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A review by logarithms
Radio Silence by Alice Oseman
3.0
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*As usual i might return to edit this
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hmmm. It was a decent read, but I didn't like it all that much for two reasons (mainly): not the right time in my life, and I didn't like the writing style.
Right now, I'm already in university. I'm having a good time (mostly?), and my friends have also gone through the uni decision struggle already (mostly). We're done and dusted (for now). So I guess I wasn't all that interested in the subject matter...
Writing style was so BORING. The chapters were ridiculously short. It felt like reading someones vent tumblr? Usually I LOVE casual writing but like. This was too easy. People are saying it reflects how teens speak/think and maybe it does but....it's a book not a teens diary...I feel like it should have a bit more complexity and nuance to the writing?
Also the metaphors and stuff felt so weak and flat...like YES the green plimsolls represent Aleds individuality and desire to express it and follow his own desires, but it was so overdone, I was so bored of it...and YES UniverseCity is a cry for help...get him out of university...but it was so obvious it just felt repetitive. And Carys being February Friday seemed extremely clear from the start...when Frances was like 'oh its daniel' I was no COME ON u dumb shit...clever girl brains where...
The descriptions of the clothes/shoes/hair all the time...saying 'clothes/hair a window to the soul' but not revealing anything about the characters personality? Where's the soul?? Also a lot of the references reminded me of old tumblr posts that would read like 'wearing my Rolling Stones tee, docs and lying on the bed listening to The Eagles...I was born in the wrong era :/'. Also how uniformly are teens in England dressing that a jacket that says 'Tomboy' on it and patterned leggings are SO WEIRD and OUT OF PLACE that ppl feel uncomfortable wearing them out? I found that aspect kinda hard to believe.
Actually a lot of the drama of the story was kinda hard to believe. It was just...too big. ESPECIALLY the 'discovering their identities' drama. Ok so they hit 100k subs. You'd be lucky to find people in your city who know about your channel, let alone your school? 100k subs is not all that widespread in the big scheme of the internet...so Aled getting mobbed by ppl at school just seemed way too unrealistic.
Author was almost onto something with Raine, when Frances realised that she's not actually shallow and has a personality too. I wish that part was more fleshed out...the whole 'we're looking for deep personal connections but only see ourselves as complex and don't bother trying to truly understand others'
I'm being way too mean to this book. I did like the character interactions, and the friendships/relationships. It's still a nice read.
Notes/things I tabbed:
- "I wonder, if nobody is listening to my voice, am I making any sound at all?" p1 (classic if a tree falls in a forest)(i kinda like how this comes back when Aled says 'if people stopped talking to me, i probably wouldn't ever speak again')
- jumpcut writing! There's like, 4 pages preparing for Frances' speech, and then in cuts to the next chapter which dedicates 1 line to saying 'i said my speech'. Why the build up then?
- Aled is one of those ppl who asks for free art cause you'll get 'exposure'...tsk tsk..
- "Aled and Daniel had been inseparable their whole lives, despite the fact that Daniel was an uppity, opinionated dickhead and Aled spoke maybe fifty words per day" (this is a hilarious character dynamic...also Aled, same.)
- "It sounds a bit like they're trying to steal your art if they're not even gonna pay you" Frances' mum knows what's up!!!
- "whenever I wasn't doing schoolwork I felt like I was wasting my time" OK MOOD
- "And my drawings were all pointless anyway. It wasn't like I could sell them.""It wasn't like they'd get me into Cambridge" YEA MOOD AGAIN. Parents/school/culture really...instill that into your head. Your interests/hobbies aren't worth doing unless they can get you money or a job...
- "I'm off to drink the alcohols, do lots of the drugs and have lots of the sex" I've probably said this word for word to my mum in the past. Good line. :P
- "I wished I had the guts to say something funny, but I didn't because I wasn't a funny person when I was around them. I was just boring." AHHH. MOOD. F*CK. The entire 'School Frances' aspect of this book was a hard punch in the gut for me, cause that's exactly how I feel about myself. But then I get stuck on 'what if the boring me is all there is' :/ (I think that comes up later in the book too and at that point i honestly wanted to puke)
- "LOGARITHMS" haha. oh its not about me? not a direct address? ok. (this chapter was sweet tho I enjoyed the development)
- "He'd sit through me screaming along to Moulin Rouge" ROOXXAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA[violins]AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANE [violins snapping] [choir screaming] rrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOXAAAAAAAANNNNNEE
- "the fact of the matter was that I didn't really know how to behave around friends at all" thought this line was p interesting cause it gets into how friendship is really different with diff people, since everyone has varying needs/wants from a relationship, so its hard to access 'how to behave around friends'
- "HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOPE YOU'RE FEELING PARTY AF""LOVE U LOADS U BEAUTIFUL MAN" this isn't cringe this is what ill be sending all my friends this year. thank u for the inspiration. usually i just send 'happy day old man' followed by emojis but this is much more powerful
- Alfoyan and Frances office conversation. WHy would she be so against all those things when she grew up in a poor, rural Nigerian village and had to fight her way up to her postition. "grow our own vegetables? End capitalism?" UH YEA? your village was in poverty because of capitalist exploitation? Dr Alfoyan was extremely difficult to believe as a character, it felt more like a random add in to create more drama in the story...
- "She texted back a thumbs up, several salsa-dancing girls and a four leaf clover." What a mum move. I love her.
- I didn't tab anything past there cause it was all. SO much drama. But I did like the ending. It kinda followed into a found family, live with your friends situation and I LOVE THAT SHIT
*As usual i might return to edit this
************
hmmm. It was a decent read, but I didn't like it all that much for two reasons (mainly): not the right time in my life, and I didn't like the writing style.
Right now, I'm already in university. I'm having a good time (mostly?), and my friends have also gone through the uni decision struggle already (mostly). We're done and dusted (for now). So I guess I wasn't all that interested in the subject matter...
Writing style was so BORING. The chapters were ridiculously short. It felt like reading someones vent tumblr? Usually I LOVE casual writing but like. This was too easy. People are saying it reflects how teens speak/think and maybe it does but....it's a book not a teens diary...I feel like it should have a bit more complexity and nuance to the writing?
Also the metaphors and stuff felt so weak and flat...like YES the green plimsolls represent Aleds individuality and desire to express it and follow his own desires, but it was so overdone, I was so bored of it...and YES UniverseCity is a cry for help...get him out of university...but it was so obvious it just felt repetitive. And Carys being February Friday seemed extremely clear from the start...when Frances was like 'oh its daniel' I was no COME ON u dumb shit...clever girl brains where...
The descriptions of the clothes/shoes/hair all the time...saying 'clothes/hair a window to the soul' but not revealing anything about the characters personality? Where's the soul?? Also a lot of the references reminded me of old tumblr posts that would read like 'wearing my Rolling Stones tee, docs and lying on the bed listening to The Eagles...I was born in the wrong era :/'. Also how uniformly are teens in England dressing that a jacket that says 'Tomboy' on it and patterned leggings are SO WEIRD and OUT OF PLACE that ppl feel uncomfortable wearing them out? I found that aspect kinda hard to believe.
Actually a lot of the drama of the story was kinda hard to believe. It was just...too big. ESPECIALLY the 'discovering their identities' drama. Ok so they hit 100k subs. You'd be lucky to find people in your city who know about your channel, let alone your school? 100k subs is not all that widespread in the big scheme of the internet...so Aled getting mobbed by ppl at school just seemed way too unrealistic.
Author was almost onto something with Raine, when Frances realised that she's not actually shallow and has a personality too. I wish that part was more fleshed out...the whole 'we're looking for deep personal connections but only see ourselves as complex and don't bother trying to truly understand others'
I'm being way too mean to this book. I did like the character interactions, and the friendships/relationships. It's still a nice read.
Notes/things I tabbed:
- "I wonder, if nobody is listening to my voice, am I making any sound at all?" p1 (classic if a tree falls in a forest)(i kinda like how this comes back when Aled says 'if people stopped talking to me, i probably wouldn't ever speak again')
- jumpcut writing! There's like, 4 pages preparing for Frances' speech, and then in cuts to the next chapter which dedicates 1 line to saying 'i said my speech'. Why the build up then?
- Aled is one of those ppl who asks for free art cause you'll get 'exposure'...tsk tsk..
- "Aled and Daniel had been inseparable their whole lives, despite the fact that Daniel was an uppity, opinionated dickhead and Aled spoke maybe fifty words per day" (this is a hilarious character dynamic...also Aled, same.)
- "It sounds a bit like they're trying to steal your art if they're not even gonna pay you" Frances' mum knows what's up!!!
- "whenever I wasn't doing schoolwork I felt like I was wasting my time" OK MOOD
- "And my drawings were all pointless anyway. It wasn't like I could sell them.""It wasn't like they'd get me into Cambridge" YEA MOOD AGAIN. Parents/school/culture really...instill that into your head. Your interests/hobbies aren't worth doing unless they can get you money or a job...
- "I'm off to drink the alcohols, do lots of the drugs and have lots of the sex" I've probably said this word for word to my mum in the past. Good line. :P
- "I wished I had the guts to say something funny, but I didn't because I wasn't a funny person when I was around them. I was just boring." AHHH. MOOD. F*CK. The entire 'School Frances' aspect of this book was a hard punch in the gut for me, cause that's exactly how I feel about myself. But then I get stuck on 'what if the boring me is all there is' :/ (I think that comes up later in the book too and at that point i honestly wanted to puke)
- "LOGARITHMS" haha. oh its not about me? not a direct address? ok. (this chapter was sweet tho I enjoyed the development)
- "He'd sit through me screaming along to Moulin Rouge" ROOXXAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA[violins]AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANE [violins snapping] [choir screaming] rrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOXAAAAAAAANNNNNEE
- "the fact of the matter was that I didn't really know how to behave around friends at all" thought this line was p interesting cause it gets into how friendship is really different with diff people, since everyone has varying needs/wants from a relationship, so its hard to access 'how to behave around friends'
- "HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOPE YOU'RE FEELING PARTY AF""LOVE U LOADS U BEAUTIFUL MAN" this isn't cringe this is what ill be sending all my friends this year. thank u for the inspiration. usually i just send 'happy day old man' followed by emojis but this is much more powerful
- Alfoyan and Frances office conversation. WHy would she be so against all those things when she grew up in a poor, rural Nigerian village and had to fight her way up to her postition. "grow our own vegetables? End capitalism?" UH YEA? your village was in poverty because of capitalist exploitation? Dr Alfoyan was extremely difficult to believe as a character, it felt more like a random add in to create more drama in the story...
- "She texted back a thumbs up, several salsa-dancing girls and a four leaf clover." What a mum move. I love her.
- I didn't tab anything past there cause it was all. SO much drama. But I did like the ending. It kinda followed into a found family, live with your friends situation and I LOVE THAT SHIT