A review by benjaminj1996
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

 Good grief. Erm…? Right… 
 
This is another one of those books that's actually very short but you can tell took a lot of work because it's written by a poet in a similar way to how poetry is written. Every single word placed and thought about in such detail. And I commend it for that. It starts of about a woman who spends her whole life on social media and how this changes her way of thinking and her perspective on the world. Then, in the second half, something tragic happens in the real world which flips her perspective back and perhaps helps her manage to take a healthier perspective on life - perhaps it's a comment on how it really would take something hugely traumatic to fix our brains. 
 
The thing is, both halves were really unpleasant. There was hope and beauty in there too, yes, but largely very unpleasant. The first section made my brain feel broken (a sign of good writing) but in a bad way, and the second half was just desperately sad (owing to more good writing). I will say though that as I might have predicted, it sometimes did verge on the overly-pretentious. It's certainly not an accessible read, I don't think. 
 
The other criticism I have is one that a lot of people have said about this book - the two halves do feel very separate. I don't think the second would work without the first, and there is some linking between the two, but I found that that area wasn't explored very much. And I also think that the book ended before it could have - before a conclusion of some kind could be reached, or even just a reflection on the things we've been through with the character. It felt oddly unfinished and disparate where it seemed to be trying to do the opposite. 
 
And so despite it being well written, it didn't really come together for me, and I didn't really enjoy it overall - although I did value the insights and language in certain individual moments. 
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