Reviews with content warning for Outing - Radio Silence

Reviews tagging 'Outing'

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

22 reviews

idathenoodle's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

zwilling_'s review against another edition

2.0

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Disclaimer: I'm judging a fictional romance / friendship book. All opinions are my own. I intend not harm or anything else with this review!

I'll give this book 2/5 Stars.

The plot is described with a plot at page 220: "I'm weak and weird and lonely and an idiot."

The plot summarized: (SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO AND YOU DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME LIKE I DID):
Frances is learning and then doing her year 12 finals. She's head girl (but we never see her do anything for/with it). She has no real friends and likes Universe City, a podcast on YT. She then meets Aled, and they become friends, and she makes animations for the podcast. They (Daniel, Aled, Frances) get drunk on Aleds 18th birthday and post a drunken episode. A few weeks later, someone finds out that Frances is the anonymous artist for the podcast. She's not head girl anymore. Everybody finds out that Aled is the creator of universe city and they fight. They fight some more and don't speak to each other again. She's doing her Cambridge interview. She's back and talked to Aled after 3-4-5? Months of silence. His doing worse but isn't responding to anyone. After 4 more months (or so), his 4 friends drive to him and talk. The end.

Things I liked:

- I like Frances in the first third of the book. She reminded me a lot about myself when I was her age (I'm in my twenties now). I still think I'm boring, weird, and don't like partying either. So that's that.
- I like Aled as well in the beginning.
- I liked Frances mother a lot. She seemed like a good mom. But in the middle of the book - especially when she is not head girl anymore - the mother is missing from the plot
- The plot so far (until page 103) is good, too. It's not super exciting or spectacular, but ok. We get little hints about something that happened but not the full story yet.
- Carol - Aleds mother - I absolutely hated her. What she did to his hair... boundaries and human decency aren't known to her. And that's just so maddening and sad for him.
- At first, I was confused about the Universe City Episodes trough out the book. I didn't necessarily like nor hated them. They did seem a bit strange to me. But about halfway through the book, I started to realize that they are probably about his situation at home with his mom? Like the monsters chasing him and not leaving him alone. "I can take a little beating..." That this story is actually about their messed up relationship...

Things I didn't like;

- The plot after the first third of the book. It was boring, annoying, WAY TO LONG FOR NOTHING TO HAPPEN, and overall not well written. Would the characters have been like 12-13? Maybe i could excuse their actions. But not with 17-18+ year olds.
- There should definitely be a trigger warning for alcohol consumption or light alcohol drinking. Because Frances and / or Aled are like 3 times really really drunk. To the point of not remembering doing something, etc. AND BEING UNDERAGE AS WELL. How is this considered normal or not? It's definitely completely wrong!?!?! If the target of the book are teenagers, it should 100% be said in the beginning, that that is, behavior is wrong!
HE IS FREACKING SUICIDAL AND THERE IS NO TIGGER WARNING EITHER. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!?!??!?! They skim over the fact that he was so unwell and even at the end (the "happy end") they didn't talkt about what happen, how he got help, where he lives now, etc.
- It was mentioned from Frances like 4 times in the first quarter of the Book that she has a weird internet history... but never what exactly she searches for?
- AND THE CONSTANTLY USE OF "HAHA XXX" DOESN'T STOP I'M GOING TO LOSE MY MIND. It's making me so angry. No one is talking and using HaHa so often. Stop it.
- The writing style isn't my favorite so far (page 230). It could be the fact that it is targeted to a younger audience group, and I'm not used to it. But it gives me a weird feeling while reading, like there is somehow something missing in every sentence...
- And can somebody please explain to me why EVERYBODY uses the word rucksack and not backpack anymore? I'm so confused and annoyed at the word (for literary no reason other than it bothers me).
- Lorraine is annoying to me. At first she was ok but she thinks very immature. She is probably like 16/17, but can't she understand that not everybody's goal is to get famous? Some don't want to? And she's not even considering it.
- I don't know where Frances got her delusional idea from that Aled forgave her!?!? He didn't say so, nor did he indicate in that regard!?!?
- The last half of the book is so shitty (sorry, not sorry). You're telling me that 4 teenagers/young adults drive 6 hours to a friend that they are afraid of, maybe killing himself... and Frances mother - THE ACTUAL ADULT - Isn't coming with them?!?!?

Content Warnings

stardustandrockets's review against another edition

5.0

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

I absolutely adore Aled! He needs to be protected at all costs. It's very clear his mom is mentally ill and abusive. This book gives a lot of context to Aled's character if you've only read Heartatopper.

Content Warnings

fanboyriot's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

🎙️ Podcast

💻 Fandom Dorks

🤝 Wholesome Friendship

Radio Silence was such an amazing read. I seriously love this book so much. The way Alice Oseman can write platonic love gets me every time, the friendship between Frances and Aled was so wholesome and meaningful.

The plot to this was a bit darker than I was expecting but it was addicting to read. I will say though the timeline near Alex’s birthday got a bit confusing to me.

The characters all had their own problems and no matter how “perfect” people thought they were it wasn’t as it seemed. The loneliness, the stress of trying to figure out their future despite top grades Frances and Aled weren’t as perfect as they appeared. This book was funny, depressing, wholesome, and, lonely somehow all at the same time. And it was absolutely lovely.

I’d also like to say how iconic Frances’ mom was, absolutely loved her and her unicorn onesie.

Release Date: 23, April 2019

POV: First Person

Rep: Bisexual (MC), Demisexual (SC), Gay (SC), Depression, Burn Out, Anxiety, University Stress, LGBTQIA+ characters, BIOPIC characters

Content Warnings

bookishmillennial's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

This is a reflective coming-of-age young adult/teen fiction story told by Frances and explores themes of sexuality, friendship, identity, virtual spaces, choices, and meaning.

Frances has always been laser-focused on getting into Cambridge, but her best friend Carys ran away (and she knows why), and then she begins working on the anonymous podcast project Universe City, with Aled, Carys’ brother. Aled’s online persona is Radio Silence, and Radio mentions many cryptic messages to February Friday on the podcast. Once the podcast gains traction and one of their identities is revealed, their trust for this new friendship is broken and they must reckon with their uncertain futures alone.

I really appreciated the conversations that Frances had not only with Aled, but with Daniel (Aled’s best friend) & Rain. They discuss miscommunication, relationships, online infamy, curiosity & high school. It felt authentic to how messy high school felt for me, & I’m sure it will ring true for so many others. AO writes incredibly tender stories about young people with great care, & as a chronically online human, I thoroughly enjoyed the commentary on respecting online creators’ privacy & parasocial relationships.

Aled’s mom is a POS & it shows in everything she did to make him miserable & make him pay for any “rebellious” behavior. One example… What she did to his dog was …. a wild, manipulative, abhorrent choice.

content warnings below ❤️‍🩹

Content Warnings

lizziaha's review against another edition

4.25

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

I never really got Aled in the heartstopper comics but after reading this I have a real soft spot for him. He’s so riddled with mental illness that he’s become incredibly relatable to me. The standout for me in this book was the relationships! Each one felt realistic and complex, with layers that peeled back as the book went on. I think that Alice Oseman just writes teenagers very realistically, and though I no longer relate to that, I can still appreciate that. The themes were a little heavy-handed in my opinion, but important nonetheless.

Content Warnings

robintchappell's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Content Warnings

icarusandthesun's review against another edition

4.0

challenging hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

this was one of those books that make you want to get your life together on a random monday afternoon. that make you feel like actually, you can achieve everything you've ever wanted to achieve - at least for a few hours.

this book was exactly what i needed right now.

i read this in two days time. i couldn't put it down, really; i was fueled by the fun story, the short chapters and the general boredom i experience in my day-to-day life.

as someone who's roughly frances' age, thrives off academic validation and is addicted to it like bad drugs, i found the whole academia aspect covered very relatable and ergo also comforting in a way.
truly a nice read.

but i also want to get a little bit into the things i didn't enjoy, because unfortunately the similarities between the characters and me end there.
this book was undoubtedly and so very obviously young adult that some parts of it i just couldn't stand. frances' quirkiness, her constant complains about how 'no one really knows her', the melodramatic way all the characters react to anything happening in their lives, and their childish and uncommunicative behavior - it was a lot.
what i generally dislike about young adult books is that the authors tend to spell everything out for the supposedly young target audience, as was the case here.
most things were super on the nose, sort of cliché and there was a lot of telling instead of showing. whole sentences were sometimes repeated word by word a weird amount of times.
i also had a couple of issues with the story. started strong and stayed strong for a good 3/5 of the book, but ended up getting sillier and sillier as it neared its conclusion.
the climax was disappointing, actually goofy, fairly unrealistic, the characters' motivations utterly incomprehensible. most of the 'plot twists' and revelations were a little predictable as well.

now all of this sounds like i didn't enjoy the book, but i did. i really, really did. i liked the commentary on academia, which i think is still not talked about enough; i liked the dialogue and chemistry between the characters, especially between aled and daniel. at the beginning i didn't like daniel a lot obviously, but he grew to be my favorite character as the story progressed and my hate for aled, his personality and unpredictable character arc developed.
still, their dynamic was one of the things i enjoyed the most. i liked how intertwined their lives seemed to be and the way they communicated.

to sum it up: this one's easy to read, a little silly and frustrating sometimes, but still quick, enjoyable and occasionally really relatable. i know i just gave a hell lot of critique, but believe me, i'm giving this book four stars for a reason. it's got a certain charm to it that i can't quite put my finger on, nor name.
you'll simply have to take my word for it - or don't.

I can take a little beating now and then. I'm a tough one. [...] Even when my bone dust drifts over the City walls, I'll be living and I'll be flying, and I will wave and laugh. (p. 203)

Content Warnings

llamainatophat's review against another edition

4.5

emotional funny fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This was my first novel by Alice Oseman (although I've read heartstopper online), and I really liked it!

Something I wasn't really aware of going into the book was that a main part of the plot revolves around things happening online, and a youtube channel called universe city, and if I'm honest, it was my least favourite part. I loved the characters, but I found all the internet drama a bit too overdramatic and although the plot was good, I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was less over-the-top. I also found it a little too fast paced? I think some of the emotional scenes could have done with a little more time, things could feel a little rushed at times, or there was a time-jump which I felt skipped over too much.
The characters were definitely my favourite part, I thought they were all really good.
Some thoughts on the ending:

I think I would have prefered the ending to have been a more low-key scene with just the friends hanging out and recovering and healing and starting to thrive and re-adjust to the new lives they're building for themselves, rather than another dramatic scene with Aled's internet fame being the happy ending, although I did like the way it was done. I was also sort of hoping Aled was going to come out as non-binary at the end, becuase he often mentions how much he relates to radio and feels like he is radio, and radio is agender. Also with the whole hair thing. Again, I'm okay with how it ended, I just would have liked that :)

Content Warnings

captainoliimar's review against another edition

4.25

emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I really enjoyed this book. I felt like I could relate to a lot of the characters, especially Frances and Aled. It took me back to being being in year 11 and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life and figure out who I was going to be in university. The story felt fairly realistic while also having a mystery woven through it that kept me engaged and wanting to find out what happens next.
I really think I would have enjoyed this book while I was doing my A-Levels, though it does cover quite a few potentially triggering topics.

Content Warnings

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