As I mentioned in my Folklore book tag post, Radio Silence is the book that's been on my TBR the longest, so I was really excited to finally sit down and read it. I had very high expectations for this book, but at the same time, I didn't expect my expectations to be met. So, in some strange way, Radio Silence both met and exceeded my expectations!
Here's the description of the book from Goodreads:
"What if everything you set yourself up to be was wrong?
"Frances has been a study machine with one goal. Nothing will stand in her way; not friends, not a guilty secret – not even the person she is on the inside. Then Frances meets Aled, and for the first time she's unafraid to be herself.
"So when the fragile trust between them is broken, Frances is caught between who she was and who she longs to be. Now Frances knows that she has to confront her past. To confess why Carys disappeared…
"Frances is going to need every bit of courage she has.
"Engaging with themes of identity, diversity and the freedom to choose, Radio Silence is a tour de force by the most exciting writer of her generation."
*WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS AND UNPOPULAR OPINIONS*
First of all, let's deal with the unpopular opinions: I wanted to dedicate a whole post to reviewing this book because it touches on one of my literary pet peeves. I've tried to elucidate this pet peeve to multiple people and it always takes a little while to get my point across, so let's see if I can do this concisely: It really bothers me in Middle Grade and YA when the book has a boy main character and a girl main character and they don't get together, but only because they're both gay.
Does that make sense??
So, a good example of this would be The Strangeworlds Travel Agency. I love this Middle Grade trilogy, but in the second book we discover that Flick and Jonathan's age gap (they are six years apart; she's 12 and he's 18 in the first book) is not enough to ensure that they don't get together at any point during the series; actually, they're both gay! Also, Callyn and Jax from Forging Silver into Stars, by Brigid Kemmerer (which I also love, by the way). Callyn does feel attracted to Jax, but then she finds out he's gay. So they can't get together.
Am I being callous? I'm probably being callous. But do you get my point? I feel like straight, cisgender boys and girls should be able to be friends without the expectation that they will get together. Maybe I feel so strongly about this because I had several guy friends in high school but never dated any of them. I don't know, it just really bothers me.
I actually had a helpful conversation about this with a lady I met at the Washington Writers Conference; once I managed to explain my pet peeve, she affirmed it and added that it's natural for boys and girls who are friends to have a crush on each other at some point during their relationship–but it doesn't have to lead anywhere! They can go back to being friends! I really liked that, and I actually think that's what I'm going to do with two of my characters in a Middle Grade series I'm writing, but that's a topic for a different post. Back to Radio Silence (*SPOILERS INCOMING*)!
So Frances, the main character, becomes friends with Aled, her neighbor across the street, early on in the book. And pretty quickly after that, she makes this statement:
"I just sort of want to say something before we continue.
"You probably think that Aled Last and I are going to fall in love or something. Since he is a boy and I am a girl.
"I just wanted to say–
"We don't.
"That's all."
I love this. We 👏 need 👏 more 👏 of 👏 this 👏 in 👏 Middle Grade 👏 and 👏 YA! The more I think about it, the more I like it. Frances is bi, which means that getting together with Aled isn't necessarily off the table for her. And Aled isn't necessarily gay; we find out towards the end of the book that he's actually demisexual, which, as he explains to Daniel, means that he's "a person who experiences sexual feelings and attraction only after developing a close emotional relationship and not on the basis of first impressions, physical characteristics, etc" (definition from the New Oxford American Dictionary), and I'd argue that he and Frances develop that close emotional relationship during the course of the book. So, their sexual orientations don't preclude them becoming an item, but they're just ... friends. Plain and simple. And I love it. I want more platonic boy/girl friendships in Middle Grade and YA please!
Okay, now that I've gotten that little rant out of my system, let's move on.
I really, really liked this book. I blew through it in about four days (which, for me, is pretty fast) and couldn't wait to pick it up again whenever I had a bit of time to read. Alice Oseman does a really good job of pacing the story, raising the stakes, and developing the characters. Most of the chapters were pretty short, which made it easier to read. I also enjoyed the different formats through which the story was told (e.g. regular narration, YouTube video transcripts, Facebook message conversations).
Another thing I loved about the book was the theme of not going to college/university after high school. People often ask me questions along the lines of, "So, are you graduating this year?" "Have you graduated yet?" "Where are you going to college?" And I smile and say, "Actually, I chose not to go to college." Reactions to this statement range from "Good for you!" to polite nods with fixed smiles.
For a long time, college was presented as the next step after high school. It was just what you did. I think that mentality is changing a little bit, and I'm really happy about that. Some of us just aren't cut out for college. Some of us want to do things that don't require college (and a mountain of debt, might I add). And I think it's really cool when people forge their own path without going to college, like Carys (and, eventually, Aled) in Radio Silence. That being said, I don't think there's anything wrong with going to college. My husband just graduated with his bachelor's degree and I'm super proud of him; my oldest sister is getting her PhD; and my middle sister did college online. I just think that high school students should know all their options after they graduate, and not be forced towards college as a default.
On a different note, I've been listening to the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, which Alice Oseman says was a big inspiration for Universe City, the YouTube podcast in the book. Despite it being sci-fi/horror, two genres I do not generally gravitate towards, I'm really enjoying it so far. It's funny, weird, and short enough to listen to without getting bored.
I'm planning to read another Alice Oseman book, Loveless, in July. That one has also been on my TBR for quite some time, and based on my enjoyment of Radio Silence, I'm looking forward to reading it.
Have you read anything by Alice Oseman? Do you agree/disagree with my point about platonic boy/girl friendships in Middle Grade and YA? How do you feel about college? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!
Comments
Post a Comment