A review by emilymac17
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This book will stick with me for a long time. As a midwesterner myself I could tell the author really captured the way that social media can be such a powerful tool in educating us our cultural shifts happening in the world around us while growing up and living in a much progressive place. I can see how the first part of the book could be less enjoyable to read if you aren’t well versed in social media references, but I personally loved that the author clearly knew what she was talking about rather than taking a “get off of social media” stance without having understood it herself. With that being said, there definitely were a few snippets that went over my head, but overall I thought the messages were still clear. 

The book is split between two parts: the first focuses on the portal (social media, online discourse), and the second focuses on a tragedy taking place in the narrator’s life. The more I reflect on it, the more interesting I find the juxtaposition between these two parts of the story. I don’t think that the author was trying to tell us that social media is bad and we should all stay away from as much as she was highlighting the way the social media is more of a conversation than an action. The first part of the book often mention political discourse online and how that makes everyone feel about society, but then in the second part the narrator seems to focus more on actions that can be taken, whether this is what she can do it help her family, what politicians can do for people facing these tragedies, etc. **minor spoiler here**
At one point the narrator says her sister wrote a letter to her politician asking for help, but then never sent that letter.
In my opinion “no one is talking about this” refers not only to how social media ignores your personal tragedies, but also the fact that issues being discussed in the portal stay in the portal and nothing is done about them in reality. 

I believe this book really forces the reader to ask themself what they are really doing right now. How are we spending our time? What are we prioritizing? I definitely recommend giving this book a try because like I said, it will continue to stick with me for a while.
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