Echo Chamber
By Claire Hopple
Published by Trident Press, 2023
84 pages, paperback
Evoking the black humor of Kurt Vonnegut, Jonathan Lethem's way of subverting expectations, and a delightful strangeness endemic to a world of her own, Claire Hopple's work reveals the enchanting, the absurd, the violent, and the sensational. A woman wants to be caught stealing people's identities, but nobody is paying attention. A suburban father becomes convinced that he's transformed into a dinosaur-shaped chicken nugget. A hitman's target collapses before he can be killed. The novella and stories in Echo Chamber reverberate, wild and beautiful.
Praise for Echo Chamber...
"In Echo Chamber, Claire Hopple's precise, shimmering sentences are on full display as she explores the inner workings of these unforgettable characters. Once I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down-it's a refreshing, innovative collection." -Chelsea Hodson, author of Tonight I'm Someone Else
"Claire Hopple writes like she's planning a bank robbery on acid, only the bank is a hot air balloon, and there's no such thing as money. Part Amelia Gray, part Mary Robison, part love letter to the subconscious, Echo Chamber will steal your identity and leave you profoundly, delightfully awake." -Kevin Maloney, author of The Red-Headed Pilgrim
"Echo Chamber is sharp, wry, wicked fun. Claire Hopple has a light, humorous touch, but there's no question she means business." -Lindsay Lerman, author of I'm From Nowhere and What Are You?
"Echo Chamber is a little stinker. A fever dream, it leaves you disturbed, confused. Maybe even changed." -Tyler Dempsey, author of Time as a Sort of Enemy
"Claire Hopple is a wildly talented storyteller and chronicler of humanity's inherent folly. Echo Chamber, her most profound and idiosyncratic work to date, is so full of wit and humor and longing that it reinforces the importance of fiction with the turn of each page. If you haven't read Hopple's work yet, rectify that mistake immediately by starting here. If you have, you are once again in for a real treat. Echo Chamber is nothing short of an absolute joy that should be read again and again."-Nick Gregorio, author of Launch Me to the Stars, I'm Finished Here
