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nerdinthelibrary 's review for:
Loveless
by Alice Oseman
content warnings: aphobia, exclusionary behaviour, discussions of past abusive relationships and bullying
representation: aromantic asexual protagonist, latina lesbian main character, pansexual main character, interracial f/f side relationship, indian non-binary gay asexual main character, bisexual aromantic side character, aromantic asexual side character
This is it. This is my favourite book of the year. Hell, this is one of my favourite books ever. Ever since I Was Born for This I've been calling Alice Oseman one of my favourite authors and with her latest masterpiece she has truly become at the very least a top 3 for me (her only real competition is K. Ancrum tbh).
Said masterpiece is a book about Georgia Warr, a girl going to university and discovering that she's aromantic and asexual. I promise it's not as plotless as that sounds; she also meets a new friend, attempts dating, and tries to save the Shakespeare Society. As with all Alice Oseman books, the cast is fantastic and I need a moment to gush about them. Specifically two members but we'll get to those.
There are three of the four supporting characters who create our main group: Pip Quintana, a Latina lesbian who has been Georgia's best friend since Year Seven when they discovered they both wanted to be actors; Jason Farley-Shaw, the third in their trio who is almost-unhealthily obsessed with the 2002 Scooby Doo movie and has semi-recently gotten out of an awful relationship; and Sunil Jha, the Indian non-binary (he/they) gay asexual president of the Pride Soc and Georgia's 'college parent'. I love all three of these amazing characters so much! But get ready for me to truly gush because we haven't gotten to my two favourites yet.
First, our wonderful protagonist, Georgia Warr, a girl who loves love and is desperate to meet That Person. Obviously you and I know the premise of the book so we know that she's going to discover that she's not interested in that, and watching her slowly realise this is equally excruciating and rewarding. She realising surprisingly quickly that something's up but it takes her a long time to figure out that she's not just a classic late bloomer that we always hear about. She's also a giant nerd who would be content to spend all of her time lying in bed with some biscuits reading a good 200K swoony fic, and isn't that the ultimate mood.
Now, the woman of the hour, maybe my favourite Alice Oseman character ever: Rooney Bach. Rooney is Georgia's roommate at uni and seems like the polar opposite of Georgia: she's chatty and outgoing, seems to make friends with everyone, is beautiful and put-together, and has frequent casual sex. There's a very boring way you could write her character, which is that this is all just a front she puts on and she's actually incredibly insecure. Oseman toys with this concept but ultimately chooses a more interesting route: that this is a big part of Rooney's personality and she is putting up walls, and both of those things can coexist. Over the course of the book she becomes closer with Georgia and starts to fall for Pip, only now realising that she also likes girls. I really liked the way her having casual sex was written because it never felt stereotypical or judgmental. Georgia is worried about Rooney sleeping at stranger's houses, but that's it. The book goes to great lengths to make sure that Rooney's choices are never looked down upon and that her fluid sexuality has nothing to do with her love of sex.
My absolute favourite part of the book, though, was the friendships. Unsurprisingly, a book about a character realising that they're aromantic and asexual has a big focus on platonic relationships, specifically friendships. Oseman has chosen the perfect point in Georgia's life to set this story because, as is mentioned in the book, uni is a time of major change in friendships. Georgia has the benefit of going to the same uni as her two best friends but they end up being placed in a different college to her and she has a stranger for a roommate. She also meets other people, like Sunil, and has to balance these different relationships and the ways they fit into her life.
I cried at two points in this book, and surprisingly none of them were at times when Georgia was coming to terms with her sexuality (though I came very close). Both were moments of Georgia with a different friend. One was a moment with Pip that was so unexpected but also set up from the beginning that made me squeal with joy while crying; the other, my favourite moment in possibly all of fiction, was a moment with Rooney at almost the very end that made me full on sob. Because this book isn't simply about friendships; it's about the differences in friendships. Georgia's relationship with Pip is different from her relationship with Jason is different from her relationship with Rooney is different from her relationship with Sunil. They can all still be equally important, though.
I need to gush, so spoilers for the Rooney moment: Okay, that's out of my system.
This book kind of zapped me of energy in a really good way, so here's a few scattered thoughts to finish this off:
• Fuck Lloyd. I was so proud of what Georgia did at the end, it made me gasp in delight.
• Georgia's relationship with her cousin was so beautiful and was the closest I came to crying without actually doing it.
• All the nerdy references were wonderful.
• I'm currently doing a Shakespeare class and literally watched the 1993 Much Ado About Nothing today so I was able to appreciate all that stuff a lot more.
• This might be Alice Oseman's funniest book.
From the first page to the acknowledgements, this book was my everything. Even if a lot of Georgia's experiences aren't my own, there were still so many moments that felt like hit me incredibly hard. I truly think it's Oseman's best work and I can't wait to reread it for many years to come. Also, this month A-spec August is happening so it's the perfect time to read this.
representation: aromantic asexual protagonist, latina lesbian main character, pansexual main character, interracial f/f side relationship, indian non-binary gay asexual main character, bisexual aromantic side character, aromantic asexual side character
“I used to dream of a spellbinding, endless, forever romance. A beautiful story of meeting a person who could change your whole world.
But now, I realised, friendship could be that, too.”
This is it. This is my favourite book of the year. Hell, this is one of my favourite books ever. Ever since I Was Born for This I've been calling Alice Oseman one of my favourite authors and with her latest masterpiece she has truly become at the very least a top 3 for me (her only real competition is K. Ancrum tbh).
Said masterpiece is a book about Georgia Warr, a girl going to university and discovering that she's aromantic and asexual. I promise it's not as plotless as that sounds; she also meets a new friend, attempts dating, and tries to save the Shakespeare Society. As with all Alice Oseman books, the cast is fantastic and I need a moment to gush about them. Specifically two members but we'll get to those.
There are three of the four supporting characters who create our main group: Pip Quintana, a Latina lesbian who has been Georgia's best friend since Year Seven when they discovered they both wanted to be actors; Jason Farley-Shaw, the third in their trio who is almost-unhealthily obsessed with the 2002 Scooby Doo movie and has semi-recently gotten out of an awful relationship; and Sunil Jha, the Indian non-binary (he/they) gay asexual president of the Pride Soc and Georgia's 'college parent'. I love all three of these amazing characters so much! But get ready for me to truly gush because we haven't gotten to my two favourites yet.
First, our wonderful protagonist, Georgia Warr, a girl who loves love and is desperate to meet That Person. Obviously you and I know the premise of the book so we know that she's going to discover that she's not interested in that, and watching her slowly realise this is equally excruciating and rewarding. She realising surprisingly quickly that something's up but it takes her a long time to figure out that she's not just a classic late bloomer that we always hear about. She's also a giant nerd who would be content to spend all of her time lying in bed with some biscuits reading a good 200K swoony fic, and isn't that the ultimate mood.
Now, the woman of the hour, maybe my favourite Alice Oseman character ever: Rooney Bach. Rooney is Georgia's roommate at uni and seems like the polar opposite of Georgia: she's chatty and outgoing, seems to make friends with everyone, is beautiful and put-together, and has frequent casual sex. There's a very boring way you could write her character, which is that this is all just a front she puts on and she's actually incredibly insecure. Oseman toys with this concept but ultimately chooses a more interesting route: that this is a big part of Rooney's personality and she is putting up walls, and both of those things can coexist. Over the course of the book she becomes closer with Georgia and starts to fall for Pip, only now realising that she also likes girls. I really liked the way her having casual sex was written because it never felt stereotypical or judgmental. Georgia is worried about Rooney sleeping at stranger's houses, but that's it. The book goes to great lengths to make sure that Rooney's choices are never looked down upon and that her fluid sexuality has nothing to do with her love of sex.
My absolute favourite part of the book, though, was the friendships. Unsurprisingly, a book about a character realising that they're aromantic and asexual has a big focus on platonic relationships, specifically friendships. Oseman has chosen the perfect point in Georgia's life to set this story because, as is mentioned in the book, uni is a time of major change in friendships. Georgia has the benefit of going to the same uni as her two best friends but they end up being placed in a different college to her and she has a stranger for a roommate. She also meets other people, like Sunil, and has to balance these different relationships and the ways they fit into her life.
I cried at two points in this book, and surprisingly none of them were at times when Georgia was coming to terms with her sexuality (though I came very close). Both were moments of Georgia with a different friend. One was a moment with Pip that was so unexpected but also set up from the beginning that made me squeal with joy while crying; the other, my favourite moment in possibly all of fiction, was a moment with Rooney at almost the very end that made me full on sob. Because this book isn't simply about friendships; it's about the differences in friendships. Georgia's relationship with Pip is different from her relationship with Jason is different from her relationship with Rooney is different from her relationship with Sunil. They can all still be equally important, though.
I need to gush, so spoilers for the Rooney moment:
Spoiler
ROONEY LITERALLY SAYING THAT GEORGIA IS HER PERSON AND THAT EVEN IF SHE GETS MARRIED AND HAS KIDS GEORGIA WILL STILL BE HER PERSON AND SHE GOT HER FLOWERS AS A PLATONIC GESTURE!!! THIS BOOK IS A ROMANCE, IT'S JUST A PLATONIC ONE WHEREIN THESE TWO GIRLS FALL IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER IN A WONDERFUL, NON-ROMANTIC WAY!!! THEY! KEPT! THE! BEDS! TOGETHEEEERRRRR!This book kind of zapped me of energy in a really good way, so here's a few scattered thoughts to finish this off:
• Fuck Lloyd. I was so proud of what Georgia did at the end, it made me gasp in delight.
• Georgia's relationship with her cousin was so beautiful and was the closest I came to crying without actually doing it.
• All the nerdy references were wonderful.
• I'm currently doing a Shakespeare class and literally watched the 1993 Much Ado About Nothing today so I was able to appreciate all that stuff a lot more.
• This might be Alice Oseman's funniest book.
From the first page to the acknowledgements, this book was my everything. Even if a lot of Georgia's experiences aren't my own, there were still so many moments that felt like hit me incredibly hard. I truly think it's Oseman's best work and I can't wait to reread it for many years to come. Also, this month A-spec August is happening so it's the perfect time to read this.