Book review: Radio Silence
Radio Silence is one of my top picks from the books I read in 2019. Every one of my friends who have read this already is in love with this book. And every blog that talks about this one raves about it.
Did I tell I am already looking forward to reading more from this author? Aren’t you interested to know why is Radio Silence so fabulous? Read ahead.
About the book
Book Name: Radio Silence
Author: Alice Oseman
Genre: Fiction – Drama
Characters: Frances Janvier, Aled Last, Daniel Jun, Carys and Carol Last, Raine Sengupta
Setting: Kent County, England, The UK
Plot
Frances Janvier is the boring, nerdy school head girl, at least to her class mates. She is a topper and so obsessed with getting into Cambridge that she gets panic attacks over just thinking about not going there. She is a typical high strung, anxious, perfectionist millennial teen who is trying to do the correct things to achieve her goals.
Unbeknownst to her schoolmates, she is a fantastic artist who is absolutely besotted with a Youtube podcast Univserse City and podcaster’s voice. She draws fan arts for the show which is quite popular among the fanworld. Her two worlds collide when she meets her class nemesis Daniel’s best friend Aled Last, who as she gets to know later is the mind behind Universe City.
Aled Last is a shy neighbor to Frances and his sister used to be friends with Frances until a while ago. When he finds out about her fan art, he asks Frances to collaborate with him on his show. How they help each other to learn to love themselves and find a family of their own forms the rest of the story.
(Do not get fooled by this plot. I am trying to be as mysterious and spoiler free as I can get to make you pick Radio Silence.)
My initial thoughts
I think I made my feelings about the book very clear when I started the review. I loved the diverse representation and that there wasn’t a forced romance. And more than everything, I loved the character arcs and how strongly they were developed.
The theme of mysterious history of Frances and Carys and the mysterious present between Daniel and Aled’s friendship kept me hooked. Read my #bookreview of #RadioSilence
Click to Tweet
The theme of mysterious history of Frances and Carys and the mysterious present between Daniel and Aled’s friendship kept me hooked. While the writing quintessentially represents a millennial teenager’s POV, it was not angst-y and irksome, even when it was bit longer.
Things that worked for me
- Every character is fully developed and has a strong storyline.
- Great use of diverse representation, which didn’t feel forced or eclipsing the main plot.
- It talks about the pressure about higher education, which was so relatable to me.
- There is no romance and a lot of friendship.
Things that didn’t work for me
- It felt a longer than it needs to be.
- I liked Aled and Daniel’s part of the story more than Frances. I know it is not a negative thing. Still she is the narrator but I didn’t care for her as much. Maybe.
Bottom-line
Just go pick a copy of this one already please, while I am hunting for Alice Oseman’s other books.
Pin me!
Let us chat
Have you read Radio Silence? Do you ever feel the diverse representation being forced in books, especially in YA? Let us talk.