A review by crothe77
Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang

5.0

 
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang is a first person-POV thriller centered on social media and how it changes people. Julie Chan and her twin, Chloe Van Huusen, have been separated ever since their parents died and Chloe was adopted by a wealthy white couple and Julie was sent to live with their aunt. Their lives have diverged massively and they haven’t spoken in years. When Chloe calls Julie out of the blue, Julie heads to New York and finds Chloe dead…and takes Chloe’s identity.

The voice is vivid and compelling. I loved the voice so much and wanted to read a hundred more pages of Julie’s asides as she is resentful of her sister and then obsessed with being an influencer as well as her judgements of others. There is so much mess in Julie’s POV and this mess creates a strong character study for how having power changes how you think and why those who are affluent might not understand what people who are not affluent are saying. It’s one of my favorite voices so far this year. 

Liann Zhang examines racism in social media through Julie and Iz, a Black rising star creator, but in very different ways. Iz is painfully aware of how social media works and how racism impacts the algorithm and Julie is also aware but kind of runs away from it. It’s a very important conversation that we have to have as well as holding people accountable for their discrimination and what exactly that means. We don’t get clear cut answers for how to take accountability, but we do see how white fragility doesn’t fix the issue and creates a barrier to actually taking in the call-in/call-out and acceptance. 

The complex relationship with Chloe and Julie is fairly one-sided from Julie’s POV with only bits and pieces from Chloe’s side. Did Chloe actually want a relationship with Julie or did she instead wonder what it would have been like to have had Julie’s place? Julie, and the reader, will never get an actual answer and will instead need to interpret the information how they will. For my part, I read it as Julie missing the connection to her parents and maybe having some jealousy towards Julie for having that connection by living with their aunt and growing up in a Cantonese-speaking house, but I cannot imagine her really wanting to switch places until later in life when she gets deeper into the influencer sphere. 

Content warning for racism, alcoholism, addiction, suicidal ideation, pregnancy, and mentions of miscarriage

I would recommend this to fans of books about social media and readers looking for a thriller exploring themes of identity in the modern age

 
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