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sarahs_bookish_life's review against another edition
4.0
Lost In Static is a story that is told from the point of view of Callum, Yasmine, Juliette and Ruby. We get inside the characters heads and hear their own version of events which I thought was really good as you see them for who they truly are.
The story starts off with quite a dramatic incident which grabbed me and drew me into the book right from the start, leaving me with a thirst of wanting to know more about the characters.
Callum is a typical bloke but with a secret to hide. Even though he is mad about Ruby, he is blindsided by Yasmine.
Yasmine I really disliked. She just reminded me of a spoilt little girl who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Very selfish and highly unlikable.
Juliette, even though a genuinely nice person, has so many insecurities that she lets her mother and the church influence her choices.
Ruby was the one I warmed to the most as she was the one I could see me most being friends with. Through Ruby, I think the reader sees how much of an adjustment to uni life can be. She is very much the cool girl to be around and always has plenty of male attention. My only niggle that I have with Ruby’s character is how she calls everyone, herself included in her head, mate. I’m not sure if this was to get across her character being a bit of a tom boy but I did find it quite distracting as it was quite repetitive, other than that she is a compelling character.
Even though I never fully took to any of the characters, I have to say that having finished the book, I’m actually quite missing them. I think seeing them from the start of uni life to the end of the first year, it allows you to see them all growing as individuals and by the end nearly all of them had grown on me.
Lost In Static is the authors debut novel which I honestly find hard to believe. To be able to write a story from so many different point of views can’t be the easiest of ways to tell one, yet even though the story flicks back and forth between all the four characters, it flows effortlessly. The characters really grab the readers attention and it is hard not to get so wrapped up in what is going on in their lives. I actually felt like I was at uni with them and experiencing all they were going through.
A suspenseful and gripping debut by an author who is without a doubt one to watch out for.
My thanks to Netgalley and Urbane Publications for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The story starts off with quite a dramatic incident which grabbed me and drew me into the book right from the start, leaving me with a thirst of wanting to know more about the characters.
Callum is a typical bloke but with a secret to hide. Even though he is mad about Ruby, he is blindsided by Yasmine.
Yasmine I really disliked. She just reminded me of a spoilt little girl who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Very selfish and highly unlikable.
Juliette, even though a genuinely nice person, has so many insecurities that she lets her mother and the church influence her choices.
Ruby was the one I warmed to the most as she was the one I could see me most being friends with. Through Ruby, I think the reader sees how much of an adjustment to uni life can be. She is very much the cool girl to be around and always has plenty of male attention. My only niggle that I have with Ruby’s character is how she calls everyone, herself included in her head, mate. I’m not sure if this was to get across her character being a bit of a tom boy but I did find it quite distracting as it was quite repetitive, other than that she is a compelling character.
Even though I never fully took to any of the characters, I have to say that having finished the book, I’m actually quite missing them. I think seeing them from the start of uni life to the end of the first year, it allows you to see them all growing as individuals and by the end nearly all of them had grown on me.
Lost In Static is the authors debut novel which I honestly find hard to believe. To be able to write a story from so many different point of views can’t be the easiest of ways to tell one, yet even though the story flicks back and forth between all the four characters, it flows effortlessly. The characters really grab the readers attention and it is hard not to get so wrapped up in what is going on in their lives. I actually felt like I was at uni with them and experiencing all they were going through.
A suspenseful and gripping debut by an author who is without a doubt one to watch out for.
My thanks to Netgalley and Urbane Publications for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
amothersmusings1's review against another edition
4.0
Once you start reading "Lost in Static" you are immediately captivated by this gripping and suspenseful novel.
I can't believe yet again I am reading a book from a debut author. The quality of Christina Philippou's writing is outstanding and I thoroughly enjoyed the unique approach of telling the story through the characters minds. Told from all four of the protagonists points of view - fresher students Ruby, Yasmine, Juliette and Callum - each chapter flows on from the previous one effortlessly, reading one characters take on the situation but then seeing it in a completely different way through someone else. Callum has a family secret, Yasmine wants to know it, Juliette thinks no one knows hers and Ruby just wants to reinvent herself. There follows a year of drama, tension, betrayal, lust and violence......
Unfortunately I myself never went to university so missed out on so much coming of age activities but had I gone I would have imagined life to be exactly as the book - so was the detail of freshers week and life in the halls etc. Saying that I'm quite glad I don't have kids going off to university at the moment or I would have been constantly worrying.
Although I can't say I took to any of the characters personally they were all very appropriate to the story and were each portrayed aptly.
This is a fabulous general fiction type thriller published by the brilliant Urbane Publications that will probably appeal more to the younger generation but can still be enjoyed by all and I look forward to reading hopefully more by Christina in the future.
I can't believe yet again I am reading a book from a debut author. The quality of Christina Philippou's writing is outstanding and I thoroughly enjoyed the unique approach of telling the story through the characters minds. Told from all four of the protagonists points of view - fresher students Ruby, Yasmine, Juliette and Callum - each chapter flows on from the previous one effortlessly, reading one characters take on the situation but then seeing it in a completely different way through someone else. Callum has a family secret, Yasmine wants to know it, Juliette thinks no one knows hers and Ruby just wants to reinvent herself. There follows a year of drama, tension, betrayal, lust and violence......
Unfortunately I myself never went to university so missed out on so much coming of age activities but had I gone I would have imagined life to be exactly as the book - so was the detail of freshers week and life in the halls etc. Saying that I'm quite glad I don't have kids going off to university at the moment or I would have been constantly worrying.
Although I can't say I took to any of the characters personally they were all very appropriate to the story and were each portrayed aptly.
This is a fabulous general fiction type thriller published by the brilliant Urbane Publications that will probably appeal more to the younger generation but can still be enjoyed by all and I look forward to reading hopefully more by Christina in the future.
cate_ninetails's review against another edition
1.0
I found this book difficult to finish almost from the very beginning, but it's hard for me to completely give up once I've started something. I feel the need to see it through to bitter end, so it took me some days to manage this. The characters don't feel very well realised, their voices are strangled and unnatural especially in the case of Ruby, whose parroting of 'mate' to bookend a phrase sometimes a comical amount of times per page became quickly grating. It made her inner dialogue in particular torturous to read, and makes the author seem out of touch with natural speech. Errors like this plague the book from start to finish.
Our protagonists are completing their first term at university, which understandably can give them some unlikeable traits but honestly at no time did I find myself rooting for anyone at all. Writing a back and forth between the characters, some unseen or never introduced at all, was a strange choice that I don't feel landed well for me as a reader. It's possible more straightforward storytelling would have fared better as the 'letters and emails' motif is at times confusing but for the most part unnecessary. The plot was meandering in a way that I suspect is meant to draw the reader in for a mysterious romp, but personally I was unable to drum up any interest in the people or the setting of this book. Even the storyline reveals at the merciful end are not rewarding, I didn't feel that they made much sense at all. I think a conscious effort at editing would have done this book a world of good, as it is I just didn't find it enjoyable.
Our protagonists are completing their first term at university, which understandably can give them some unlikeable traits but honestly at no time did I find myself rooting for anyone at all. Writing a back and forth between the characters, some unseen or never introduced at all, was a strange choice that I don't feel landed well for me as a reader. It's possible more straightforward storytelling would have fared better as the 'letters and emails' motif is at times confusing but for the most part unnecessary. The plot was meandering in a way that I suspect is meant to draw the reader in for a mysterious romp, but personally I was unable to drum up any interest in the people or the setting of this book. Even the storyline reveals at the merciful end are not rewarding, I didn't feel that they made much sense at all. I think a conscious effort at editing would have done this book a world of good, as it is I just didn't find it enjoyable.
jackielaw's review
5.0
Lost in Static, by Christina Philippou, tells the story of a group of university freshers during their first year living away from the constrictions of the family home. As a parent of two students it made for disturbing reading, but it is a brilliantly constructed story that held my attention throughout.
There are four pivotal characters and the academic year is chronicled from each of their points of view. They arrive at halls on the first weekend of Fresher’s Week determined to engineer a new start, to put the preconceptions and expectations of those who have known them since childhood behind them. At university they can be themselves as they are now, freed from the judgements of those who regard them as their parents’ children rather than independent individuals.
Callum is handsome, public school educated, and eager to hide the fact that he has famous parents. Yasmine is blandly beautiful, interested in designer clothes, and appalled by the run down state of her new abode. Juliette has escaped the confines of her deeply religious upbringing but retains the guilt drummed into her since childhood. Ruby is eager to embrace her freedom, a sports fanatic who wishes to be regarded as more than just one of the lads.
The book opens with an incident that happens later in the year. Thus the reader knows that the nervous but excited first day students are going to encounter potentially deadly group tensions. They will develop as individuals but reinventing themselves is not as easy as some may hope.
In many ways this story plays on the stereotypical impression often portrayed of students. There is much socialising, heavy drinking and other mild drug taking. There are sexual encounters both desired and regretted. There is jealousy, the sharing of secrets, perceived betrayal. Each incident is related from the differing perspectives of each of the four hall mates.
The tension of these scenarios is maintained by taking the reader inside the heads of young adults burdened by their upbringing and battling conditioned insecurities. Unused to social freedom they turn to their newly found friends for support when problems occur, largely unaware that these friends are also struggling to cope. Narcissism and self entitlement lead some to attempt dangerous revenge on those they blame for thwarting the acquisition of what is coveted. There are few brakes applied on their behaviours.
Within the hothouse bubble of university life it is difficult to step back from the pack. Rumours must be lived with, adversaries faced. Issues are exacerbated when parents become involved.
This is a multi-layered story exploring nature, nurture and group dynamics within a social setting that has the potential to protect from class and culture yet which cannot prevent them insidiously leaking in. The assured writing keeps the reader’s attention focused as unsettling events unfold. Can anyone ever know what another is thinking within the privacy of their own head? How actions are making them feel and the reactions that will result? I found this an engaging and fascinating read.
My copy of this book was provided gratis by the publisher, Urbane.
There are four pivotal characters and the academic year is chronicled from each of their points of view. They arrive at halls on the first weekend of Fresher’s Week determined to engineer a new start, to put the preconceptions and expectations of those who have known them since childhood behind them. At university they can be themselves as they are now, freed from the judgements of those who regard them as their parents’ children rather than independent individuals.
Callum is handsome, public school educated, and eager to hide the fact that he has famous parents. Yasmine is blandly beautiful, interested in designer clothes, and appalled by the run down state of her new abode. Juliette has escaped the confines of her deeply religious upbringing but retains the guilt drummed into her since childhood. Ruby is eager to embrace her freedom, a sports fanatic who wishes to be regarded as more than just one of the lads.
The book opens with an incident that happens later in the year. Thus the reader knows that the nervous but excited first day students are going to encounter potentially deadly group tensions. They will develop as individuals but reinventing themselves is not as easy as some may hope.
In many ways this story plays on the stereotypical impression often portrayed of students. There is much socialising, heavy drinking and other mild drug taking. There are sexual encounters both desired and regretted. There is jealousy, the sharing of secrets, perceived betrayal. Each incident is related from the differing perspectives of each of the four hall mates.
The tension of these scenarios is maintained by taking the reader inside the heads of young adults burdened by their upbringing and battling conditioned insecurities. Unused to social freedom they turn to their newly found friends for support when problems occur, largely unaware that these friends are also struggling to cope. Narcissism and self entitlement lead some to attempt dangerous revenge on those they blame for thwarting the acquisition of what is coveted. There are few brakes applied on their behaviours.
Within the hothouse bubble of university life it is difficult to step back from the pack. Rumours must be lived with, adversaries faced. Issues are exacerbated when parents become involved.
This is a multi-layered story exploring nature, nurture and group dynamics within a social setting that has the potential to protect from class and culture yet which cannot prevent them insidiously leaking in. The assured writing keeps the reader’s attention focused as unsettling events unfold. Can anyone ever know what another is thinking within the privacy of their own head? How actions are making them feel and the reactions that will result? I found this an engaging and fascinating read.
My copy of this book was provided gratis by the publisher, Urbane.
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