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

I found this far to relatable and I am offended.

Honestly this could have been a 5 star read the only thing that dropped it half a star for me was a slow start and some of the more minor characters were easy to mix up.

This was such a creative and relatable story about depression, anxiety and the bad decisions and judgements you make because of it. And the use of social media and the endless doomscrolling as a contributing factor to millennial melancholy was perfectly illustrated without being spelled out.

If you are struggling through the first few chapters I promise it pays off.

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georgie_mb's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-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

5.0

This is almost like a John Green book, but for those in their 20’s a 2023 world.

A lot of hard relating went on in this, from navigating friendships, dating (or not), to affording a house and getting well paid jobs. I also found it really interesting that Prasifka highlighted how a lot of our generation turn to social media and drink as a form of escapism as well as that some find it easier to navigate the online world than the real one.

This was all wrapped up with a bit of dystopia too, which stopped this from becoming too hard hitting to read, allowing for a bit of escapism (but I could honestly imagine this happening in our real world too).

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luce98's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

I have never resonated with a character like I did with Sophie. I recommend this read to every femme in their 20s. It made me feel that it's okay I don't have it all figured out.

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ruthypoo2's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-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

3.75

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wordsofclover's review against another edition

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mysterious 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

22-year-old Sophie has no idea what she's going to do next. She's graduated college and isn't having much luck with her job and living with her parents with no hope of ever moving out and affording rent let alone buying her own home in the future. When a large crack appears in the sky, Sophie's social media obsession becomes even worse as she juggles boys, friendships and a contentious relationship with her twin sister - and not to mention the ever looming presence of the crack and what it means for humanity.

This book is an interesting one. I feel like I loved it for all the different things it and the characters had to say about the world as it is right now - especially for young Irish people, but I can also see where in parts it was overdone and pretentious and how others wouldn't have gotten on with the book. I think it's very 'of the now' book - the social media obsession, the problems young people are facing as they leave college and can't get jobs, can't afford rent and already stress over ever owning a house, emigration and then all the normal things of body image, romance problems and friendships changing and evolving.

Sophie as a character is fairly complex. She is probably one of the most self-absorbed yet at the same time incredibly insecure characters I've ever followed and while that should bring on a certain amount of empathy, there were times I just didn't like Sophie and found her a little bit of w whingebag and also not a particularly good friend to Grace (MVP of this book in my opinion) and her other friend Dan who is struggling with loneliness after emigrating.

I think Sophie's relationship with social media is obviously one of the biggest things in the book, as well as the biggest relationship in the book as well as Sophie obsessively finds herself down rabbit holes on Twitter, listening to podcasts deep into the night and exploring conspiracy theories about the crack. People Sophie's age have grown up surrounded by social media and it's become like their right hand and without it they feel lost and it's often what they use to help them understand the world. I think with time and age, distance from social media becomes easier as real life takes over - relationships, jobs, responsibility but Sophie is not there yet and effectively, without a job, has all the time on the world to spend on her phone.

I actually really liked the presence of the crack in the sky and it's ever presence in the book, always in the background. In a way I wondered if it was a stand in for something like the pandemic, and if not, definitely inspired by it - and I think it was a brilliant way to show that when unexplainable, scary things happen, life still more or less goes on as normal. Worldwide pandemic? Life stopped for a while but a majority of everyday normal things happened and now the world is more or less back to the way it was. Ukrainian War? Everyone is still doing their day-to-day activities albeit with a heavier cost of living situation but parties, romance, school and life is still happening every day.

I think this book is clever, and while I would have liked maybe a couple less conversations about capitalism (listen you talk about capitalism, you'll get compared to Sally Rooney and that's that), I think the author understand the mind of a twenty-something very well and all the fears and insecurities people can have when they're young and life still feels very unknown and scary.

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