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nerdinthelibrary 's review for:
Radio Silence
by Alice Oseman
10/08/19: Reread for the #aliceosemanreadathon & review rewrite.
content warnings: abusive parent, death of a pet, mentions of self-mutilation via fire, death threats, racism, depressive states
representation: bisexual biracial (ethiopian-white) protagonist, demisexual main character with depression, south korean gay main character, indian main character, gay main character
This is probably one of my all-time favourite books ever written, and rereading it was an absolute fucking delight, especially because it gives me an opportunity to rewrite my kinda shitty review. When I first read this in February last year I didn't write reviews very often and so I just did bullet points, but now I'm a much better review writer and I figured this book deserved a decent review.
Radio Silence follows Frances Janvier, a clever teenage girl who is Head Girl and is aspiring to attend Cambridge to study English literature because that's what's expected of her. But in her spare time, she secretly draws fanart for her favourite podcast Universe City. At the beginning of the book the creator of Universe City messages her and asks her to draw official art for the podcast. At the same time, Frances becomes closer with her neighbour Aled Last who she discovers she can act like herself around.
There are so many things I love about this book so I'm going to have to format this review in sections.
1. WRITING
As someone who's read all of Alice Oseman's books, I've loved her writing style in each. It's not too different from book to book, the only difference usually being the voice of the character. I think part of why I love her writing so much in here is because I relate so much to Frances as a character and I feel like her voice is similar to mine in many ways (more on that later). I also like that this book, unlike her others, has really short chapters, similarly to K. Ancrum.
2. CONNECTIONS TO SOLITAIRE
When I first read this book, it was my first Alice Oseman so I obviously hadn't read her debut. In fact, Solitaire was the last book of hers I ever read, at the end of last year. I knew from her Q&A video about this book that all the main Solitaire characters cameoed, but hadn't actually gotten the chance to spot them for myself. It was so delightful to see stuff like an Olympic skater mentioned or a girl with purple hair and be able to go, "I know who that is!" Other than that though, I loved the seeds being planted for Aled being Charlie & Nick's friend, the reference to Frances being in Doctor Who cosplay at Becky's birthday party, all the stuff about the school burning down, a reference to a blogger pranking the school, etc. etc. It's just really nice to be able to pick up those little details, and I really hope that Loveless does end up connecting with I Was Born For This in the final copy.
3. CHARACTERS
The Radio Silence Five maybe make up some of my favourite characters in all of fiction, and that's at least partly because I relate to them all in different ways. Frances' need for scholarly perfection and that being the source of all her self-worth; Aled's weird obsession with this dumb thing he made that people actually like and the way his depression can spiral; Raine's brashness and tendency to say what everyone else is thinking; Daniel's problem of coming across as a dick most of the time because he can get too self-serious and up his own ass; Carys' confidence that she eventually has basically coming from her refusing to give a fuck anymore. But even aside from the various ways I relate to all these characters, I also just think they're so interesting and well-rounded and all of them have such special and different relationships to each other that makes it so interesting to read.
4. FANDOM CULTURE
This is something that features heavily in IWBFT as well, in particular the way that fandoms are balanced. There are those people who just enjoy the thing that they're obsessed with, and then there are the people who take it a step too far. There are the people who stalk creators online, send death threats, feel entitled to whatever the creator is producing. And yet, even while exploring the good and bad of fandom, there's never a moment when fandoms are demonised. There's never a moment where Frances goes "well I guess everyone who listens to universe city is awful". There's always the acknowledgement that there are good people, people who will call out the creeps and stalkers and try to support the creator however they can without crossing any lines. Honestly, I've never seen fandom explored in such an astute and personal way before, and I don't think I ever will.
This book isn't perfect because nothing a human creates ever can be, but this is easily one of the books I've read that's most perfect for me. If you like darker contemporaries with light moments that feature fandoms and diverse characters, then I would most definitely recommend picking this up.
content warnings: abusive parent, death of a pet, mentions of self-mutilation via fire, death threats, racism, depressive states
representation: bisexual biracial (ethiopian-white) protagonist, demisexual main character with depression, south korean gay main character, indian main character, gay main character
“Being clever was, after all, my primary source of self-esteem. I’m a very sad person, in all senses of the word, but at least I was going to get into university.”
This is probably one of my all-time favourite books ever written, and rereading it was an absolute fucking delight, especially because it gives me an opportunity to rewrite my kinda shitty review. When I first read this in February last year I didn't write reviews very often and so I just did bullet points, but now I'm a much better review writer and I figured this book deserved a decent review.
Radio Silence follows Frances Janvier, a clever teenage girl who is Head Girl and is aspiring to attend Cambridge to study English literature because that's what's expected of her. But in her spare time, she secretly draws fanart for her favourite podcast Universe City. At the beginning of the book the creator of Universe City messages her and asks her to draw official art for the podcast. At the same time, Frances becomes closer with her neighbour Aled Last who she discovers she can act like herself around.
There are so many things I love about this book so I'm going to have to format this review in sections.
1. WRITING
As someone who's read all of Alice Oseman's books, I've loved her writing style in each. It's not too different from book to book, the only difference usually being the voice of the character. I think part of why I love her writing so much in here is because I relate so much to Frances as a character and I feel like her voice is similar to mine in many ways (more on that later). I also like that this book, unlike her others, has really short chapters, similarly to K. Ancrum.
2. CONNECTIONS TO SOLITAIRE
When I first read this book, it was my first Alice Oseman so I obviously hadn't read her debut. In fact, Solitaire was the last book of hers I ever read, at the end of last year. I knew from her Q&A video about this book that all the main Solitaire characters cameoed, but hadn't actually gotten the chance to spot them for myself. It was so delightful to see stuff like an Olympic skater mentioned or a girl with purple hair and be able to go, "I know who that is!" Other than that though, I loved the seeds being planted for Aled being Charlie & Nick's friend, the reference to Frances being in Doctor Who cosplay at Becky's birthday party, all the stuff about the school burning down, a reference to a blogger pranking the school, etc. etc. It's just really nice to be able to pick up those little details, and I really hope that Loveless does end up connecting with I Was Born For This in the final copy.
3. CHARACTERS
The Radio Silence Five maybe make up some of my favourite characters in all of fiction, and that's at least partly because I relate to them all in different ways. Frances' need for scholarly perfection and that being the source of all her self-worth; Aled's weird obsession with this dumb thing he made that people actually like and the way his depression can spiral; Raine's brashness and tendency to say what everyone else is thinking; Daniel's problem of coming across as a dick most of the time because he can get too self-serious and up his own ass; Carys' confidence that she eventually has basically coming from her refusing to give a fuck anymore. But even aside from the various ways I relate to all these characters, I also just think they're so interesting and well-rounded and all of them have such special and different relationships to each other that makes it so interesting to read.
4. FANDOM CULTURE
This is something that features heavily in IWBFT as well, in particular the way that fandoms are balanced. There are those people who just enjoy the thing that they're obsessed with, and then there are the people who take it a step too far. There are the people who stalk creators online, send death threats, feel entitled to whatever the creator is producing. And yet, even while exploring the good and bad of fandom, there's never a moment when fandoms are demonised. There's never a moment where Frances goes "well I guess everyone who listens to universe city is awful". There's always the acknowledgement that there are good people, people who will call out the creeps and stalkers and try to support the creator however they can without crossing any lines. Honestly, I've never seen fandom explored in such an astute and personal way before, and I don't think I ever will.
This book isn't perfect because nothing a human creates ever can be, but this is easily one of the books I've read that's most perfect for me. If you like darker contemporaries with light moments that feature fandoms and diverse characters, then I would most definitely recommend picking this up.