A review by ladybird4prez
Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin

dark funny reflective

5.0

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Not really sure how Emily R. Austin manages to crawl inside my brain and put all my thoughts to paper, but she’s done it again. Our main character, Enid, is also endearing, quirky, and anxiety-consumed like Gilda in Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead. Enid is true crime obsessed, terrified of bald men, maybe a bit paranoid, and expresses her love through sharing facts about space. Again, Austin manages to write about love in the most moving ways. These characters do express their love in sort of unusual ways but it makes my heart swell every time (I maybe even cried a little at the end). I particularly loved Enid’s relationship with her mom and even the smallest expression of their love for each other would make me smile or tear up. They’re not perfect but that’s what makes these stories and the characters’ relationships so real. And Enid realizing how loved she is despite feeling like an innately bad and unlovable person…my heart. 

Maybe it’s slightly closer to a 4.5/4.75 just because there were a few spots where it lulled for me, but again, I just struggle to think of another author who can perfectly express all my weird thoughts and experiences. Austin manages to create stories that let me know I’m not alone in my anxieties and allow me to even find the humor in the experiences and paranoia I have. It’s hilarious, and I was laughing out loud just a few pages in and then throughout most of the book. I felt sort of morbid when I died laughing reading EITRWSBD and then saw people reviewing saying how dark and depressing it was. But once again, I think Austin just uses dark humor fantastically. There are heavy topics for sure, and I would say they’re handled with care, though it does sort of all culminate towards the end and becomes more serious. I had to make myself stop highlighting because I would’ve had at least half of the book marked. And I was devastated when I realized it was all coming to an end. So, because of this and because it did end up picking back up for me, I’m going to round up to five stars. Austin is absolutely an auto-read forever, and I’m very grateful I got this ARC. I'd recommend to anyone who feels "messed up" or unlovable or like you have to pretend to be a human, and definitely if you enjoyed EITRWSBD!