Welcome to the first The Preppy Book Club post! In case you missed it, last month (right when we got into this quarantine situation), I launched The Preppy Book Club. We will read one book a month as a way to keep our minds busy during this crazy time and hopefully make a few internet friends along the way.
Since we had such a quick turnaround this month, I’m sharing our discussion questions below in the comments section but in the future, I hope to set up virtual book club meetings complete with matching cocktails! In the meantime, grab your favorite glass of wine and get chatting in the comments below. All you need to do is number your answers 1-6 in the comments section.
Overall Rating of Followers by Megan Angelo: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Followers tells the satirical story of Marlowe, Floss, and Orla. Marlowe is an influencer/reality TV star in the year 2051 where her life is broadcasted 23/7 to millions of followers. Floss is Marlowe’s mother who grew up as an influencer herself. While half of the story chronicles Marlowe’s story, the other follows Floss’s experience as an influencer in the year 2015. Orla is Floss’s best friend and roommate. Orla is an aspiring writer working at a celebrity blog called Ladyish and she uses her gossip column to secretly get Floss famous in the first place.
The book brings to light a ton of different elements of today’s influencer and reality TV culture. Whether it be the obsession with the number of followers you have, the comfort level with sharing intimate parts of your life or the dementia-like state that is plaguing the millennial generation called ‘fog’ due to too much screentime, the book touches on things that could very well be an evolution of the internet culture we have today.
Overall, this book has been one of my favorites that I have read this year. As someone in the social media industry and an obvious influencer culture nerd, I was fascinated by how Megan Angelo brought this future world to life. Share and discuss what you loved/didn’t love in the comments below. I’ll go first!
1 | Who did you identify most with, Orla, Floss, or Marlowe? Why?
2|Did you have a theory of what the ‘Spill’ was throughout the novel? Were you right?
3|Did the book make you think about your own phone and social media usage? How so?
4| If you had to choose between living in Constellation or Atlantis, which would you choose and why?
5| Orla and Floss had a very complicated friendship. What did you think of their dynamic?
6| Did you enjoy the overall theme of influencer culture?
If you want to continue discussing Followers, head to The Preppy Book Club Facebook Group.
1 | This one is so tough because they are each annoying in their own way but if I had to choose, I think I would choose Marlowe. While she grows up with Constellation and her parents running so much of her day-to-day, I can appreciate her efforts to flee to New York and find answers around her family. I also think her fascination with ‘followers’ is a mix between Floss and Orla, which is where I think I fall. It’s not my WHOLE life, but I definitely care about that number. 😩
2| I knew it had something to do with the internet or social media disappearing but didn’t predict the extent of it all. Especially the idea of sharing sensitive/confidential information with people it would hurt most! That said, it low-key made me think of today’s current quarantine world and how New York is bonding together to get through it all.
3| Omg yes! I can definitely see things like ‘fog’ happening to the millennial generation in the future. My eyesight is already hurting since I have graduated college and started a full-time job in social media. However, I think my obsession with social media is pretty health (despite it being my job). I don’t try to be someone I’m not over here and don’t let the comments or trends run my life/future so I’m not too concerned with the societal impacts.
4| Woof this one is tough. I don’t think either of them are ideal. Constellation would be straight-up terrifying. I’d hate to have one hour of privacy everyday but on the flip side, Atlantis feels so disconnected from world. I’d hate to not be able to connect with my family or friends who don’t live in Atlantis just by logging on to Facebook or Instagram. Not to mention all of the creativity, love and friendship that the internet has helped me create in my life. I don’t think I’d be able to give that up.
5| It is TOXIC. Nobody should have a friendship like theirs. I have a few Floss-like friends and at times Orla really resonated with me. She was very self aware about who Floss was and she looked passed it because of what they have been through together. I THOUGHT deep, deep, deep down Floss really did love Orla. Until the wedding. That is when I wrote Floss off completely as a good friend to Floss. A part of me believes that if Floss was just honest with Orla, she may have been okay with it all.
6| I’m a social media nerd and influencer culture has always fascinated me since before I launched ThePreppyMAG in 2013. That paired with my love of reality TV, this book was really fun for me to read. I kept asking myself whether or not something like this dystopian future could actually happen, which was both fun and little scary to think about.