cover image Search History

Search History

Amy Taylor. Dial, $27 (282p) ISBN 978-0-593-59557-2

Taylor’s astute debut follows one young woman trying (and failing) to pursue a relationship unburdened by online baggage. Following a significant breakup, 29-year-old Ana relocates from Perth, Australia, but her fresh start in Melbourne is not going well. Her UX design work leaves her unfulfilled (“my job basically amounts to figuring out how many pop-ups I can force on a person before they leave a webpage”), and she deletes all her dating apps after an unpleasant sexual encounter. Seeking romance IRL is much easier than she’d expected, however; Evan, whom she meets at a bar, is handsome, successful, and thoughtful. When Ana scrolls through her new beau’s social media feeds, however, she learns his last serious girlfriend, a nearly perfect yoga instructor named Emily, died in a hit-and-run accident. Ana develops an online obsession with Emily, which compounds her own insecurities and threatens to derail her relationship with Evan. Though the lively pacing gets bogged down with heavy-handed broadcasting of themes and morals in the closing pages, the portrayal of Ana’s compulsive online sleuthing and accompanying self-loathing is funny, keenly observed, and, at times, painfully relatable. Taylor’s willingness to hold up a mirror to cringe-worthy impulses make her a writer to keep tabs on. (Nov.)