No One Is Talking About This – Patricia Lockwood

READ FOR BOOKERTHON

A woman with new online prominence grapples with the reality of the cyber world and real life

⫸ “The internet, referred to as ‘the portal’, is given a life of itself in this novel, a place where the unnamed protagonist is constantly experiencing huge fluctuations in emotional response. In the opening pages she laughs at bodies being flung from a carnival ride at the Ohio State Fair …

“Such is the state of play in this no-genre book, where a woman is made internet famous for tweeting ‘can dogs be twins?’ The content and her reactions are shallow and superficial, conveyed in unlinked fragments, and as such a realistic portrayal of modern screen time and the often inane and pointless content we get sucked in by.

“But there is also a lot of hidden social commentary amongst the online space junk: climate change, economic woes, the rise of an unnamed but laughable dictator all cause her to delve deeper and face being consumed by the overwhelming onslaught of imagery and texts. But isn’t this also a true to life example of how we now gather our information and knowledge? Wading, drowning, surfacing, siphoning off the sand and hoping we spot the gold.

“Amongst the trials and travels accorded by the woman’s internet fame, is the story of her sister giving birth. But when there is bad news about the health of the baby, the women’s reality and the absurdity of the portal collide causing her to confront her thoughts and fears about the real and fake worlds which she exists in.

“This book adeptly portrays so many elements of the modern world, it is a snapshot of our times and an interesting form of the novel. I loved it.” – Rachel

Previously these communities were imposed on us, along with their mental weather. Now we chose them—or believed that we did. A person might join a site to look at pictures of her nephew and five years later believe in a flat earth.

⫸ “For me as a reader, what started as utter confusion soon gave way to an appreciation of the deep sense of the love that the author so convincingly conveyed for her niece. The juxtaposition of something so visceral with the empty and vacuous social media experience felt a bit forced at times but was ultimately effective.

“I’m unsure if it was the author’s goal to get readers to reflect on their own social media usage but if so it was certainly successful with me.” – Suzy

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Published 2021
Riverhead Books
210 pages