Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - None of This Is Serious

When I read the blurb, I thought this book was going to be exactly what I was looking for. A relatable main character that I could follow the actions of as were similar people.

That was true to an extent, Sophie and I are almost too similar in a way but I’ve never experienced an apocalypse, but then I’m not sure she has either. I also spend a lot of time on social media, mindlessly scrolling but to read about it so constantly in the book got boring. It was repetitive with how detailed it got each time when nothing changed. When they went to the beach house, I was hooked more. I relate to the experiences but not much actually came from it. Too drunk to remember the confrontation, and Sophie was still the same character at the end of the book as she was at the start.

I found myself rooting for Sophie through it all, I know how she feels.

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readerlas's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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loverarchives's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

A sometimes relatable, often irritating main character tries to find her footing in the world. The book moves at a meandering pace before rushing to the end, I both wish the ending was further explored yet also removed at the same time. An enjoyable read nonetheless.

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lottselgar's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

2.75

such a good commentary on this generation without being too preachy but the speech-style annoyed me

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chs2022's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.75

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alexampersand's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective slow-paced

2.5

There were pockets of this book that I loved, and other large parts that I really didn't.

I thought the authors observations of internet culture, anxiety, burrowing oneself into the internet, was absolutely spot on. I found myself often taking note of quotes that so accurately and perfectly reflected my own experiences (something I haven't felt compelled to do while reading for about 10 years).

But other than these observations, everything else fell flat.

There was an inclusion of a very big sci-fi fantasy element very early on.... that is then not developed in any way at all. For a book that deals with the human experience, and the minutia of emotions, it felt so jarring to have this one super fantastical element, and then not use it in any way at all other than simply being there.

I also felt the writing style quite off-putting - the lack of quotation marks around Sophie's speech, so it's left entirely up to us to seduce what is simply her internal monologue and what are her verbalised thoughts. This led to a larger problem of unreliable narration, which can sometimes be an interesting tool, but here it really grated on me being unsure what exactly was happening versus what Sophie was simply misinterpreting, especially around her interactions with her friends and family - is everyone in the book cruel towards her, or is that simply her read of the situation? This then becomes more problematic when it gets to the topic of secual assault, and she specifically mentions that the perpetrator for a second looks "genuinely confused", leading me to wonder for a minute whether it was intended sexual assault, which is quite tricky ground to be on when writing about such a controversial subject area.

Which leads onto another big issue for me, which was the pacing. It felt like the book meandered along for the most part (almost 200 pages), before suddenly ramping up the conflict, causing a full-scale meltdown, and then very quickly resolving it, all in a mere 70 pages.

And the resolution itself felt deeply unsatisfying. As I mentioned, for an author who seemed to really understand internet culture, it felt like the ending message was so simplified as to feel disingenuous and incredibly unsatisfying for me. "If I spend a bit less time on my phone, everything will be fine" just doesn't work for me, especially when we've seen how deep Sophie's issues seem to run within her.

So overall... some really nice observations, but some real big stumbling blocks along the way.

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