{"id":7147,"date":"2026-08-28T10:10:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T10:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=7147"},"modified":"2026-08-28T10:10:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T10:10:42","slug":"shanghai-lottery-by-shawn-t-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=7147","title":{"rendered":"Shanghai Lottery by Shawn T. Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"

A thought-provoking look at the confrontations of the online world breaking into reality<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If conflict is the lifeblood of fiction, it could be said the exploitation of conflict is the lifeblood of social media. Shanghai Casino owner Shane Thomas takes this further by arranging and hosting the annual Shanghai Lottery<\/em>: a boxing card to settle scores between social media giants. An exploitation to engulf their exploitations, as narrator Ben eventually discovers.<\/p>\n

Prior to that, he\u2019s living at home in Boulder, Colorado with his alcoholic mother and her carousel of deadbeat boyfriends. Ben earns his keep at a grocer\u2019s meat department, but for his financial future he\u2019s counting on online alter ego, Eddie Luzhin. Eddie has cultivated a large and lucrative following on Disco Social. His \u201cmob\u201d<\/em><\/strong> eats up his witticisms and pounces on conflicts Eddie instigates (\u201cengagement projects\u201d<\/em><\/strong>), inspired by a mantra of \u201cOn Disco, fortune favors the blowhard.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Never shall these twain identities meet in public, if Ben can help it.<\/p>\n

Of course, he can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Someone as active as Eddie is bound to slip up with what he posts. Especially when much of his posting occurs at work among co-workers with whom he has bristly relationships. Even the friendly ones force him to engage clandestinely due to their disdain for social media. Like his superior Nick, in admiring the method used to handle wet chickens, a subtle jab at the disparity of values between online attention seekers and real life producers:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is how civilization advances, (Ben). Millions of men. Thousands of generations. They leave a little something behind to make life easier for the rest of us. This box \u2026 these little tabs \u2026 the work of a man who wanted to eliminate a small botheration in the world. He made our day a little easier, and we\u2019ll never know his name.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Inevitably Ben\u2019s public and private worlds collide when he agitates a tough guy with a much wider audience beyond Disco Social. This Liam Campbell even stages his own unorthodox boxing matches, all of which he wins. As the Eddie-Liam feud escalates, it earns an invitation from Shane Thomas for his eponymous contest.<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s reluctance to fight is understandable: he can\u2019t box; he\u2019s not strong. But when his mother and prospective girlfriend face online embarrassment, he has no choice but to fight. This involves relocating to Detroit for three months of training at Angel King\u2019s Boxing Academy. It\u2019s also a time of reflection for Ben. There it dawns on him he\u2019s now on the side of the exploited. This reveals the impact of his own activities to open a potential path of redemption, if he opts to take it.<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s story simply but meaningfully conveys the pitfalls of social media, without coming off as a sociological diatribe. Through Ben and his circle, the benefits and consequences of engaging (or disengaging from) the online world are not generalized but depicted through regular people. Their guileless ordinariness contrasts the bravado and dubious sincerity of online personas like Eddie Luzhin and Liam Campbell, or even Shane Thomas.<\/p>\n

This is best exhibited during Ben\u2019s time in Detroit. A fish out of water, he must socialize with actual humans who at best remain ignorant of Eddie, and others who resent him, such as Sebastian, one of the gym\u2019s leaders:<\/p>\n

\u201c. . . he walked toward me in slow, decisive steps. It was as if bitterness had sprouted legs and learned to walk, and everyone in the room wanted to hear what it had to say. Men in the rings stopped to watch what was shaping up to be a confrontation.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s struggles to adapt and fit in are touchingly portrayed and adequately fill what plot-wise is a slower transitional stretch.<\/p>\n

The story pulls its punches at times as far as dramatizing the degree of nastiness from keyboard warriors. That\u2019s justifiable as such \u201cnoise\u201d might detract from the central human story. Where there could be more intensity is with those close to Ben, in particular his love interest, Kat. She seems too forgiving considering the manner in which his need to fight for her honor came about, never mind how long he kept his online life from her.<\/p>\n

The boxing scenes themselves stand out, whether in sparring at the boxing academy or in the actual bout with Liam Campbell. They\u2019re grittily engaging and realistic. As are the characters at the academy, in particular his trainer, Gabriel. Those three months are at the heart of Ben\u2019s growth. They bring out and put into perspective the humanity Ben has previously obscured through Eddie in Boulder.<\/p>\n

Shanghai Lottery<\/em> comprehensively yet warmly illustrates how social media can get out of hand. The story\u2019s humility, as reflected in its protagonist, makes for a subtly effective and resonating commentary on the online world.<\/p>\n

The post Shanghai Lottery by Shawn T. Smith<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A thought-provoking look at the confrontations of the online world breaking into reality If conflict is the lifeblood of fiction, it could be said the exploitation of conflict is the lifeblood of social media. Shanghai Casino owner Shane Thomas takes this further by arranging and hosting the annual Shanghai Lottery: a boxing card to settle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7147"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7147\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}