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A review by rtip
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
4.5
Not like any other book I've read. A collection of free-floating chunks which, like tweets, seem contextless and disconnected, but funny or insightful or poetic. In the first half, this format creates a sprawling sense of the unnamed protagonist. As a twitter user, I recognised a lot of references that would be meaningless to many readers, so understand that being a turn off.
In the second half, a plot begins to disrupt the chunks, and they coalesce into something more structured and narrative. The second half of the book, and especially the way it digresses from the first, and makes little references back to it, is poignant, sweet, and heart-breaking. The shift sounds abrupt, but it really worked beautifully.
Couldn't recommend this to everyone, but it's a short read and if you're anywhere on the spectrum of "terminally online" you'll get at least a few laughs out of it. Worth checking the main content warnings.
In the second half, a plot begins to disrupt the chunks, and they coalesce into something more structured and narrative. The second half of the book, and especially the way it digresses from the first, and makes little references back to it, is poignant, sweet, and heart-breaking. The shift sounds abrupt, but it really worked beautifully.
Couldn't recommend this to everyone, but it's a short read and if you're anywhere on the spectrum of "terminally online" you'll get at least a few laughs out of it. Worth checking the main content warnings.