Social Media gives people the opportunity to appear however they would like to. Since the people viewing someone’s page are just simply looking through a screen, they fail to understand who that person really is, allowing people on social media to be fake and set impossible standards. Reading this book was impactful and relatable for me because I am a teenager growing up in a society infatuated with Social Media such as TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.

Girl Gone Viral by Arvin Ahmadi is about seventeen-year-old Opal Hopper and her journey with social media, high school, and finding her father. Set in the future, Opal attends a prestigious, competitive high school. When the story takes place, social media is more present than ever before, and the most prominent current trend is virtual reality. Opal’s father was a tech engineer who strangely disappeared after Opal’s 10th birthday leaving only a note. After Howie Mendelsohn’s firm, Palo Alto Labs, releases a contest on their virtual reality platform with a prize of meeting her father’s old partner Howie Mendelsohn himself, Opal is eager to win the award and talk to Mendelsohn and get answers about her father’s disappearance.

As Opal struggles with figuring out what happened to her father, she must also deal with college applications, manage a social life, and not get too caught up in the media world. This is relatable because I am a 13-year-old female growing up in a society where everyone is always on social media, making references to it and revolving aspects of their life around it. For example, on TikTok, a popular social media platform among teenagers, it is easy to see someone prettier than you or funnier than you, allowing insecurities to stem from it. Girl Gone Viral is also relatable because as Opal is applying to colleges and going through that process, I am also applying to high schools. There are three options in New York City: attend a public school, attend a specialized school and score well enough on the SHSAT, or attend a private school. I am applying to all three, which can be stressful and make it hard to balance having friends and making sure I am spending enough studying and preparing. Thus, as a young person growing up in 2021, I am personally impacted by the school systems, friends, and social media, making this novel relatable.

Girl Gone Viral is action-packed and always keeps you on edge. As Opal constantly faces challenges and has to come up with ways to overcome them, it gives the book a sense of suspense.

The novel is also favorable because there are specific references to current-day shows and particular everyday struggles among younger audiences. For example, Jimmy Fallon, Instagram, Facebook, and Dear Evan Hansen are all mentioned numerous times throughout the book. Another example is that although Opal is a highly talented coder, she still must navigate through being a student who has to deal with drama, friends, lots of homework, and college applications. Because of these references, I felt more connected to the characters and their experiences.

Girl Gone Viral is an exciting book that shows how media affects how we perceive people and life. The characters show determination by putting in the effort to win the contest and persevering when they do not win it by continuing to make videos in hopes of still getting noticed by Howie Mendelsohn. This impacted me by showing me the importance of staying strong and persevering even while challenging situations are thrown at you. While this book talks about Opal’s skill in coding and the struggles of a high school seniors’ everyday life, this helped me understand that things aren’t always as they appear on social media. So, suppose you see a family that seems super happy or a social media influencer who seems like they have a perfect life or a hilarious, pretty person who seems like they could have no problems. In that case, they probably do because although social media may make it appear that they are living a perfect life, everyone has issues, and social media shouldn’t make you feel like your life is worth any less.

In conclusion, I would rate Girl Gone Viral four out of five stars. I give the novel this rating because the beginning of the book was very slow and hard for me to get through. Once it got going, the book was suspenseful and intriguing. The book was relatable and shed light upon the truths behind social media and how it impacts everyone around your life and yourself. The book gave me a new outlook on how people can make themselves up on social media and the importance of not getting too caught up in it.