The Bright Side of Going Dark

After having previously read Kelly Harms’ book The Overdue Life of Amy Byler, which was mostly light-hearted, humorous, escapist fun, I was really surprised by the deeper issues tackled in this one.  It still has humor and levity, but it revolves around some weighty issues like suicidality, mental health, the dark side of internet fame and tech addiction, grief - both family and pet-related, and dysfunctional parent-child relationships. 

I know you’re probably thinking: Wow, what a downer! All I can say is if you read through to the end, it’s actually quite good-hearted, touching and relevant. It has flavors of rom-com and family drama, using social media and family dynamics as the primary focal points. It also gives good food for thought on the benefits of a more unplugged, or at least balanced life.  

Our first narrator, Mia Bell is a yoga instructor/internet influencer on a website called Pictey (think Instagram), where under the username @Mia&Mike (Mike being her beloved English bulldog), she’s built a large business and fan base, who hang on her every carefully cultivated post, filled with all the positivity and adventure the weary masses could want. On the surface, her life is the perfect dream.  Our second narrator is Paige Miller, an anxiety-prone and emotionally unfiltered employee in the Safety & Standards department of Pictey, whose job it is to police the comments and posts on Pictey to make sure nothing inappropriate or dangerous slips through.  Her life is rather the opposite of Mia’s, giving little thought to appearance and social opportunities, and her honesty can often come off as rather tactless.

When cell-phone addict Mia is dumped by her douchey fiance, Tucker, right before their heavily sponsored, scheduled live Pictey wedding for her fans, she retreats to her mother’s house in Colorado, and with her mom’s encouragement, throws her phone off a cliff in an effort to “go dark” for a little bit and live life in the now. Making that a little easier is her mother’s handsome neighbor, Dewey, a widowed dad of a young daughter, who she befriends.  In a separate turn of events, Paige errantly dismisses a suicidal user comment on Mia’s feed as just another attention-seeker, only to find out that user, who actually did attempt suicide, was her half-sister Jessica, a devoted @Mia&Mike fan.  Ordered by her supervisor to take a mental health break, Paige also goes to Colorado to be with her recovering sister.  What follows is the complicated mess that happens when Paige hacks Mia’s account without her knowledge and begins ghost posting on her feed.  Needless to say, chaos ensues that brings their worlds together in very unexpected ways. A number of things are a bit far-fetched, but the story - particularly the ending - was rewarding and the overall message was a positive one.

Despite the seriousness of the themes, Harms handles the issues sensitively, and her concern for mental health - especially among social media users seems evidenced in how the events play out.  The facts on suicide, as stated by Paige, are important, though they felt a little forced into the story.  They would have made more sense in an author’s note.

**As a warning, there is a mention of a prior act of animal cruelty and an unrelated gut-wrenching, but tender scene involving the humane loss of a pet, so I feel I should mention that - especially to any dog lovers out there.**

  

★★★★