Reviews with content warning for Outing - Radio Silence

Reviews tagging 'Outing'

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

18 reviews

lizziaha's review against another edition

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

I never really got Aled in the heartstopper comics but after reading this I have a real soft spot for him. He’s so riddled with mental illness that he’s become incredibly relatable to me. The standout for me in this book was the relationships! Each one felt realistic and complex, with layers that peeled back as the book went on. I think that Alice Oseman just writes teenagers very realistically, and though I no longer relate to that, I can still appreciate that. The themes were a little heavy-handed in my opinion, but important nonetheless.

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robintchappell's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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icarusandthesun's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this was one of those books that make you want to get your life together on a random monday afternoon. that make you feel like actually, you can achieve everything you've ever wanted to achieve - at least for a few hours.

this book was exactly what i needed right now.

i read this in two days time. i couldn't put it down, really; i was fueled by the fun story, the short chapters and the general boredom i experience in my day-to-day life.

as someone who's roughly frances' age, thrives off academic validation and is addicted to it like bad drugs, i found the whole academia aspect covered very relatable and ergo also comforting in a way.
truly a nice read.

but i also want to get a little bit into the things i didn't enjoy, because unfortunately the similarities between the characters and me end there.
this book was undoubtedly and so very obviously young adult that some parts of it i just couldn't stand. frances' quirkiness, her constant complains about how 'no one really knows her', the melodramatic way all the characters react to anything happening in their lives, and their childish and uncommunicative behavior - it was a lot.
what i generally dislike about young adult books is that the authors tend to spell everything out for the supposedly young target audience, as was the case here.
most things were super on the nose, sort of cliché and there was a lot of telling instead of showing. whole sentences were sometimes repeated word by word a weird amount of times.
i also had a couple of issues with the story. started strong and stayed strong for a good 3/5 of the book, but ended up getting sillier and sillier as it neared its conclusion.
the climax was disappointing, actually goofy, fairly unrealistic, the characters' motivations utterly incomprehensible. most of the 'plot twists' and revelations were a little predictable as well.

now all of this sounds like i didn't enjoy the book, but i did. i really, really did. i liked the commentary on academia, which i think is still not talked about enough; i liked the dialogue and chemistry between the characters, especially between aled and daniel. at the beginning i didn't like daniel a lot obviously, but he grew to be my favorite character as the story progressed and my hate for aled, his personality and unpredictable character arc developed.
still, their dynamic was one of the things i enjoyed the most. i liked how intertwined their lives seemed to be and the way they communicated.

to sum it up: this one's easy to read, a little silly and frustrating sometimes, but still quick, enjoyable and occasionally really relatable. i know i just gave a hell lot of critique, but believe me, i'm giving this book four stars for a reason. it's got a certain charm to it that i can't quite put my finger on, nor name.
you'll simply have to take my word for it - or don't.

I can take a little beating now and then. I'm a tough one. [...] Even when my bone dust drifts over the City walls, I'll be living and I'll be flying, and I will wave and laugh. (p. 203)

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cookiecat73's review against another edition

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emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This was my first novel by Alice Oseman (although I've read heartstopper online), and I really liked it!

Something I wasn't really aware of going into the book was that a main part of the plot revolves around things happening online, and a youtube channel called universe city, and if I'm honest, it was my least favourite part. I loved the characters, but I found all the internet drama a bit too overdramatic and although the plot was good, I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was less over-the-top. I also found it a little too fast paced? I think some of the emotional scenes could have done with a little more time, things could feel a little rushed at times, or there was a time-jump which I felt skipped over too much.
The characters were definitely my favourite part, I thought they were all really good.
Some thoughts on the ending:

Spoiler

I think I would have prefered the ending to have been a more low-key scene with just the friends hanging out and recovering and healing and starting to thrive and re-adjust to the new lives they're building for themselves, rather than another dramatic scene with Aled's internet fame being the happy ending, although I did like the way it was done. I was also sort of hoping Aled was going to come out as non-binary at the end, becuase he often mentions how much he relates to radio and feels like he is radio, and radio is agender. Also with the whole hair thing. Again, I'm okay with how it ended, I just would have liked that :)

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captainoliimar's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really enjoyed this book. I felt like I could relate to a lot of the characters, especially Frances and Aled. It took me back to being being in year 11 and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life and figure out who I was going to be in university. The story felt fairly realistic while also having a mystery woven through it that kept me engaged and wanting to find out what happens next.
I really think I would have enjoyed this book while I was doing my A-Levels, though it does cover quite a few potentially triggering topics.

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nevermoregothic's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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spring_rain's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring sad fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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shoohoob's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Last book in the Osemanverse I needed to read! This book is so painfully British that I needed to Google what half the phrases meant.

It was a fun read! Nothing will ever top Loveless for me, but I did enjoy reading it. Pulled me out of a reading slump and for that, I’m grateful!

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crufts's review against another edition

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emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Frances Janvier is the perfect student. With straight A+s and a Head Girl badge pinned to her school blazer, she must be destined for the perfect university, the perfect career, and the perfect life - never mind that she would rather spend her time drawing fanart of her favourite podcast, Universe City. But when the mysterious Creator of the podcast invites her to join it as an illustrator, the cracks in that perfect plan start to show.

The novel had some positive points:

Particular scenes rang off authentically, like the lengths the students went to in finishing their assignments. The themes of Frances' obligation and duty, always trying to be what other people wanted of her, were laid down pretty well.
The story involves a couple of revealed secrets, but I liked how these are revealed promptly and not dragged out until the end of the book.
I also thought the textspeak and Tumblr-speak in the novel was believable.
As for minority representation, there are a few LGBT+ characters who are portrayed in a very mundane, unremarkable kind of way. These include the non-binary podcast narrator, a gay character, an asexual character, and the bi protagonist.
Amusingly, there are also echoes of Alice Oseman's later novel, Loveless. For example, the protagonist comments
Spoiler
"I was getting used to the way people got off with each other without a second thought, even if it made me feel disgusting to watch it happen". Reminds me of Georgia's commentary in Loveless. And also how the protagonist was tired of the assumption that a boy-girl relationship must always be romantic. More about Loveless here.
.

But I just couldn't gel with Radio Silence.
There were all these little chafing issues:

Frances describes another girl (Carys) as "the only queer girl I knew". But Frances doesn't know that! Carys never said she was "queer" - she described herself as "gay".
The main friendship of the novel goes from zero to a hundred in the space of one chapter. No buildup, just a sudden "Oh, they're best friends now, they watched four seasons of The Office in one week", etc.
I was straining to believe that Frances, who doesn't care about school and historically didn't make much of an effort, would suddenly get the highest grade on a test. Not just a high grade, but the highest grade in the school.
On the same note, I couldn't suspend my disbelief that Frances, who personally disliked school and wasn't under any familial pressure about it, would have developed this unexplained feeling of obligation and duty about getting into university.
Between the 50% to 75% marks of the book, the tone is miserable and there's no tone relief. This was exhausting to read for 100 pages straight.
The descriptions of Frances' sadness came off as very clichéd and hollow, e.g. literally saying "I felt very sad about that". Some descriptions don't even express internal sadness at all, e.g. describing how her eyes were wet, or how she wiped her eyes, or how she went to sit in a bathroom cubicle, but without any description of the internal experience of sadness.
A particular character (
Spoiler
Raine
) who seems "cool" suddenly becomes obnoxious during a text exchange with Frances. The character asks about Aled's wellbeing, only to then insult him, e.g. "Kinda wanna say [to him to] 'check your privilege' tbh... Why you so obsessed with that white boy anyway lol... He has no right to complain about anything... Your fave [Aled] is problematic lmao".
But not only does Frances not notice that the character is being obnoxious, she then proceeds to go out and join the character at a nightclub. What?? Why?!
Too many floaty, vague scenes where it's unclear what's happening, presumably for poetic effect. This was especially frustrating when the scenes didn't seem to have any point; it seemed like you could cut the entire scene without affecting the overall path of the book.
Universe City is inspired by the real-life podcast Welcome to Night Vale (explicitly confirmed by the author). It occupies the same podcast niche that Night Vale does in the real world.
But although Night Vale also exists in the setting, Frances has no interest in it and only listens to Universe City. This was distracting and hard to believe, even though there was an attempt at handwaving why Frances wasn't interested in Night Vale.
I also found it hard to believe that the Creator of Universe City never mentions Night Vale as an inspiration, when the two podcasts are so obviously similar. Even if the Creator had never heard of Night Vale, I would have expected other people to be accusing them of imitating Night Vale, which was created in 2012 (while the story is set in 2014).
This is similar to how Rainbow Rowell handled a fictional book series in Fangirl (see my review here). In both cases, I think it would be better if the fictional series replaced the real series in the setting.
The main theme (not wanting to go to university) is just not relatable to me. I did relate a little to Aled's situation (university offering an escape), but even then the narrative decides that the right thing for Aled is to
Spoiler
leave university and instead fall on the generosity of his friends
. I also thought that the message of disregarding income prospects was an effective way to get yourself stuck in an abusive situation. It seemed like a heavy dose of selection bias from a 1% author who wrote a hit debut novel and makes a liveable wage.

The biggest problem I had was that no serious stakes are introduced until halfway into the book, which is when the main villain appears. (It is literally at the 49% mark of the book.) This villain is actually written fabulously and is so realistically evil, I just wish they turned up earlier.
Even after the villain turns up, we only see the stakes from a distance, because this villain is much more of a problem for Aled (the deuteragonist) than for Frances. So I didn't find Frances compelling as a protagonist. I couldn't help but feel that she was outshone by Aled, and it would probably be a more interesting story if Aled was the main character.
But even with that, there were so many shenanigans and plot points based on the characters getting drunk, I felt like the real villain of the story was alcohol. Heck, the entire inciting incident is an alcohol-fueled mistake! This was never addressed in any way - nobody took the slightest responsibility for the problems they were causing by drinking, or even acknowledged "Hey, you know, we're in this mess because we can't control ourselves around alcohol".

Overall, I really wanted to like Radio Silence, but I just don't. That said, the author's other books are great and I would definitely recommend looking into those.

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adaora_ble's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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