What a Time to Be Alive - A Novel

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 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 .

Summary

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. 

Report

"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)

Product details

• Authors: Jade Chang
• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.09.2025
• EAN: 9780063416390
• ISBN: 978-0-06-341639-0
• No. of pages: 304
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 229 mm x 26 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Humorous fiction, FICTION: Literary, FICTION: Women, LITERATURE: WOMEN'S LITERATURE, LITERATURE: GENERAL FICTION, FICTION: Cultural Heritage, FICTION: Friendship, LITERATURE: ASIAN & ASIAN-AMERICAN, FICTION: City Life, FICTION: Diversity & Multicultural, FICTION: Asian American & Pacific Islander, Literature / General Fiction, Literature / Women's Literature, Literature / Asian & Asian-American