A review by kazuchuu
Loveless by Alice Oseman

5.0

"I had been so desperate for my idea of true love that I couldn't even see it when it was right in front of my face."

so, it's been a while since i read a published book. my reading slump has been terrible over the past year or so. i'd actually picked this up months ago, stopped for a while (because of my slump), then decided to continue reading it - and i'm glad i did. i finished it faster than i would have expected.

i don't think this book is perfect, but because it means so much to me and my identity, it feels just right. it's a story long overdue. i resonated with so much of georgia's experiences. while coming to terms with my romantic and sexual orientation hadn't been as challenging, i've been having horrible thoughts about it for a long while recently, and this book sort of got me in that aspect. i also adored how it explored the different forms of love, and how platonic love can be just as powerful. i loved sunil too. he's probably my favourite, and i really wish i had someone in real life who could reassure me about my identity so effortlessly like that.
but i think the thing i loved the most about this book was how it tackled the whole "asexuality is a made-up internet identity" thing, which, as the book says, is bullshit, because if people have been identifying as asexual since fucking 1907, surely it can't be a "made-up internet identity", and i'm sick of bigots saying that to me, actually. i'm so glad the book addresses that. i'm so glad the book made me feel so validated in that way.
not to mention, calling out how the online lgbtq+ space is so dominated by white people. there aren't enough poc and i honestly hadn't realised how much that weighed on me, constantly, until the book threw the fact at my face. i can't easily relate to other asexual experiences because most of them are from white people, and i'm as arab as an arab can get. it's actually really fucking sad, because qpoc experiences are so, so different, especially if we don't live in america, or england, or some other white country. and, i guess, there's nothing much to be done about that, but it needs to be said. it really needs to be said.

anyway. i haven't rambled like that in a while. but take it from me, this book is worth a read. give it a chance. and i would do literally anything for more books like these to make it to the shelves.