Radio Silence: A Coming-of-Age Tale of Identity and Friendship

Bought this book a while back and now that I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of Alice Oseman books, I never want to go back!! From Radio Silence to Solitaire to Heartstopper, all of her books are amazing!!

"Sometimes I was hit with the weight of things I didn't know..."TW: Death of an animal, parental abuse, suicide ideation, depression, discussion of mental illnessThis is about a girl named Frances Janvier. She is a book worm, and is devout in her studies like her whole life relied on good grades. She isn't close to her school friends because she is too busy with school and only spends time with here and there. But she has a secret life that she burrows into. She draw for her favorite Youtube podcast, Universe City (with the creator of the podcast a mystery). This secret life is where she can truly be herself and explore an area outside of school. One night at a pub, she runs into a drunk Aled Last who admits to her that he is the creator of Universe City. Frances takes Aled back to her house so he can sleep off his drunken state. The next day she reminds him of his confession and from here a platonic friendship bloom.This book is really hyped, so what's the deal?This a completely platonic friendship between a boy and girl, which is something you don't get a ton of in books. Usually there is a romance that blossoms between two main characters. But not here. Partly due to their feelings for one another, partly due to the LGBTQ2+ rep in this. Frances is in love with Aled's sister has been for a long time. Aled is in love with his friend, Daniel. Also Aled is Demisexual (not sexually attracted to people until after he forms emotional attachments). Now the next thing about this book is it is very diverse. Frances is biracial (Ethiopean and British) and Daniel is South Korean Immigrant as an example. There is diversity rep in more of the side characters. So many things about this book make it different and expansive.This book also focuses on Youtube channel growth and the internet fame that comes with this. Also, it highlighted the Trolls you can come into contact with.This book is very tender and beautiful and I really enjoyed it. The platonic relationship of Aled and Francis was so beautiful. It endured from a distance and was loving up close. No matter how long they spent away from each other they were still both able to come back to this safe and close relationship like they had never spent any time away at all. I think this book does so much to highlight how important these enduring and safe relationships are. We see so many books where distance and life aren't as much a factor as they were in this book. I feel like this book gave us a very realistic relationship that dosen't delude us into thinking all beautiful relationships exists in a constant state of close proximity. We can be distant and still love and be loved by people. We carry the ones we love with us everywhere so no time actually passes for us that we are without them in spirit. For me, the relationship was just as important as the life that happens in between it. II think another thing to note about this is how a relationship like this can change you and how having this kind of support can get you through so many hardships. You can be better for having relationship like this in your life.This also lent a very realistic voice to academic pressure in school and how it is stressed in school that you will never be anything without a college degree. This make school into a urgent life or death experience that is abundant in stress and pressure in excellence. This is so realistic to students who are about to graduate.There was really so many things to love about this book and I definitely think it was worth all the hype.

I would say this the most original story i've read in a while, amazing book that gets you in the feels.

“Hello. I hope somebody is listening.”Be prepared for a crazy amount of quotes.So, I didn't expect to finish the last 300 pages of this book last night. But I did. I also didn't expect to be completely drowned in this story. It took my feet and pulled and kept on pulling. A day later and I've yet to reach the bottom. That is how much it stayed with me. I'm beginning feel bad for people who haven't read this yet.I don't even know where to start. *deep breath* Okay...So, this is one of those books that I completely thought was different than it turned out to be. But it was a good surprise. Like Christmas morning and when you find a dollar in your pants pocket. The characters drive this story along. Oh, did I add that all of the main characters are queer? Not only that but there is so much diversity I almost ran outside and screamed for an AMEN.There were so many geek references in this book. Game of Thrones. Scott Pilgrim. SPIRITED AWAY. On top of some pretty awesome music selections. I feel like I need to be best friends with the author. Like now.The themes in this story include depression, sexual confusion, online bullying, and abuse but on top of that, you have friendships that wild horses could not pull apart, platonic love, long lost love, typical teenage problems like school and whether to check your Tumbler or not which made it so relatable. And even though Frances' mother was awesome, not all of the parentals figures were so understanding. Which is something a lot of teenagers can relate to for sure.“I stopped speaking. There was no point trying to argue. There was no way she was going to even attempt to listen to me.They never do, do they? They never even try to listen to you.”I almost forgot to talk about the individual protagonists as a whole. So, there's Frances, and she's obsessed with a podcast called University City which is about a person stuck in a monster-ridden city set in the future. She meets Aled, who happens ot be the creator of the podcast. Cool? Yep. Only he doesn't want the world to know that. He is a very private with some heavy family drama.“...it felt like we were friends. Friends who barely knew anything about each other except the other's most private secret.”It's a slow burn friendship and THANK THE SKIES, there is no romantic love between them. They have a beautiful, soul-mate type connection that feels so real and it makes me yearn for something like that.“And I’m platonically in love with you.”“That was literally the boy-girl version of ‘no homo,’ but I appreciate the sentiment.”Without giving too much away, Aled's podcast and his persona, Radio Silence hit me in the feels. When it all comes together, and we realize who he's speaking to and how deep his agony goes, it just ripped out my heart.“I wonder - if nobody is listening to my voice, am I even making any sound at all?"Sometimes, I think we all feel that way, and Radio's pain is our pain. This book was written for you and for me.

Bought as a gift, they loved it

This story is not one I remember checking out on kindle. I must have, because it was in my library as new, but I couldn't remember the story or premise at all. In my defense I started reading this after a week and a half covid-19 'break' from doing much of anything.... On to the book itself thoughThis book.. honestly I can't give it high enough praise. I don't read many coming to age stories anymore, being in late 20's I like to read about adults adulting and that's my usual escape, but this is a beautiful coming of age story. The characters are all so very well fleshed out, the parental trauma is there for sure, but the MC's mom is a sweetheart. The story has its issues, it has its biases, but its one that I feel that kids should read. It would never be brought up by schools given its kinda anti-college, but really it's about finding your place in the world, and the way the story goes about it is wonderful. I wish the whole group well. The author covers a lot of sexuality in a way that is kind and gentle, not really beating you over the head with it, and as the kids are all legit children, getting ready for uni, there are no graphic scenes. I recommend it to anyone wanting a story to read. I'll be picking up the physical copy soon, just to have it on hand.

"Você vai estar salva, contanto que fique longe de Gallant."Essa foi a última mensagem que a mãe de Olivia deixou no diário para a filha. Ela ficou ano lendo e relendo aquele diário, tentando entender o que levou a sua mãe a escrever aquela carta e todas as outras coisas sem sentido naquelas páginas.Olivia vive em um tipo de orfanato, até que um dia recebe uma carta de alguém dizendo ser seu avô, e a convidando para ir morar na casa com ele, em Gallant. A menina fica relutante sobre o recado da mãe, mas agora que finalmente encontrou alguém da família, ela não pode perder essa chance de encontrar algum para responder suas inúmeras perguntas.Antes de começar, só lembrando que esse é um livro middle-grade, então não vá esperando a mesma complexidade e assuntos mais sérios como em Addie LaRue, ou outros livros que a autora assinava antes como "V. E. Schwab", já que esse livro era pra sair como "Victoria Schwab", mas acho que ela não vai mais usar o nome assim nos livros.A escrita dessa mulher continua perfeita. Quem já leu "A Vida Invisível de Addie LaRue" e gostou dessa forma de escrita mais poética, vai gostar muito dela aqui também.A forma como a Schwab descreve os acontecimentos, faz a ambientação pela casa e explica todo esse "poder" que existe na história é incrível. No começo fiquei um pouco confuso, mas como o livro é rápido de se ler, logo entendi tudo.Vi algumas pessoas comparando ele com "Coraline". Nunca li o livro, mas já assisti a animação, tem algumas referencias, mas no mais é uma história mais "sombria", de tal maneira.Um ponto que gostei foi que a Olivia é muda. Acho que nunca li um livro com uma personagem muda, pelo que me lembro. A forma como a Victória mostra as dificuldades da personagem em se expressar para as pessoas que não entendem linguagem de sinais foi muito bem escrito. E da até pra sentir o desespero e a agonia dela tentando se defender das meninas que zombavam dela no orfanado.Achei excelente e gostaria muito de ver sendo adaptado, essa inclusão da linguagem de sinais seria bem legal de ver.Como muitos dizem, o final é bem corrido mesmo. Gostaria que a autora desenvolvesse com mais calma alguns acontecimentos ali, mas entendo que a agilidade naquele momento era crucial para a história se encerrar.Amei toda a criação de universo, é uma história fácil e rápida de ler. A autora consegue transportar a gente para dentro da história, principalmente por ter páginas em que mostram o diário da mãe da Olivia e também o livro conta com algumas ilustrações lindas. Recomendo demais!!!

a booktuber influenced me to buy this. Haven’t read it but will say that it is an authentic product. Got it from Trans Infopreneur inc. its by Alice Oseman who wrote the heart stopper series as well, so I am confident this will be amazing as well.

This was my first novel ever and it is like a high school English drama. I like it.

i ordered this product second hand, because it was cheaper, and was very pleased to see it has been signed by the author!!!! thank you!!!!

I originally bought this book because Kyra @ Blog of a Bookaholic absolutely loved it, and it did sound pretty interesting to me. I finally picked it up because I wanted to participate in the #Bookentine readathon by Michelle & Ely @ Tea & Titles. I’m so glad I got that little push to pick this one up, because it blew my mind.In all my time reading YA, and reading contemporary books, I have never come across a book I could relate to as much as this one. That made me sound really old, didn’t it? I hope you know what I mean. I actually felt like I knew Frances, that we were similar in so many ways, and that we would be great friends.Here’s the thing: while I love stories filled with adventure or road trips and teenage (romantic) drama, that has never been my life. I’m very much an introvert. I don’t really like going to clubs or big friend groups. I do better with one-on-one conversations. There are many things I love fiercely, but don’t tell the people I know in real life about because I’m afraid they’d think I’m too weird. I was a good student. I didn’t really mind studying. Now that I am 22 years old, I love these aspects of my personality. I adore being an introvert. As a teenager, it made me feel like I was the lame or weird friend. I think reading a book like this, would have made me feel like I wasn’t alone, or weird.Frances has always been someone very into studying. She wanted to become head girl, so she could get into Cambridge. A good university means a good life, right? That’s always been her focus. There’s one other thing she loves even more though: a YouTube podcast called University City. It’s about a futuristic place where the world has gone to crap and someone is stuck all alone inside of a university (I think). The person sends out radio broadcasts, hoping to find someone who is listening. Frances makes fan art for the podcast, which she sometimes posts on Tumblr too. Anonymous, of course. Then she meets a guy called Aled, and finds herself with a true friend for the first time.I can’t tell you how much I adored this story, and these characters. Let me try though:This book is set in the UK. Somehow, I always feel closer to a teenager’s story when it’s set in the UK, rather than the US. I guess it’s a European Union thing -for now…This actually felt like a modern YA read. I know what you’re thinking: contemporaries are always modern, Jolien! Yes, I know. But I feel like the references made in this book were things I, as a young woman, understood. Instead of these weird 80s references that no teenager now actually makes.Frances is so relateable. Even though there are so many aspects of her I can’t relate to, I still feel like I am her.There is so much diversity in this book, without it feeling like it’s centered around it. Frances is British-Ethiopian. Daniel is Korean. She’s bisexual, something she has known for years (she’s 17 while this story takes place). This book also includes homosexuality and demisexuality -although I feel the latter could’ve been expanded on more.Family is important as well. In one of the reviews I read on this book, it mentioned the bad parenting trope happening here too. I actually don’t think that’s the case. Yes, there is bad parenting in it. But there is great parenting too. Frances’ mom is honestly an incredible mother. She knows her daughter so well, and is so accepting, supporting and kind. I think she’s the kind of mother we should all aspire to be/support one day.Friendship is what this book is actually about. Is it weird that I find that so refreshing? This book isn’t about a grand romance which let’s be real, most of us don’t get at 17 years old. It’s about being a good friend, finding a friend who you can really be yourself with and how to help each other out.Education. I like that this book addresses the problems with our Western educational system. So many of us are led to believe that the only way we’ll have a good life is if we get a degree from the best school ever. And that’s just not true. Traditional education is not for everyone. It doesn’t suit everyone. There are people who thrive in real life situations, instead of in a school system. We need to be shown our other options too, which is something this book addresses.I could honestly go on for ages about this book. There are so many things I loved about it. I don’t think I have ever read a book like this. I felt like I was engulfed in a giant hug, while I was reading this. Saying: it’s okay. Not every teenager is all about partying. Not every teenager has a huge clique of friends. Not every teenager has this big romantic story, and/or finds the love of their life in high school. You’re great the way you are.I would encourage everyone to read this. Even if you would normally not pick up a YA contemporary. I think this is the kind of book most people could find something to appreciate in. Thank you, Kyra and Michelle, for urging me to pick this up. I appreciate it.