You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

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

3.0

The book is divided into two segments, narrated in situational snippets in the vein of the Atrocity Exhibition of JG Ballard, with a lot of black humor and sarcasm. The first segment is how the protagonist becomes something like an influencer, and the absurdity of online life; the second half is a sharp turn but with a transition softened by the narrative style. The sister becomes pregnant, but the baby has a very rare genetic condition and has little chance of life; yet she decides to have it and the protagonist becomes a super aunt.

The first part left me thinking how it is that she becomes an influencer so fast and has no other life outside the online (at least the text does not show), and some things of the online feel very past the ridiculous. The transition from influencer to aunt is almost total. From there the protagonist not only lives a beautiful family life perfectly adapted, but also that lowers the tone of black humour and everything is warmer. There comes a point where the protagonist as that reacts to having been so long online and realises that he has a family and a giant network of support in the real world, which does not exist at the beginning of the novel.

All in all, the book is fast paced, well written with sharp humor, but its style leaves out tons of information that could help validate some of its contents.