Kids Run the Show by Delphine de Vigan

Kids Run the Show by Delphine de Vigan is published with Europa Editions UK and translated from the French by Alison Anderson. This is a book that is very much a social commentary, exploring our obsession with social media and the impact it can have on those who cross over into obsession territory.

‘Big Brother had been welcomed with open arms and a heart starving for likes, and everyone had agreed to become their own torturer. The borders of privacy had moved.’

Primarily set in Paris in 2019, Clara Roussel is investigating the disappearance, and assumed kidnapping, of Kimmy Diore, who is six years of age. A missing child will always get priority but, in Kimmy Diore’s case, the investigation goes up a notch, as Kimmy is no ordinary six year old. Kimmy Diore is a YouTube sensation, alongside her older brother Sammy and her mother Mélanie Claux Diore.

An extraordinarily successful family, the Diores live very comfortably from the proceedings earned living their lives in front of the camera. Kimmy and Sammy have been reared in a social media bubble, their world curated for them and every minute of their days accounted for. It’s an exhausting schedule but for Mélanie, the gratification from all the positive reactions their online profile receives, sustains her through. Mélanie is addicted to the validation of the community she has built around her and seems to be in complete denial about the potential impact it could be having on her children. Mélanie has an internal void that motherhood alone cannot fill so when she sets up her initial Facebook account, she recognises that this online world could be the need she requires, the possible solution to her internal emptiness.

Kimmy’s sudden disappearance brings the Diore’s lives to a complete stop as they are forced to face some home truths about their existence and the risks that their lifestyle poses. But is it too late for Kimmy? Do the Diore family retire from their lives as influencers? Can they survive beyond the bubble?

Clara Roussel is the antithesis of Mélanie Diore. Clara grew up with loving parents in a very healthy household. Clare never had a need to be loved. She just was. Clara now lives a life devoid of any unnecessary online connections. Her digital footprint is as minimal as she can manage in a world that is always on. Clara doesn’t need an online community telling her how amazing she is. Clara is a lone wolf, an exacting sort of person who lives an eccentric type of life but it works for her. She is excellent at her job within the police force and her skills are recognised across departments. When Clara witnesses the exposure to the world of the Diore children, she is appalled and angry. How can parents treat their children in this manner? How can there not be laws to protect them against such invasiveness?

Delphine de Vigan tackles the very weighty and ofttimes controversial world of the Influencer and the repercussions for those who are caught up in the social media bubble, attracted by the glitz and glamour, the free produce and the adulation that comes with the role.

‘Everyone had become the curator of their own exhibition, and that exhibition in turn had become an indispensable part of self-realisation’

Kids Run the Show is a very prescient novel with an interesting twist to its tail. Toward the later part of the book, the reader is taken on a journey to 2031. It is many years since Kimmy’s kidnapping and we catch up with the Diore family. The speculative nature of this piece is quite intriguing, as it’s not really that far into the future, yet it has an extra layer that adds to the overall reflection on completion of the book.

Kids Run the Show feels almost like a social experiment, a sociological study established in a controlled environment, hence ELLE’s reference to The Truman Show. Delphine de Vigan’s exploration of the addictive and obsessive nature of social media highlights the compulsive nature of the beast and the dangers lurking in the background and in the future. There will be an aftermath and I wonder how we will all look back on these years. Will we recognise the potential harm that has been inflicted on some people unwittingly? With A.I. being an inevitable part of the future generations, one has to ask is this what we want?

Kids Run the Show is an intelligent and extremely relevant novel highlighting the potential consequences of the world we are creating. Intriguing, circumspect and altogether scary, Kids Run the Show is a book I recommend to all.