Distortion

by Gautam Malkani

Meet Dillon, a high-functioning mess with a rather inconvenient foot fetish, who has been keeping some very big secrets from his girlfriend Ramona.Also, meet Dhilan, a young carer caught in an endless loop of pre-bereavement bereavement for his dying mother.And then there is Dylan. The less said about him the better.These three very separate identities for the same young man have been growing dangerously hardwired thanks to the self-reinforcing effects of social media and search engines, and the uncanny predictive capabilities of his smartphones.When two men threaten to expose Dillon/Dhilan/Dylan, he is forced to unravel a gut-wrenching mystery that he would rather leave well alone.

ebook

First published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[Bookmuseuk]

Two elements combine in Gautam Malkani’s second novel to create a narrative as fractured and arresting as the image on its cover.

The first, drawn in part on his own personal experience, is the burden placed on the shoulders of young carers, distorting the parent-child relationship and forcing them to grow up well before their time.

The second is the insidious influence of the technology behind search engines and social media, which sucks in knowledge about us, our habits and preferences, and feeds back to us what we want to see – not what we need to know.

Dhilan’s mother has had cancer since he was nine years old. With an absent father and an NHS that can afford only limited home support, he has become her carer through a cycle of illness and remission so long-drawn out it has become his whole life. Now a university student, he has split his life into three: Dhilan, the carer, Dillon, who has a precarious relationship with his girlfriend Ramona, and Dylan, who earns money through a small start-up company digitising old analogue material like newspaper articles. Using these, and with a web of lies that go back so far even he doesn’t know where they begin, he walks a precarious tightrope between his different lives.

Each identity has its own online identity and search history, and so the data he sees fed back to him varies wildly. Perhaps that is why the mysterious ‘botched Botox man’ latches on to him as a person to lecture about the evils of the Internet. Or perhaps that has something to do with Dhilan’s father, a one-time journalist who seems to have left no footprint at all on the digital world.

As Dhilan’s mother enters the terminal stages of cancer, is Dillon/Dylan off chasing phantom’s, or is he about to uncover something of vital importance?

Malkani has always been a master of language. In his debut novel, Londonstani, he invented a hybrid language for his south London characters to prevent the novel from dating as fast as each generation’s slang. Here, Dhilan invents words that fill gaps in meaning that standard English cannot meet – like prettyful, which means neither pretty nor beautiful, but which he uses to describe his dying mother.

This book reads like a cry of rage – rage on the one hand at the expectations placed on young carers, and on the other, rage at the cynical exploitation, by mega-corporations and others, of the data we willingly and blindly feed them, and the distortion of the glorious possibility the Internet once offered.

Not an easy book to read, but a breathtaking one. One that feels timely and decisive and necessary.

[Tasha Leigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

So this one was a strange one. It follows Dylan/Dillon/Dhilan as he dissociates further and further as the story goes on. Each personality has its own phone, search history and opinions, each wanting to take the forefront of the book.

I found myself a little confused throughout but especially the closer to his mothers demise he came.

I didn't not like it but i also didn't find it amazing, probably because I spent the majority of it confused.

I have however seen rave reviews for this novel so I think maybe either I wasn't in the correct headspace for this novel, or maybe it just wasnt for me.


Thanks to Unbound for providing me with an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review

[Ewan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I supported this book at Unbound. It arrived in September last year. I read it straight away. Distortion is a fantastic write, Gautam Malkami’s narrator Dillon/Dhilan/Dylan has a compelling and convincing voice, easily as good as that of the protagonist of the writer’s previous novel Londonstani. Gautam’s latest book may have been a hard read – at least for me – but it is indeed a great write.

There are big themes in this book; the effects of the digital world on all of us, the plight of young, full-time carers in “Benefits Britain” and biggest of all, how we cope with cancer in a loved one. I coped as well as anyone does, September was the month a cancer was diagnosed. Hard read though it was, it helped. Almost a year later, things are looking good, but as we all know there are no guarantees. I did tell my own loved one not to read Gautam’s book.

You should, though, read this book. It’s good and it’s important, I can’t think of two better reasons for reading any book.

[John Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling if disorienting read (but that was the idea behind the book) that of the multiple personalities developed by a young carer to manage their fractured identity. It is also an opportunity to explore the way in which digital media enables the managing of multiple identities so has wider relevance. But though I got lost at times the narrative kept me. The issue of young carers is one that needs a spotlight put on it and this book is a valuable contribution.

[Noll · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure I fully understood the point of this novel but it was beautifully written with some fantastic insight into the social media age, so I very much enjoyed the journey even if I'm not quite sure where I ended up.

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t dig on this book, like, at all. It took me a long time to read, and at no point did I find myself really getting into it. To me, it just felt like reading a super-British-dialected (forgive my ignorance of which dialect, specifically, but I am just not cultured enough to be able to place it other than to say generally British, but not, like, posh old school Bond-type British) version of a Chuck Palahniuk novel – but not like Choke, Invisible Monsters, or Fight Club – maybe Pygmy or one of the other newer ones that I read but couldn’t find myself getting into.

However, lest it sound like I completely hated this book, since that is far too dramatic, I will say this for it: it played to it’s name. Dillon’s fracturing of identity/reality is a constant theme in the story. There was definitely some clever storytelling techniques, and the plot was definitely original, if not particularly engrossing or followable.

The thing that I really struggled with, I think, is the whole digital intrusion bit. It felt like a side story rather than an important aspect of the overall story. Plus, the intrusion seemed to be embraced by Dillon/Dylan/Dilhan, so I’m not sure where the story is there.

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a difficult one to break through. I persevered because I needed to know if early questions were answered. They were. Kind of.

By the middle part of the book I sort of was digging it. By the end of the book I was crying on the floor.

I liked the interplay between digital and real life identity.

[Sarah Faichney · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book given that the central theme is the plight of young carers but I just couldn't get on with it at all and gave up at 30%. I have since read rave reviews so perhaps it's an acquired taste but this one wasn't for me. 

[Robin :] · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the actual fuck was this book. It continually grazed the surface of being an actually interesting novel a handful of times, but it never fully materialised. Honestly, the only advice i can give is so read something else. Also who's this little white boy from shutterstock on the cover.

[Annabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Angsty YA that explores the many online/offline identities of a young male carer and how they begin to merge. It's rare to see books written about male carers - particularly young ones - and I felt it handled the situation honestly and frankly. Woven throughout is a narrative about how online anonymity, specially designed algorithms and social media perforates or lives and shapes our behaviour. Lines begin to blur between the protagonist's internal monologue, actual circumstances and online activity.

Overall it was a refreshing read and felt very 'different', although sometimes it felt a little forced and the underlying message became repetitive by the end. Some sections could have been consolidated, cut out or made more subtle to avoid the pace lagging towards the middle, but overall it's a good read.

[Kris · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Found the writing crude and juvenile, not for me.

[Heather Bennett · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise for Distortion sounded interesting, but I the book fell short for me. This was a struggle to finish.