyed this book.

thank you to the publishers and netgalley for the ARC!

[Jen Hyatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated this witty novel as a meditation on grief— how it disorients and can make us lose our footing, and how a really good friend can get us through. The main character struggles with loss— the disappearance of her mother, the death of a beloved friend. As a result, even though she is in her thirties, she can’t quite get her life together. Sudden fame on the internet changes her trajectory and causes as much chaos as it does financial footing. Maybe it is because I am Gen X and I don’t get (or value) the whole influencer thing, but this aspect of the novel felt shallow and self-serving, even when the character is being earnest. I did enjoy the many irreverent moments of humor, as well as the celebration of true friendship, acceptance, and understanding, especially when we are at our lowest moments.
3.5 stars

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A messy book about grief and love and being lost in the world. It sometimes feels like two books in a trench coat: one is sad and sweet and about grief/love, friendship, abandonment, and the beauty of life; the other is about authenticity, scams, the performance of influence and money and cynicism. Parts of it felt really interesting. But a lot of it was jarring and frustrating.

[Book Mitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished it, but had to power through. Didn’t buy either the main characters arc or why people around her acted like they did.

[Eliza Pillsbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

themes were interesting even if the narrative was highly disorganized

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a Time to be Alive. I would not recommend using this time to read this book. If you love reading books about nascent influencers living in the celebrity adjacent world of Los Angeles please disregard the previous recommendation.

The book opens with Lola Treasure Gold in shock and grieving the loss of her friend Alex, who at the age of 32 has killed himself trying to do a stunt for a social media video.

Lola, in her grief, goes on a drunken rant about scams that gets sanitized and goes viral itself, drawing attention to Lola. And naturally she decides to capitalize on it and become an influencer.

The reader is then subjected to her rhapsodizing on transcendence and waxing and waning on about the moon and taking full advantage of her increasing follower count to live a high life at TED talks, fashion shows and parties. At this point if I hadn’t been reading this for review I would have called it a day and the end of my journey with this book.

I’m neither cut out to be an influencer or the follower of one, and my common sense brain struggles to comprehend how people get so wrapped up in things that may originally have had authentic intent, but have evolved into something that serves as clickbait and is completely artificial. Most of what Lola serves up in this book falls into the latter category. Ironically, when she does try and be authentic the followers she has and the agent she’s acquired think it’s all part of some plan she has to “connect” and build her marketability even more.

This all gets incredibly dull for me. The moments she spends authentically grieving and processing the loss of her friend are rare.

Chang gives her a great backstory of a mother that came to the US from China to give birth to her and then abandoned her when she was nine years old. This could be a much bigger part of the story and create a much more emotional storyline that readers could connect to, but it also gets relegated to the background, with few exceptions when Denise, who took over caring for Lola, pops into the story to do something kooky and weird that will make most people want to bang their head against the wall.

The book isn’t written badly, and it covers a deep friendship between Lola and Celi. I feel a little too old to appreciate it, despite only being a decade older than the characters. But maybe that’s because I grew up in Kansas and not LA?

I’m not a fan of books about influencers and social media, so it has to be really well done for me to enjoy it, and this just didn’t hit the mark for me.

A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Lauren Oertel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel ended up having a lot more below the surface story that I was able to find once I went back to review and write down all of the passages I bookmarked in the audiobook. The online fame/guru plot and the main character’s voice/interactions with friends, etc., gave it a lighthearted tone, but there were many intriguing philosophical ideas that resonated for me.

Here are a few examples:

“What happens when we die? The ones who love us miss us. Maybe grief is the only unifying force in the world.” (The question is from Stephen Colbert, the first response is from Keanu Reeves, and the third part is from the author.)

“When men are obsessed with their bodies, it’s biohacking, but when women are, they are 'being controlled by the diet industrial complex.'”

“Everyone saw life as a comedy that was very sad or a tragedy that was very funny.”

“All we had were the people we were willing to take care of.”

“Everyone and everything alive: our presence is beauty, and maybe our purpose is simply our presence.”

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for a free audio copy of this one.

I’d be happy to read more by this author.

[Casey | Essentially Novel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you Ecco Books for all the advanced readers copies, physical and digital. I chose to utilize the advanced listeners copy and while I liked the narrator, the story itself wasn’t for me and ultimately did DNF at around 30%. I really wanted to like it as I found the premise relevant to today’s culture but I just never was able to get into it. A lot of that is due to content, but I also felt the story and Jade’s character were really aimless. I could identify with her in terms of age, feeling like we still haven’t “arrived” in our purpose and wrestling with heavy complex grief, but beyond that there wasn’t much overall that I connected with. Her apathy and at times just careless behavior made her unlikeable for me, and I struggled seeing where the story would go. Perhaps I should have given it more time but 1) like many, I don’t want to force myself to finish a book I’m not enjoying when there are so many out there that I would like, and 2) I think this one is more specifically aimed at a rather niche audience, of which I am not of.

Content includes unexpected death, profanity, substance abuse, sexual content (references, mild details, some sapphic), and mental health/grief.

[JULIA · Rating 2 out of 5]

Won this on goodreads! DNF. Thank you for the free copy from goodread, but I just couldn't complete reading this book. I'm sorry the character died and the way he died, but to keep rehashing it over and over, I am just so over it. And the word-salad was over the top. I was forcing myself to sit down and read what little I did read and then didn't really like what I had read. So with great sadness I am throwing in the proverbial towel and tossing the book into the give-away zone at the local library. Maybe someone else will have better luck with the content than me. Sorry, but only worth a two-star rating.