Book review: Radio Silence

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

Radio silence book review

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

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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.

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Radio silence book review

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Book review: Radio Silence

A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard: A Book Review

It has been a while since a book made me laugh, cry and then root for the characters so hard that you forget they are fictitious. But then, if we get that book every time I read it won’t as special right? So A Quiet Kind of Thunder will be one of those special books. 

About A Quiet Kind of Thunder

Quiet Kind of Thunder

Book Name: A Quiet Kind of Thunder

Author: Sara Barnard

Genre: Fiction – Romance, YA

Characters: Steffi Brons, Rhys Gold, September “Tem” 

Setting: Bedfordshire, England, The United Kingdom

Plot Summary of A Quiet Kind of Thunder

Steffi has been a selective mute since her childhood. But when her parents assume she may not be able to pursue her studies in a University, she decides things has to change. With her best friend, Tem moving off to another school she realizes she has to do this alone.

Or so she thought.

Rhys is deaf and entirely relies on the sign language to communicate. Since Steffi knows a bit of British Sign Language (BSL) she is introduced to him to help him out. She is mute and he is deaf and her rusty BSL is all they have to communicate and it also means they have an entire language just for them, more or less.

But when her parents decide college would be too much for her, she rebels and she rebels with Rhys. You need to read A Quiet Kind of Thunder to know how that goes.

Book review of A Quiet Kind of Thunder

As I might have already mentioned I loved A Quiet Kind of Thunder. 

The romance didn’t make me roll eyes. Yes there were cutesy moments but they fit so perfectly into the story. Even when they do the typical teenage-y things it worked. 

But again, they were typical teenagers who had physical disabilities and that is a point that A Quiet Kind of Thunder never failed to remind us. They can’t be much different from the other teens, can they? Well almost. And that is where the author and her research shine through.

What worked for me

  • A Quiet Kind of Thunder has a great diverse representation with people of color, mental illness and physical disabilities, and none of them felt forced. 
  • Not everything is pink. There are people who do not understand them, there are ones who behave around them like they walk on egg shells. But I loved how real that made the story.
  • Of late I have been ranting a lot about how much I dislike the ‘love solves everything’ trope. And I am happy to say this one defies that. 
  • The YA parents are THERE the whole time and they are protective as they should be and even too much at times.

What could have been better

  • It is a typical teenage romance without a stronger conflict. 

Bottom-line

I would recommend this to anyone who loves YA romance and want to read books with great diverse representation. 

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