bitterlyenthusiastic_books 's review for:

Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin

4.0

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Interesting Facts About Space is one of those books that manages to be deeply unsettling and deeply comforting at the same time, which is honestly kind of a magic trick. It’s a series of vignettes following Enid, a neurodivergent 20-something who’s afraid of bald men, obsessed with true crime podcasts, and deeply unsure whether someone is breaking into her apartment or if she’s just breaking down. You know, light stuff. Somehow, this anxiety-drenched spiral is also funny, warm, and occasionally so relatable it made me want to stare at a wall for a while.

The story unfolds in fragments—snapshots of Enid’s present and past that slowly sketch out the shape of her trauma, her family history, and the ways she’s trying (and sort of failing) to become a person. There’s queerness, complicated family dynamics, unresolved grief, and plenty of painfully human moments. Enid’s voice is raw and strange and oddly comforting. Honestly kinda like following a serial over-sharer on literally any social media platform.

This isn’t a book that’s driven by plot—it’s more about Enid’s inner world, her slow (and slightly chaotic) movement toward connection and self-acceptance. I didn’t expect much going in—BookTok hype usually turns me off of non-horror—but this one caught me off guard. It’s weird in all the best ways: equal parts gut-punch and group hug, with a narrator who made me laugh and ache in equal measure.