A review by isaac_c
Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 
Radio Silence is very concerned with each character's sexuality, and I think this could've been handled with a bit more grace. Conversations on the topic often had an unnatural flow (in my opinion), like the reader was being spoken to more at times than the characters were. The narration had similar issues, but that's slightly more excusable. Also... 
“I think everyone’s a bit bored with boy-girl romances anyway,” he said. “I think the world’s had enough of those, to be honest.”

This line irks me so much.
Frances, the protagonist,
is bisexual. The fact that the book gives so much focus to queer struggles and misunderstood identities, but also kind of spits in the face of bisexual people interested in boy-girl relationships. Am I nitpicking? Maybe a little, but I'm on my soapbox and I'm tired of the rhetoric that bisexuality is only cool if you don't actually date people of the opposite gender. (And this is never mind that "boy-girl romances" could include transgender representation, as well.) Anyway—
 
The characters sometimes came across as younger than they were. A lot of Frances' mistakes and struggles felt a bit out of place for someone 17~18 years old, with a very supportive and involved mother at that, who had worked extremely hard to seem 'clever.' Maybe it's just me, I couldn't see myself in her shoes.
 
Then there's Universe City. I was looking forward to the podcast element of this novel, but I didn't really feel like it was explored very well. It doesn't really come across as super interesting or captivating, but it's treated as such by the characters. Not even getting into the title, lol.
As well, I felt like the entire leaking of identities online wasn't given enough weight. Frances really should have known better than to confirm her full name and location to Universe City's rapidly growing audience to begin with—that really confused me—and despite the fact that she did this, not much trouble came her way; on the other hand, Aled was sent death threats even though he was only assumed to be the creator.

 
It wasn't bad, but I didn't really resonate with it. The story is largely about academic struggles around starting college, and given that I am in my twenties and never went to public school nor college, I'm not really the target demographic. In general, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to an older audience.
 
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