What if everything you set yourself up to be was wrong?įrances has always been a study machine with one goal, elite university. If you’ve ever been part of a fandom, felt the pressure of school, or been unsure about your future, read this book. Please, read this book.Genres & Themes: Young Adult, LGBT, Contemporary, Friendship (If this excites you as much as me, you may like to know the author is releasing Loveless, an own-voices novel about an aro-ace main character next year!) Ace-spectrum representation is so rare in books that it really stands out to me. As a demisexual person myself, this just meant a lot. Towards the end, one of the characters comes out as demisexual. The word is used on-page, along with an explanation from the character of what it means.

Since he is a boy and I am a girl.Īside from the honest and real portrayal of teenage life (sorry to keep reiterating it, but seriously, this was so important), the representation in this book made my heart happy. You probably think that Aled Last and I are going to fall in love or something. This is a book that celebrates platonic love – something so rare I can hardly remember the last time I read a book that didn’t feature a romance for the main character. That’s the formula for life, right? When a chance encounter (seriously, such a ridiculous coincidence that it’s the most unrealistic part of this book) sees her suddenly working with the Creator of her favourite podcast as the show’s artist she finds out there might just be more to life than studying. Her whole life has revolved around getting into Cambridge – University, good job, lots of money, happiness. It shows how complicated it is to be a teenager. It tells the truth.įrances Janvier, study-machine and Cambridge University shoo-in, is torn between the two halves of herself – School Frances and Real Frances. It shows the best and the worst of people.

She doesn’t shy away from tough topics, either. This book deals with stress, academic pressure, existential crisis, abuse, sexuality, anxiety and depression, and the realities of life on the Internet. Everything she writes, the sentiments she expresses, are just so relatable and reflect every aspect of the modern teenage experience. Tumblr, YouTube, fan art and fandom are all handled in an authentic way that only someone who’s been there could pull off. Upon reading any of her works it is abundantly clear that she understands and, most importantly, is part of the Internet generation. There’s knowledge and experience there that older writers of YA simply can’t quite mimic, despite their efforts. She is an honest writer, talking to her own generation in a way that few others do.

The thing that strikes me about Alice Oseman’s writing, in both her books and her comic Heartstopper, is how incredibly real it is.

Radio silence book review